We wouldn’t have known it while waiting over an hour for our bags to arrive at LAX on a recent visit – even with the 15-minute head start afforded by having to trek from gate to carousel – but at least they did arrive (and in one piece), which is an occurrence that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says is steadily becoming more common.
While the US Travel Association revelled in its 55th annual IPW trade show in Los Angeles last week that welcomed 5,700 attendees from 70 countries (among them close to 150 Canadians and a 20% increase over 2023), the tourism organization nevertheless bristled at current tourism metrics for international travel to the US it says are caused in part by self-inflicted wounds – ones that can and should be overcome.
Close to 150 Canadians may have been a drop in the bucket amongst the 5,700 attendees at IPW – US Travel’s signature international trade show – in Los Angeles this week, but the delegation had an outsized presence and proudly waved the flag as befits the US’s top international market.
Canada “made history” in Orlando in 2023, sending more than 1.2 million visitors to the theme park capital, according to Visit Orlando, which revealed the “big announcement” at the IPW US travel trade show in Los Angeles this week. The record-breaking numbers also ensured that Canada remained the destination’s No. 1 market ahead of the UK (877,000) and Brazil (696,000).
Sorry, Diana Ross. You too, Keanu Reeves (who sidelines as a bass player in the band Dogstar when not cracking skulls as John Wick). The star performer at this year’s edition of the US travel trade show IPW, held in Los Angeles this week, was Ziggy Marley.
IPW kicked off on the weekend with Los Angeles welcoming 5,700 delegates at the California city’s latest incarnation of US Travel’s largest inbound travel show, though first in 12 years. A delegation of over 100 Canadian trade and media (including Travel Industry Today) began trickling in late last week for weekend events and Saturday’s opening night gala at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
One of the things I most love is receiving recommendations from readers, often introducing bands I’ve never heard of. This week I offer we-are-not-worthy plaudits to Visit Fort Lauderdale’s Paul Mason, who urged me by to check out Leonid & Friends, an amazing band he was going to see.
It’s Derby week and the eyes of avid horse racing fans – and even many who aren’t – will be on Louisville, home of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby, this Saturday (May 4) when the race celebrates its historic 150th running. Yet there’s more to Louisville than horses, from bourbon to boxing and bluegrass to baseball and Hot Browns, helping make Kentucky’s biggest city a diverse and largely undiscovered gem – and guaranteeing that visitors will be off to the races no matter when they go.
Costa Rica provided the Toronto trade some precious moments of serenity last week when tourism officials showcased a photographic exhibit offering captivating images that highlight the diverse landscapes and rich human stories of the Central American nation – uniquely centred on the image of a red chair that inspires the notion that the viewer controls their own destiny and could be sitting in it.
With apologies to Kraftwerk and Trio (remember the classic “Da Da Da”?), The Scorpions are Germany’s greatest contribution to the rock music canon. Still going strong, the band formed in 1965 but hit its commercial peak in the ‘80s with a series of power ballads that helped define the niche, such as “Winds of Change” (about the political transformation of Russia) and “Still Lovin’ You.”
It was only fitting that last week’s trade mission to Toronto by the Philadelphia Visitors and Convention Bureau culminated in an evening at the Royal Conservatory with the Philadelphia Orchestra, which also performed its first international concert in the city 100 years ago. PHLCVB President and CEO Gregg Caren said the event symbolized the long history of cultural connections between the two cities and noted that Canada is Philadelphia’s top partner in both trade and tourism.
With a nearly 33 percent increase in Canadian overnights in 2023 to almost 644,000 visitors, Canadians are clearly embracing the German National Tourist Office’s “Simply Feel Good” tourism campaign, as the busy summer travel season approaches – fuelled by 114 non-stop weekly flights between the countries by Air Canada/Lufthansa and Condor.
I saw the amazing Buddy Guy a few years back at Casino Rama, in Orillia, Ont., still rocking (and wading into the audience) even in his early 80s. Now 87, the last of the great Chicago bluesmen is on his “Damn Right” farewell tour, and I’m lucky to be catching him again tonight (Friday) at Massey Hall in Toronto, where he has played 18 times since 1970.
There’s always something new in New York, a constant that helps inspire a million Canadians a year to visit, says senior city tourism exec Reginald Charlot.
