Air China said on Wednesday it would add three flights a week from Beijing to Vancouver, boosting the total number of non-stop flights from China to Canada to 10 a week.

The additional flights will start operating in June, the national carrier said.

David Solloway, Air China's senior advisor in Canada, told a press conference that the additions were made thanks to an annual average load factor of 85 percent on the route.

"Our goal is to stimulate both business and leisure travel to open up opportunities for Canadian companies to increase business in China and vice versa," said the advisor.

"If you look at the capital costs, to operate three additional flights a week, you need about 2.1 airplanes. That's 220 million dollars (U.S.) an airplane, and then the operating costs. We will also have to hire more pilots," he added.

According to Tourism British Columbia figures, 99,405 Chinese visitors entered Canada via Vancouver in 2008 and the number of Chinese visitors is expected to increase after China added Canada to its approved-destination-of-tourism list in 2009.

British Columbia is the second most popular destination for Chinese visitors after the province of Ontario, receiving some 100,000 Chinese visitors in 2008, partly because British Columbia is home to about 300,000 Chinese now residing in the province.

Shirley Bond, British Columbia provincial minister in charge of transportation and infrastructure, told the same press conference that the number of Chinese visitors is destined to rise thanks to favorable factors including the ongoing Olympic Winter Games which has helped to expose the province to the entire world.