“We are a country of cruisers,” says Una O’Leary. As evidence, the Canadian GM for Virtuoso points to a “staggering” rise in future cruise bookings across the network – and figures showing that cruising comprised nearly half (48%) of all 2023 sales in the region.
Spring is in the air in Arizona – and that means spring training baseball, desert blooms, and plenty of Canadians. And while the former are annual rights of Spring, the latter is especially welcome news as the southern US state expects to at last surpass pre-pandemic numbers in 2024.
Gwen Stefani made news this week. Travel news. The glimmering pop star performed Godmother duties for Royal Caribbean International as the cruise line launched its new Jubilee flagship in Miami on the weekend.
Located on the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, Los Cabos might be the “most isolated” region of Mexico – “you have to come by air,” notes the managing director of the region’s tourist board, Rodrigo Esponda – but Canadians clearly have no trouble finding the vacation hotspot.
Brent Carnegie admits he wouldn’t likely have ever listed Albania on his travel bucket list. But the Canadian travel industry veteran recently found himself in what has traditionally been considered a rather mysterious Balkan enclave for a family visit – and he loved it.
There was certainly no shortage of top-of-mind topics at Atout France’s annual Canadian roadshow this week – a four-city tour that winds up in Vancouver Thursday after gala event in Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary. After all, the Summer Olympic Games awaits the starters gun July 26 in Paris, D-Day will be thoughtfully remembered in Normandy on its milestone 80th anniversary on June 6, and the long-awaited re-opening of Paris’s landmark Notre Dame Cathedral is scheduled for Dec. 8 (it was famously devastated by fire 2019).
The cruise ships dot the Nile like planes coming into an airport, though the procession belies the fact that they are operating at half capacity or less as Egyptian tourism continues to be rocked by the country’s perceived proximity to the war in Palestine – despite the fact that the distance from Gaza to Giza is close to 500 km., and through the Sinai desert no less.
Beyond keeping up with Karly (our host and a speed-walker of the first order), Las Vegas is meant to be experienced at double speed. The current concept of “slow tourism” does not apply here.
Late last month Mary Weiss, lead singer of the pioneering 1960s girl group The Shangri-Las passed away. The band was best known for its classic “Leader of the Pack,” but also the hit “(Remember) Walking in the Sand.”
Travel South USA arrived in Canada this week to court the travel trade at gala events in Toronto and Montreal, enticing guests with “bacon, bourbon and blues” – the latter courtesy of special guest, American Idol winner (and Alabaman) Taylor Hicks, whose rootsy refrains provided the soundtrack of the evenings.
A buddy messaged me the other day and said, “Have to say it’s the first time I’ve ever landed in Vancouver to see everything covered in snow.” It was so cold in T.O. my wife wouldn’t let me walk the dog (her concern was for the dog!). And don’t get us started on the rain and fog. Needless to say, winter is wearisome in this country, and there’s so much more to come.
“Hidden in plain sight behind a secret door,” and situated in one of London’s most historic and cherished buildings, the Síbín whisky bar has launched a global “Whisky Passport” designed to take patrons on a flavour journey beyond the British capital with some of the world’s best vintages.
In the tradition of great charitable relief songs like “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” “We are the World,” and “Tears Are Not Enough,” The Doobie Brothers have recorded a song – “Lahaina” – to help raise funds for recovery in Maui from last year’s devastating wildfires. The band has deep connections to the Hawaiian island, as has Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood (who lost his restaurant on Maui to the fires).
On a day when most of Canada, coast to coast, was gripped in polar temperatures and snow, Grenada tourism officials brought their sunny ways to a Toronto airport hotel, leaving a couple of dozen travel advisors more actively dreaming of an escape to the Caribbean Spice Island than usual, both personally and for clients.
Three years into the unlikely ownership of Wrexham AFC soccer/football club by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, the appeal of their accompanying (and explanatory) documentary series “Welcome to Wrexham” continues to skyrocket. The series, and overall exposure, generated by the celebrity owners and the fairytale story that has ensued, has gifted the city with an unexpected moment in the global spotlight and, subsequently, a not-surprising surge of visitors to sleepy North Wales.
