Canada's rugged landscape and ski slopes are now closer than ever before after Air Canada launched daily direct flights from Brisbane to Vancouver on Friday.
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Air Canada's direct flights will link Brisbane to Vancouver in under 15 hours, departing from Brisbane 10.40am daily.
Air Canada's Boeing 787-8 will transport 251 passengers daily until October, when the airplane will be replaced to accommodate for 30 per cent more passengers.
At Brisbane International Airport on Friday, Queensland Tourism Minister Kate Jones said inbound tourism from Canada was growing at around six per cent every year and believed today's "significant milestone" would bring up to 90,000 additional North American visitors to Queensland over the next three years.
"We estimate it will generate an extra $56 million each year to the Brisbane economy and this is great news for tourism and businesses," she said.
"You can only just imagine the new partnerships and new opportunities because of the connection through this direct flight.
More than 260,000 North American visitors visited Queensland in the year to March 2016, a 14 per cent increase from the previous year.
Brisbane Airport Corporation chief executive Julieanne Alroe said these daily year-long direct flights would encourage North American visitors to stay in Queensland for longer and provide peace-of-mind for parents of those travelling to study abroad.
"We find that when people start their journey in Queensland, they stay longer in Queensland and then move north so we think it will mean not only will we get more Canadians here, we will get them to see more of Queensland," she said.
"A lot of families always feel much more comfortable with students on direct services, so we think the fact that the parent can put their child on at Vancouver and know they are going to get off in Brisbane.
"We find when we have these direct services that education is also a big beneficiary. We have seen it with the Japan service that started last year, we expect to see it with the Shanghai service that will start later in this year."
Ms Alroe said the flight would also work to close the economic gap between the two countries.
"Canada-Australia business ties are of increasing significance with our two economies sharing many major industries like mining, agriculture and tourism but complementing each other by operating opposing growing and tourist seasons," she said.
Vancouver Airport chief executive and president Craig Richmond said the new route was both "amazing and practical" for travellers from Brisbane and Vancouver.
"This new route to Vancouver is the only scheduled service between Brisbane and Canada," he said.
"Vancouver lies in a region that has been popular for Australians looking for adventure and Brisbane provides Canadians with access to some of Australia's great attractions as well as being a great city itself."
Air Canada global sales vice president Duncan Bureau said he was "excited" about how the market was looking for Queenslanders visiting Canada as well.
"There is a lot of travel between Australia and Canada, we already operate out of Sydney and there is a lot of people in this region that come to Canada, whether for working visas, students, travelling and there is a lot of economic reasons as well," he said.
