Canada's rugged image hurts tourism, study finds

Canada can capture a bigger slice of the American tourist dollar if its plays down our Mounties, moose and mountains and promotes our cities, culture and a sense of foreignness, a federal study shows.
The $1-million dollar study, based on 9,000 in-home interviews with Americans last year, shatters the old assumptions that Canadians have had about the country's attractions, Tourism Minister Jack Murta told a news conference yesterday.

"The study reveals our greatest strength lies in the fact the we are seen to be a foreign destination," Murta said. "The essential difference is our British and French heritage, our ethnic diversity and our regional and local traditions."

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