Last week I proffered my favourite song from 2023; now it’s time to tout last year’s best (in my humble estimation) album: The Rolling Stones’ “Hackney Diamonds.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not typically blinded by any and every offering from rock bands whose best days are years (decades!) in the past, but dropped-jaw kudos to Mick, Keith et al, whose latest album is, I daresay, right up there with some of their best.
There’s a frequently used word in Papiamentu – “dushi”– which, while hard to precisely translate from the local lingo on the Caribbean island of Curaçao, essentially means positive vibes, beautiful, and the good things in life, all mashed up into one.
‘Tis the season for best-of lists, and whereas my days of accounting such things are mostly past, 2023 produced for me a definite – and most unexpected – song. One I still can’t get out of my head. And don’t want to.
Goway and APT & Travelmarvel, both like-minded Down Under specialists, leveraged a long-standing partnership earlier this year that saw the former become the official North American partner for the latter – and it’s a plan that has proved positively bonzer (“first rate” in Aussie lingo), according to company officials.
Brazil’s Embratur has joined the Canadian association of tour operators (CATO), an unusual arrangement for a tourist board, but one that reflects the South American country’s keen interest in the Canadian tourism market.
It’s been an “incredible” year for Nassau Paradise Island (NPI), from the opening of the city’s spectacular new cruise port to a Golden Jubilee, plus landmark hotel happenings and record arrivals. And in Canada, the return of representation for the NPI Promotion Board, which has “ambitious” goals for the destination in this country.
Sunwing Vacations is always ready to help your mutual clients – so you don’t have to! So says the tour company’s VP of Sales & Business Development, Deana Murphy, who told top agents recently at the company’s annual Christmas lunch with RIU that “we have a wonderful team in every destination, and they are there to help.”
Ever wonder what the head of a national travel conglomerate dreams about for Christmas? Since we’re pretty sure it isn’t sugar plums, we thought we’d ask Nathalie Tanious, the newly minted President and CEO of HIS-Red Label Vacations Inc., which operates TravelBrands and its many familiar tour divisions (among them Sunquest, Intair, Encore Cruises, and Exotic Journeys), as well as such retail brands as Red Tag, Merit, and itravel2000.
Can you believe its been 50 years since the release of “Band on the Run,” Paul McCartney’s best post-Beatles album, which not surprisingly was the top-selling album in Canada (amongst other places) in 1974?
A new study says leisure travel will be “robust” for at least the next decade – including forecasted outbound spending and growth from Canada by the year 2033. And while that’s good news for the travel industry, the Oxford Tourism Economics study portends changes in global patterns and holiday destinations that are already starting to take shape now.
Visit Orlando, in association with a full delegation of theme park, hotel, transportation and attraction partners, called in Calgary, Toronto and Halifax last week for the tour association’s annual “Orlando Canadian Sunshine Tour,” attracting close to 500 enthusiastic travel advisors across the three events that resulted in record-breaking attendance for the mission.
When the winter gets tough in central Europe the tough get… festive, as age-old Christmas markets spring up across the region to help cast a warm glow over the snow. Among the most famous are markets in Germany, where most of the historic Weihnachtsmarkt/ Christkindlmarkts are now in full swing (most starting in mid to late November and continuing until just before Christmas and in some cases a few days after).
The cost of maintaining the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) may outweigh the provincial regulator’s benefits to consumers, says Ontario’s auditor general in it’s just-released “value for money” audit. The wide-ranging report extensively, though not exclusively, examined the province’s tourism sector (including government), providing third-party observations and suggested “actions.”
Hawaii is ready for Canadians, and other visitors, to return – particularly to Maui, which suffered from devastating wildfires earlier this fall and is still on the road to recovery. But while the Hawaii Tourism Authority acknowledges that while many visitors “respectfully” stayed away from Hawaii in the aftermath of the calamity, the islands are now really ready for their return.
A new team of BDMs for Canada, new and renovated resorts, plus new services – from elite amenities to foamy pool parties – highlight a busy year for RIU Hotels & Resorts, which celebrated the holiday season last week with Sunwing at the travel partners’ 10th annual trade lunch at a venue north of Toronto.