Starting Dec. 1, Canadian citizens will again be able to obtain their Egyptian visa upon arrival in the country, or electronically, reversing a controversial pre-entry requirement implemented by the Middle Eastern country last October that forced applicants to obtain their documents via mail from Egyptian consulates in Ottawa or Montreal.
With an increasing number of newbies joining the ranks of travel advisors in Canada, it’s critical that the wisdom and experience of veteran agents be passed on to ensure their success and the continued success of the industry, says ACTA. With this in mind, at its recent Summit event in Toronto the association enlisted a panel of prominent travel sellers and career coaches to share some “actionable insights and proven strategies to help make their journeys a success.”
Any conversation about rock’s best vocalist typically begins and ends with Freddie Mercury. But those of a Canadian persuasion sometimes tentatively proffer an alternative: Burton Cummings, the legendary Guess Who frontman, and subsequent solo star.
With the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games firmly in the rearview mirror, Britain’s West Midlands region is still building on the legacy of the Games with new tourism product and itineraries, not least when it comes to leisure tourism, which has typically lagged behind business tourism in the region.
Nassau-Paradise Island has no shortage of great places for visitors to stay – from small to (very) big, and ancient to all-new. Yesterday we examined four of note – Atlantis, Baha Mar, British Colonial, and Margaritaville. Here we round out our Great 8 accommodation options in the Bahamian capital with four more marvellous mainstays: Four Seasons, Goldwynn, Graycliff, and Sandals.
From the small boutique properties of Cable Beach to the book-ending behemoths Atlantis and Baha Mar, and with both new options and old favourites, Nassau-Paradise Island (NPI) has dozens of hotels of different stripes sure to appeal to very type of visitor to the popular destination.
From a first reservation conducted by telegram in 1970 to a just-launched state-of-the-art reservation system that took five years to develop, Goway has certainly come a long way. And still has a long way to go, says company founder, 81-years-young Bruce Hodge, who officially introduced “the new Goway” Thursday at a gala event in Toronto as the tour company enters its 55th year with a fresh look and renewed ambition.
Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and an A-list Hollywood actor, died earlier this week. Starting in the late 1960s, the Brownsville, Texas native wrote such country and rock ‘n’ roll standards as “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” “Help Me Make it Through the Night,” “For the Good Times” and “Me and Bobby McGee.”
“Travel agent” consistently rates as one of the most desirable professions in consumer polls (sorry, rock/movie star is even better!), yet attracting new personnel to the retail industry is clearly not as easy as it would seem.
Transat Distribution Canada is ‘humbly, carefully’ confident about the prospects for 2025, says the network’s GM Karine Gagnon, who notes that 2023 was an exceptional year for members. And while 2024 has not been quite as a strong, it has not been far behind. And “for me,” she says, “that’s a great place to be.
Air Canada Vacations wrapped its fall ‘DreamMakers’ series of cross-Canada fall product launches Thursday with an enthusiastic crowd of close to a thousand travel advisors at a venue north of Toronto. The event also attracted one special guest: Sandals Resorts executive chairman Adam Stewart, who received a standing ovation when entering the stage.
One of the great Canadian band of the classic rock era, Saskatchewan’s Streetheart scored several hits in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, including covers of Them/Van Morrison’s “Here Comes the Night” and “Under My Thumb,” which in my humble estimation improved on the Stones’ original. My favourite, however, was/still is “What Kind of Love Is This?,” arguably their most memorable hit.
It’s being called the “normal-normal” – that is, the state of things beyond post-pandemic and its subsequent “new normal.” Back to where things were (travel-wise) before COVID. And that may be. But what about when normal includes the threat of pandemic as more than a one-off; never-ending and escalating wars; raging wildfires and drowning floods; tourism – and tourists – under siege by the locals; endless industry strikes; and plane parts (from Boeing at least) literally falling from the sky?
In a travel world bursting at the seams with overpacked, over-touristed destinations, travellers could use a little St. Kitts and Nevis – two Caribbean sister islands that can bring a little calm to our frenetic lives – according to St.Kitts’ new tourist authority CEO.
Furthering the ‘90s musical revival, Malmö Opera in Sweden is hosting ‘Joyride the Musical,’ a new feel-good production paying tribute to the music of Swedish pop band Roxette. The musical takes audiences on a joyful, humorous journey that since its debut Sept. 6 has received rave reviews from audiences, comprised in large part by international visitors.
