By Michael Baginski/ I went to a travel presentation and a dance party broke out. But that was sort of the point, Viva by Wyndham Resorts VP of sales and marketing Amanda Santana told close to 125 travel advisors at the Sunwing Vacations-organized lunch event north of Toronto on Friday. “I’m not here to give a big presentation, you have to dance,” she laughed.
By Michael Baginski/ With December set to mark the 75th anniversary of the first Air Canada flight to Barbados (its first Caribbean destination), the airline is set to the host the 2025 edition of its Air Canada Race on the island with 20 qualified Canadian travel advisors set to take part in the five-day event starting Thursday (Nov. 20). Suitably it is the first island destination for the Race.
By Michael Baginski/ Melissa Etheridge’s stunning ballad “You Can Sleep While I Drive” has been a favourite for fans since it appeared on her second album in 1989, “Brave and Crazy” – a disc that reached No 5 in Canada. The song got a further boost in ’95 when it was covered by Trisha Yearwood, but it’s a tune that has always innately belonged to the introspective Kansas singer-songwriter.
By Michael Baginski/ Adam Scott is in Toronto and complaining about the cold. At the same time, the founder and CEO of BermudAir – a Canadian himself – couldn’t be happier because he knows “that’s when we start booking (to go to places like Bermuda).”
By Michael Baginski/ Hawaii is many wonderful things: long sand beaches (both white and black), blue water, white caps and surfing, impossibly dramatic coastlines and fragrant valleys, Polynesian beauties (both female and male), and of course, Israel Kamakawiwoʻole.
By Michael Baginski/ A delegation from Seattle conducted a five-day mission Montreal, Toronto and Edmonton last week, emphasizing the importance of the Canadian market to the cross-border city, which, like much of the U.S., has seen a decline in visitors from their northern neighbours this year.
By Michael Baginski/ Despite some rhetoric south of the border, Visit Lauderdale says Canada is still – and always will be – the destination’s most important international market and, more importantly, “our dear neighbours to the north.”
By Michael Baginski/ Even with the downturn in travel by Canadians to the U.S. this year, about 16 million of us – “still a lot of people” – are expected to cross the border in 2025, heading for warmer weather, holiday homes, sporting or cultural events, or just to do what they’ve always done, regardless of any offense taken.
By Michael Baginski/ Despite Canadians’ well-documented dip in cross-border travel, Travel Leaders Networks (TLN) says its business already looks great for 2026 with double digit growth on the books compared to what the agent organization was seeing at this time last year.
By Michael Baginski/ The Rocky Horror Picture Show first screened on Aug. 14, 1975, bringing a film version of the London West End theatrical production to a global mainstream audience that proved to be anything but mainstream.
By Michael Baginski/ Heading south for the winter has been a Canadian ritual for generations, but this winter a dramatic new shift in Canadian travel trends is emerging, according to the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada – one that threatens to see snowbirds roosting at home rather flying the Canadian winter coop.
By Michael Baginski/ It’s hard to appreciate now just how subversive – or at least cool – KISS was when they came on the scene in the ’70s. Just like trying to explain to the younger generation how groundbreaking Sgt. Pepper was when everything that followed ultimately rendered it mainstream.
By Michael Baginski/ The Visit Portugal Roadshow rolls into Vancouver today (Oct. 23) after stops in Toronto and Montreal earlier in the week, giving over 300 travel advisors and tour operators a chance to catch up on the latest news from one of travel’s bona fide “it” destinations, and one that is particularly popular with Canadians.
By Michael Baginski/ It’s certainly no secret that Canadian travel patterns have changed this year, as many travellers look beyond the U.S. for alternative destinations that are not imposing tariffs or teasing about statehood. Indeed, data from Statistics Canada bears out what we all know anecdotally, but it also provides interesting nuance and perspective on how Canadians really feel about travel to Trump’s America – and where else they’re going.
By Michael Baginski/ Vienna stands out as a culture landmark of Europe, but next year the Austrian capital is sinking its teeth into a new theme – it’s food. In 2026, many of the activities of the Vienna Tourist Board will be dedicated to the theme of culinary delights. At the centre is Viennese cuisine – the only cuisine in the world named after a city.
By Michael Baginski/ Given the “current environment,” it’s not surprising that Canadian travel to the U.S. is suffering a “serious decline,” says an executive for Brand USA, who nevertheless suggests that things could be worse, even if Mexico has recently surpassed Canada as the U.S.’s top international source market for visitors.