Onvigo says it’s a host agency with a “twist.” The brainchild of Chippy Jegathesan, CEO of Canadian consolidator Voyzant, the enterprise recently launched with a “no fees, no (social) barriers” model designed to “empower individuals from all backgrounds to thrive in the travel industry.” The agency also aims to equally appeal to existing independent agents, those who may have been “away” for a while during the pandemic, and especially individuals looking to join the industry.
If you love Elton John (and Bernie Taupin), the performance honouring the pair with the prestigious Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song for 2024 is a must. The gala aired on PBS earlier this week and featured a host of performances, including Joni Mitchell, Brandi Carlisle, and Garth Brooks covering John/Taupin classics. Even Metallica weighed in for “Funeral for a Friend/Loves Lies Bleeding” (oddly, it worked!).
TravelBrands celebrated its relationship with travel advisors and partners at gala evening events held in Toronto (Tuesday) and Montreal (Wednesday) this week. About 1,000 attendees were expected at the Agent Appreciation Events, which featured presentations, reception, and a massive trade show.
A new Caribbean tourism group founded by the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s former Canadian BDM has launched in Canada. One Caribbean Canada is the brainchild of Nancy Drolet, who has assembled an inaugural list of 18 destinations and several hotels in the region, with the notion of banding together to better promote the Caribbean in this country.
Remember the old days? Get to the Sunquest launch before all the roast beef sandwiches (or Jamaican patties) are gone was the common refrain. How things have changed.
You may have heard there’s a total eclipse coming on Monday. With this in mind, it seems appropriate to dust off “Total Eclipse of the Heart”, the song by husky-voiced Welsh chanteuse Bonnie Tyler, but notably written by inimitable Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman after the two split.
Most NEXUS members in Canada will say the fast-track trusted traveller program is the best $50 they ever spent. (Many others lament they just haven’t gotten around to it yet). But after 20 years of border bliss without a price hike, the cost of the card is set to more than double effective Oct. 1.
Dubai welcomed more tourists than ever before in 2023, attracting 17.15 million international overnight visitors. And they weren’t all rich and famous – a perception that Visit Dubai is eager to dispel, urging the trade to consider that “If you think you know Dubai, think again!”
Accompanied by key suppliers from New Zealand, the South Pacific country’s national carrier called in Toronto and Calgary this week as part of a North American mission designed to “harness everything New Zealand… and bring a touch of New Zealand” to the trade.
It’s Australia month at Goway and any mention of DownUnder always gets me thinking about my favourite singer, the amazing Aussie Paul Kelly – a multi-talented singer-songwriter-poet I have previously introduced in this space, comparing his band and style to Blue Rodeo.
These are a few of my favourite things: Jimmy Buffet, New Orleans, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. And now the three of them have amazingly come together with the unexpected new video of a song recorded in 2023 just before the late singer’s untimely death.
It sounded like an Oscar speech, so many people thanked by Flemming Friisdahl. And in a way, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the company he founded, The Travel Agent Next Door, was an Oscar of sorts from the Canadian travel industry. But the point, Friishdahl was determined to make, was he couldn’t have done it alone.
As Jamaica prepares to host global delegates at the Caribbean’s pre-eminent travel trade event, Caribbean Travel Marketplace, in May, the country’s tourism minister has declared a new benchmark for tourism metrics: 2023. “Normally we talk about 2019 (before the pandemic), as being the benchmark,” Edmund Barlett said during a zoom event ahead of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s 42 annual event. “Now we have changed that. 2023 is the new benchmark for Jamaica’s tourism.”
Since the age of four, when my mother first played the irrepressible song “Off to Dublin in the Green” by an obscure group called The Abbey Tavern Singers, I’ve been hooked on traditional Irish folk music.
In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday, it naturally behooves us to offer an Irish song this week, and I’m a sucker for the classics, like “The Rocky Road to Dublin,” “Whiskey in the Jar,” and “The Orange and the Green” – which is why we’ve done those in years past.
For those whose bucket list is beckoning, there may be no better time to travel to Egypt – a destination that our recent Goway FAM group found utterly unaffected by the ongoing situation in Gaza, but which is nevertheless experiencing a dip in tourism that has created an unintended silver lining of fewer fellow visitors for those who do go.