It’s springtime in Metro Vancouver, when thickets of selfie sticks and tourists sprout beneath canopies of the region’s famous cherry blossoms.
On Sussex Avenue in Burnaby, east of Vancouver, a group of five fashionably dressed women set up an iPhone on a tripod under the blossoms.
One accessorizes with a green scarf then pauses to give instructions to her friends, adjusting their angles, just so, for the perfect shot. They’re too busy to talk, as they strike a series of poses, hands on hips.
A woman poses as another takes her photograph with a phone under a cherry blossom tree in Vancouver on Tuesday. The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival runs until April 23. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
Such scenes are familiar for Linda Poole, founder and creative director of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, which runs from April 1 to 23.
She recalls the sight of tourists getting out of a tour bus at Queen Elizabeth Park, one of Vancouver’s most popular locations for blossom viewing.
“And they are literally dancing under the blossoms and singing and modelling and posing. It’s really cute. I see that all the time,” said Poole.
Iryna Prykhodko, right, poses in the middle of the street as Yuliia Turbina takes photographs of her under a canopy of cherry blossom trees. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
Vancouver’s cherry blossoms have become a domestic and international tourist draw, with Chinese tour companies offering flower viewing packages for thousands of dollars, competing with more traditional locations such as Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan.
Edward Xie, manager of Richmond, B.C., travel agency First Express Travel, said his company advertises Vancouver flower viewing in international markets.
He said guides pick up travellers from China and the U.S. at the airport and drive them around the city’s best cherry blossom locations.
While cities like Kyoto and Washington, D.C. might be more popular for cherry blossoms, Vancouver’s culinary scene gives it an edge, according to one tourism expert. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
An eight-day, seven-night trip from China to Vancouver and Victoria promoted by First Express is dubbed the “two cities flower viewing” tour and costs 33,603 yuan, or $6,580.
“Walk into a colourful world to enjoy flowers, watch whales and roam freely outdoors. Experience the romance brought by pink cherry blossoms and feel the vibe of April on Canada’s West Coast,” reads the advertisement.
Vancouver’s blossoms have become renowned in East Asia, where the city’s trees have their origin. The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival includes a walking tour of the blossoms through the Kitsilano neighbourhood in Mandarin. Like the English-language tours, it’s fully booked.
Poole said that in the 1930s, the mayors of the Japanese cities of Yokohama and Kobe gave 500 cherry trees to the Vancouver Park Board to honour Japanese Canadians who served in the First World War.
Now, Destination Vancouver says there are more than 40,000 cherry trees in the city.
Discover the Japanese roots of Vancouver’s cherry blossoms
They’re more than just a pretty photo backdrop. Did you know that many of the cherry trees in Vancouver have a direct connection to Japan?
Charlene Liu, president and CEO of Panasia Holidays, a Calgary-based tourism company, said cherry blossom viewing is extremely popular among Chinese-speaking domestic tourists, many of them from Edmonton and Calgary.
“For them, it’s like a perfect combination to gaze upon the cherry blossoms while exploring the local culinary scene since Vancouver is also famous for food,” said Liu in an interview conducted in Mandarin.
Cities like Kyoto and Washington, D.C., might have bigger international reputations, but Xie said many blossom tourists to Vancouver also have family in the city.
“Taking photos under the cherry trees is a universal thing — everyone loves it,” said Xie.
Cherry trees blooming in Vancouver, B.C., on March 30, 2022. The trees in the cities were initially a gift from Japanese mayors. (Gian Paolo Mendoza/CBC)
Some spots are favourites
It’s not just tourists drawn to the blossoms that drift down like pink snow when caught by a breeze.
Burnaby resident Emmanuel S.T. Yu, enjoying a stroll under Burnaby’s cherry blossoms with wife Connie, said the flowers reminded him it was “a blessing” to live in B.C.
“It’s my family’s annual tradition to walk around to see the cherry blossom trees and we have been keeping doing this for 11 years straight. We never get tired of it,” said Yu in Mandarin.
“The flowers always easily cheer us up, reminding us about how lucky we are to live here.”
Thousands of cherry trees are placed around Vancouver, though some places have become hotspots for photographers. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
Jordan Liu, B.C.-based director of the tour guide training program with the Canadian Inbound Tourism Association of Asia Pacific, said there were more than 2,700 cherry blossom locations across Metro Vancouver, and the choices could be overwhelming.
But he has some favourites — Graveley Street on Vancouver’s Eastside, West 22nd Avenue in Arbutus Ridge, Nelson Street in the downtown core, Yukon Street and outside Vancouver City Hall.
On West 22nd Avenue, Sophie Chan said she travelled on multiple buses to get to the neighbourhood from her home in Surrey. The slight rise and fall of the street makes it possible to see a corridor of blooming trees stretching into the distance, and it’s a favourite location on Instagram.
Chan said the secret to a good cherry blossom photo is patience — you need to wait for the right moment, with the right light, and the right wind to bring the petals fluttering down.
Retired mechanical engineer Kenneth Kwan, 84, was standing outside his home on Sussex Avenue in Burnaby, wearing a straw hat as he greeted people taking photos of the blossoms.
He said the flowers made him feel alive after an illness confined him to hospital for more than six weeks last year.
“My friends from San Francisco will soon come to Vancouver to visit me. I will show them around the city, including the cherry blossoms in my neighbourhood,” said Kwan.
“Friends, flowers and laughter are the best.”
This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta-Canadian Press News Fellowship,which is not involved in the editorial process.
TORONTO – Cineplex Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year ago as it was hit by a fine for deceptive marketing practices imposed by the Competition Tribunal.
The movie theatre company says it lost $24.7 million or 39 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $29.7 million or 40 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
The results in the most recent quarter included a $39.2-million provision related to the Competition Tribunal decision, which Cineplex is appealing.
The Competition Bureau accused the company of misleading theatregoers by not immediately presenting them with the full price of a movie ticket when they purchased seats online, a view the company has rejected.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $395.6 million, down from $414.5 million in the same quarter last year, while theatre attendance totalled 13.3 million for the quarter compared with nearly 15.7 million a year earlier.
Box office revenue per patron in the quarter climbed to $13.19 compared with $12 in the same quarter last year, while concession revenue per patron amounted to $9.85, up from $8.44 a year ago.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Restaurant Brands International Inc. reported net income of US$357 million for its third quarter, down from US$364 million in the same quarter last year.
The company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says its profit amounted to 79 cents US per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with 79 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue for the parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, totalled US$2.29 billion, up from US$1.84 billion in the same quarter last year.
Consolidated comparable sales were up 0.3 per cent.
On an adjusted basis, Restaurant Brands says it earned 93 cents US per diluted share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 90 cents US per diluted share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents US per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Fortis Inc. reported a third-quarter profit of $420 million, up from $394 million in the same quarter last year.
The electric and gas utility says the profit amounted to 85 cents per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up from 81 cents per share a year earlier.
Fortis says the increase was driven by rate base growth across its utilities, and strong earnings in Arizona largely reflecting new customer rates at Tucson Electric Power.
Revenue in the quarter totalled $2.77 billion, up from $2.72 billion in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Fortis says it earned 85 cents per share in its latest quarter, up from an adjusted profit of 84 cents per share in the third quarter of 2023.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 82 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.
