If there is anything good that’s come out of the pandemic, says Uniglobe Travel Eastern Canada President Dean Dacko, it’s this: appreciation and respect for travel agents has never been greater – from both consumers and suppliers.
Whether you’re going to the London for the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 6, or just happen to be toddling through town at the time, the historic event is guaranteed to be an all-encompassing experience for both residents and visitors, with both pleasures and annoyances certain to reveal themselves in the days leading up to, and during, Coronation Weekend.
In the face of the world of travel becoming increasingly more “complicated” and, in particular El Al suspending service to Canada as of last October, Israel’s tourism consul for Canada says the tourist board wants to help those selling Israel move forward and succeed – and has introduced new programs to help them do so.
Laser Floyd. Two words that said it all about Pink Floyd and a generational right of passage (totally sober, of course) in the years following the 1973 release of the band’s epic, now iconic album “Dark Side Of The Moon.”
Jack Johnson has always fascinated on many levels. An amazing singer-songwriter in the Cat Stevens mold, he was a professional surfer before music and is an active environmental and charitable crusader.
A vintage event space on Toronto’s King Street was a long way from sunny Santa Monica, California – but maybe that was the point as tourism partners from the Los Angeles-area community rolled into town recently on their annual Canadian sales mission, the first since the pandemic.
With the news that Queen – with lead singer Adam Lambert – is set to hit the road this fall for a North American expansion of their Rhapsody Tour, which will include a stop in Toronto, it got us to thinking about some of the band’s frontmen (and women) since the gone-too-soon passing of Freddie Mercury.
El Al Israel Airlines would like to return to Canada, but there is “no date circled on the calendar” for that to happen, admits the carrier’s Sr. VP Sales for North America.
With Air Canada set to boost service to Seattle from eastern Canada on May 1, the time was right this week for tourism types to drop in on the trade in Toronto and Montreal to tout the northwestern US city.
With arrivals forecast to grow 20 percent over 2019 numbers this spring and nearly 50% in summer, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association says it has a “very, very positive outlook” for the year.
While most of Britain will be celebrating the coronation of King Charles III this spring, the quaint Cotswold town of Malmesbury will also be looking back over a thousand years to another other milestone: the crowning of the first king of Britain – Athelstone, who is today the town’s most famous son.
One of the great things about satellite radio, unlike regular (car) radio, is the enormous range of stations (and subsequently songs) available. And with such diversity comes the occasional re-discovery of a song once loved, but somehow entirely forgotten, like one I heard the other day – “Beach Baby,” a one-hit wonder from (the surprisingly British) band The First Class.
Germany is “bullish” on its prospects for travel from Canada this year – after all, the European nation saw 253% year-over-year increase in overnight stays in 2022. And while any statistics these days are inherently inflated due to diminished travel during the pandemic, the German National Tourist Board expects travellers to continue to rediscover, or continue to, travel again with gusto this year.
Few will dispute that Stratford-upon-Avon is all about Shakespeare. But what if you’re not barmy about the bard? Is a visit to the English town dedicated to the birth, life, death – and legacy – of the world’s greatest playwright worth the time? To visit or not visit, that is the question.
It might only be the second biggest event in the UK this May (see King Charles lII, Coronation of), but the Eurovision Song Contest is a big deal in Britain (and elsewhere in Europe). And this year’s event, to be held in Liverpool May 8-13, has increased significance as the northern British city – known for its musical chops – has stepped in as a substitute for Ukraine, the originally scheduled host.
When Canadians think Nevada, it’s understandable that lavish Las Vegas tends to command attention. And while tourism folk from the state would never try to dissuade visitors from this country from rolling the dice on a holiday in the city, they are quick to point out there is much more to the state than Sin City’s well-known gambling and entertainment escapades.
Juan Carlos Garcia Granda is looking forward to the day when Canadians can enjoy a cup of coffee at a Tim Horton’s in Cuba. And while Cuba’s tourism minister wasn’t specifically rolling up to Canada last week to announce a win for coffee drinkers from this country (even if local coffee is considerably better), he was making a point that Cuba is increasingly solving its supply problems – accentuated during the pandemic – not least through foreign investment that is now actively encouraged.
Belfast’s first distillery in a century will soon open its doors in a historic converted prison, courtesy of the Belfast Distillery Co., which is on a “mission” to bring whiskey distilling back to the Northern Irish city.
Remember the you-got-chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter, you-got-peanut-butter-on-my-chocolate debate? And what’s that got to do with music videos and today’s musical celebration of St. Patrick’s Day?
Britain’s award-winning Black Country Living Museum, recognizable as backdrop for the popular “Peaky Blinders” Netflix show, is forging ahead with its biggest development since 1978 as the historic attraction adds the story of the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, to its comprehensive social history of the “black country” industrial heartland near Birmingham.
I’ll be honest, I don’t really get the Ernest Hemingway cult in Cuba (or elsewhere), but if you’re like a lot of visitors to Havana, at some point you’ll attempt to stop by the Old Town venue most commonly known as “the Hemingway bar,” otherwise known as La Bodeguita del Medio.
If there’s a bad thing about our weekly music videos, it’s that some songs can make you feel old – like this week’s offering of The Doobie Brothers, which corresponds with the band’s ongoing 50th anniversary tour. Fifty years (yikes)! Conversely, they can also make you feel young again as you relive old favourites.
Travel in the Caribbean in 2023 has “started with a bang” and, barring any unforeseen “catastrophes,” the Caribbean Tourism Organization expects the resurgence that started last year to continue a reach pre-pandemic arrivals levels “and beyond” in near future.
Ever wondered what it’s like to drive the fastest car in the world? With the reopening of the star attraction at the Coventry Transport Museum in February, museum visitors in the UK city now have the chance to experience what it feels like to break the sound barrier on land.
Lynn Osmond has lived in Chicago for close to 30 years, but the St. Catharines, Ont., native, who oversees tourism in the Illinois city, has a unique perspective on how Canadians view her adopted home – and what many of us are missing when it comes to awareness and knowledge of the bustling midwestern destination.
Birmingham today is hardly recognizable to those who may have visited in the past. Britain’s second city has re-invented itself over the past couple of decades, and not least in recent years leading up to and including last summer’s Commonwealth Games – an event city officials consider a global coming out party for the West Midlands city.
Kudos to k.d. lang, who was just awarded Canada’s highest honour in the performing arts – the 2023 Governor-General’s Performing Arts Awards, one of seven Canadians to receive the honour. The lifetime achievement award “recognizes artists for their outstanding body of work and enduring contribution to the performing arts in Canada.”
It’s the second longest river in the US – stretching from Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to the Gulf of Mexico – so it’s no surprise that the list of experiences visitors can find along the waterway is as lengthy as its name: Mississippi.
Who’d’ve thought Depeche Mode would be all the rage in 2023, close to 40 years after the band’s 1980s heyday? But the British electro-pop giants have exploded on streaming services after their 1987 classic “Never Let Me Down Again” was used in an episode of the latest greatest TV show “The Last of Us.”
With the upcoming coronation of a new king, and the legacy of its previous monarch, along with other high-profile events in the UK in 2022 such as The Commonwealth Games, there is no better time to be selling Britain, says the country’s tourist board chair.