By Michael Baginski/When Rockin’1000 says it’s the Biggest Rock Band on Earth, it ain’t kidding – it’s a group comprised of 1,000 members – singers, drummers, and guitarists – that astonishingly come together in unison to play rock anthems at mega stadium concerts around the world.
By Michael Baginski/ A day of celebrating with industry was hardly enough to contain 25th anniversary celebrations for RIT Royal Irish Tours and the company’s affable founder Ian Duffy, who started the suburban Toronto-based tour operator in the tumultuous days after 9/11, but nevertheless saw the business thrive and grow, and is now looking to the next a quarter century with a second generation of Duffys in the fold.
By Michael Baginski/ Rory Gallagher is having a moment, seemingly all over the Internet these days. “The greatest guitarist you’ve never heard” was considered Ireland’s first rock star in the early ‘70s and influenced a who’s who of subsequent guitar gods, from the Edge to Slash and even Canada’s own Alex Lifeson (Rush), plus many others.
By Michael Baginski/ Coinciding with new flights from Toronto, the Guadeloupe Islands are upping the ante in Canada with the appointment of Toronto-based representation firm VoX International to promote the appeal of the French Caribbean archipelago in this country. And the first order of business was a trade event in Toronto on Tuesday evening hosted by the islands’ tourist board.
By Michael Baginski/ The days of Jamaican patties on the buffet are long gone, but travel advisors across the country are nevertheless getting a generous helping of love from TravelBrands at three agent appreciation events this week, with close to 1,500 people expected across the launches, the first of them held in Vancouver last night (Monday), with Toronto and Montreal following on Wednesday (Oct. 8) and Thursday (Oct. 9) respectively. They are the first shows in 18 months by the tour company and the first in Vancouver since before the pandemic.
Canada’s beloved ‘Come from Away’ is hitting the high seas for the first time ever courtesy of Cunard, which is introducing the acclaimed theatrical production on the maiden Caribberan voyage of the Queen Elizabeth on Oct. 16 and continuing throughout the vessel’s winter season.
By Michael Baginski/ The Florida Keys isn’t your typical Florida (or U.S.) destination. Sometimes quirky, always laid back, the Keys stretches for 200 km south from Miami over the Atlantic Ocean, Florida Bay, and Gulf of Mexico, boasting great year-round weather and a feeling of being in the Caribbean without leaving the North American continent.
By Michael Baginski/ From comprehensive travel trade training to a myriad of individual incentives by partners in destination, Canadian travel advisors will find plenty of tools and opportunities to help increase their sales to the Florida Keys, and discover the destination for themselves.
By Michael Baginski/ Like Rush and AC/DC (amongst a few other others), you’ve got to love a band like Blackberry Smoke that has the hops to have its own beer (Blackberry Smoke American Lager, sold on its website); better still, you’ve got to love a band that recalls vintage Lynyrd Skynyrd and Black Crowes, yet with enough of its own style to be fresh and original within a swampy southern rock context.
By Michael Baginski/ As Canadians “pivot” towards alternative destinations to the U.S. amidst ongoing Trump tribulations across the border, Britain is poised to pick up some of the pieces, with all signs pointing to a banner year for the destination this year and into 2026, according to VisitBritain.
By Michael Baginski/ A team of close to two dozen tourism professionals from Louisiana, led by Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, are visiting Canada this week with a simple message: “Come when you’re ready, we’re here with open arms!”
By Michael Baginski/ Rick Davies, the lead singer and co-founder of British band Supertramp, has died after a long battle with cancer. Davies, who co-wrote the band’s music with Roger Hodgson, was the voice and pianist behind some of Supertramp’s most iconic songs, including “Bloody Well Right,” “Crime of the Century,” and “Goodbye Stranger.”
By Michael Baginski/ Helping take punk mainstream, Billy Idol burst on the scene in the early ‘80s with a pair of hits from his 1882 debut album: “Dancing With Myself,” and the now iconic “White Wedding.”
By Michael Baginski/ I first met Canadian travel industry legend Pat Dineen on a press trip to Greece in the early 1990s. We got to know each other sipping ouzo in a harbour café in a postcard-perfect Greek fishing village, moon overhead, the strains of bouzouki in the air, and Pat was talking about… sumo.