On a day that was “all about RIU,” close to 125 senior managers and executives from across the Sunwing Travel Group convened Tuesday with RIU Hotels & Resorts execs to learn the latest from one of the Canadian travel company’s most important partners.
Move over Baby Boomers, you’re not the belle of the travel ball any longer. That status will be usurped by Millennials (people born between 1981 and 1996), who are forecast to be the most active travel demographic in 2025. However, it’s the former who still hold the purse strings, according to data presented by ACTA at the association’s travel summit last week in Toronto.
Canada’s travel retail landscape is changing dramatically – so much so that ACTA is preparing a significant report due in October detailing a foundational shift in the industry that includes higher wages for employed agents, but new ones being hired as sole proprietors (aka independent agents).
The Association of Canadian Travel Agencies and Travel Advisors (ACTA) kicked off its fall Summit series with a full day session in Toronto Thursday, with more than 700 attendees on hand to get the latest industry trends and association news, engage in professional development, connect with peers and industry executives, and meet key suppliers at an extensive trade show, which included the largest delegation ever from Brand USA.
An appropriate song for this soggy summer, perhaps, “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” was according to its author John Fogerty, a metaphor for impending change – in particular in respect to his, at the time, troubled band, Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Vienna, home of Johann Strauss, whose 200th birthday is being celebrated in 2025, serenaded the Canadian trade with news from the Austrian capital on Tuesday in Toronto. Accompanied by a classical music duo, and colourful montage artist, the city tourist board’s market manager for Canada Elke Bachner said Canadian visits to the city are surging, not least due to ample lift from Air Canada’s courtesy of its year-round direct flights from Toronto and Montreal.
While many experts consider it requisite posturing during a labour negotiation – and an outcome too dire to ultimately be allowed to happen – Air Canada says it is working on contingency plans that would see it suspend most of its operations in the event that an agreement with its pilots union is not reached by Sunday (Sept. 15) when a 72-hour strike or lock-out notice could be triggered.
More than a hundred golfers turned out last Thursday to help TravelBrands raise funds for The Hospital for Sick Children at the company’s 9th Annual Charity Golf Classic, held just north of Toronto. The picture-perfect day at Eagles Nest Golf Club was eclipsed only by the $308,000 raised at the event – funds earmarked for the SickKids Foundation to help fuel vital research, clinical care, and new initiatives at the hospital.
“Jagged Little Pill” catapulted Alanis Morisette into music superstardom in 1995, with the album going on to become one of the highest selling albums of all time (more than 33 million and No. 7 on the all-time Billboard 200 chart) and forever ensuring that the Ottawa-born singer would be one of Canada’s most famous.
They’re versatile! Following a visit early this summer designed to highlight arts and culture (culminating in tickets to a performance of the Philadelphia Orchestra), delegates from the Philadelphia Visitors and Convention Bureau returned to Toronto Wednesday, this time (ball) cap in hand while hosting select members of the trade at a Phillies-Jays game at the Rogers Centre.
You might have heard this week that Oasis is getting back together – 15 years after the battling brothers Gallagher busted up, seemingly for good after years of sometimes amusing/ sometimes just-plain-nuts escapades by and between Liam and Noel that continually suggested that real life was quite the opposite of the band’s name.
Skal Toronto and Toronto North celebrated 68 years of golfing together yesterday (Wednesday) – and prominent Skal member Thom Vincent has been around for all of them, joked Toronto chapter president Sue Webb.
Travel advisors are key to the Spice Island of Grenada increasing its impact in the Canadian market and the head of its tourist board says it intends plans to work harder – and spend – in this country to make it so.
War in middle east and eastern Europe, US politics, cats and dogs living together! (to quote Bill Murray in Ghostbusters) … It seems we should all just get together and feel all right, which I tend to do when listening to Playing for Change, the amazing collective of world music practitioners who creatively re-interpret favourite songs in the name of peace, love, unity – and charity – through song.
The late ‘70s and ‘80s was a golden age for Canadian bands, even if the success of many didn’t make it beyond our borders. But who can forget bands like Trooper, Prism, Streetheart, Chilliwack, Honeymoon Suite, and… the legendary Doug and the Slugs?