By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ Never mind MAGA, Amarillo, Texas has embraced a different vibe: Make America Cowboy Again. Located in the heart of the state’s northern Panhandle, the city is having a moment in the West Texas sun thanks in part to the booming interest in western and cowboy culture generated by the hit TV show “Yellowstone.”
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ Despite a precipitous drop in the number of international visitors to the U.S. – not least from Canada – U.S. Travel Association president and CEO Geoff Freeman says there are many misperceptions and “untruths” about travel to the country amongst travellers, and that the Trump administration has actually done plenty of good to boost the country’s travel industry.
At the gateway to Old Town Niagara-on-the-Lake, The Clayfield will be a new option for visitors to one of Canada’s prettiest towns when it opens in late summer as part of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection, a curated portfolio of independent hotels recognized for their strong sense of identity and place.
A festival honouring Lithuania’s iconic cold beet soup brought tens of thousands of visitors Saturday to its capital city, which was fully decked out in pink. The colourful three-day Vilnius Pink Soup Fest featured a synchronized “Pink Break” lunch of revellers from across the globe all sharing in the beet soup, known as šaltibarščiai (also called cold borscht) sitting at long tables.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ At IPW – U.S. Travel’s biggest event of the year – it’s the host destination that always resonates with regular attendees long after the business part of the signature trade show ends. News comes and goes year after year, and meetings have a business-as-usual demeanor, but it’s the events and galas, the weather, the food, the vibe, that stick.
By JEFF MCDONALD/ Unless there are flight cancellations, by the time you read this, I’ll be in eastern Cuba in the country’s second biggest city, Santiago de Cuba. Why travel to Cuba now, with the much-publicized fuel shortages and power outages? Several reasons.
Visitors to the Jellyfish Museum in Pompano Beach, Fla. – the first attraction in the United States dedicated entirely to unique ocean creatures – invites visitors to the Greater Fort Lauderdale and South Florida to explore the beauty and mystery of the fascinating marine creatures through glowing aquariums, immersive exhibits, and interactive displays.
Parks Canada is urging tourists and hikers to exercise caution this spring and summer and ensure they are properly prepared for backcountry travel as search and rescue crews respond to an increasing number of incidents across the mountain parks.
The beauty of an ever-growing destination like Greater Fort Lauderdale is that there are always new places to try, whether it’s your first visit or your 100th. Maybe it’s a smashburger joint with a devoted following, a new hotel dotting the skyline, or a restaurant devoted entirely to caviar, the luxury delicacy taking over menus everywhere.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ With “elbows up” tourism in full force, as well as increasing interest in Canada from abroad, Rendez-vous Canada (RVC), wraps up in Toronto today (Friday) having hosted a record number of international travel buyers and Canadian tourism sellers – a peak performance symbolized by an opening night reception attended by many of the 1,500 delegates at the top of the CN Tower.
There are faster ways to get from Chicago to Los Angeles, but none have the allure or cultural cachet of Route 66. To John Steinbeck, it was the Mother Road that led poor farmers from Dust Bowl desperation to sunny California. To Native Americans along the route, it was an economic boon that also left scars. To Black travellers, it offered sanctuary during segregation. And to music fans, it was the place to get their kicks.
He is known as the French Banksy – or simply JR. Now the artist popular across France for large-scale projects, from photographs to graffiti and street art, has transformed Paris’s most famous bridge, the bustling Pont Neuf, into a walk-through “cave.”
In the first four months of 2026, Embratur says Brazil achieved the best results in the history of international tourist arrivals from 10 of the main source markets to the country. In April alone, Colombia, China, Mexico, Portugal, Peru, Canada, the UK, Chile, Australia and Uruguay sent together more than 1.1 million visitors to Brazilian destinations. The total number of arrivals in the first four months of 2026, was 4,333,423.
A structural checkup on Tyra the Dinosaur has determined she’s retaining water, has breathing issues, a fever and wrinkles – but is otherwise far from extinct.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ Brand USA, the destination marketing organization for the United States, has launched a new initiative to encourage travel to the country while at the same combatting “misperceptions” that may give potential visitors pause.
Temperature records toppled as a spring heat wave continued to scorch parts of Western Europe on Tuesday, triggering government warnings about risks to life. Several drownings were reported in Britain and France as people tried to cool down.
The Kingdom of Bhutan will host its first-ever travel exhibition June 11-13 at Zhichenkhar, Thimphu, designed to facilitate tourism to the emerging “Thunder Dragon Kingdom.”
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ Last year at IPW, the U.S. Travel Association ducked “the Canadian question.” In fact, it ducked the media altogether. But this year, full marks to the organization (and Brand USA) for facing the music and comprehensively answering the question that Travel Industry Today asked on behalf of all Canadians and the Canadian travel industry: “Where does Canadian travel to the U.S. stand at this moment and what do you have to say to Canadians that might make a difference?”
Rendez-vous Canada (RVC) kicks off today in Toronto with Canada’s largest international tourism trade show set to welcome a record number of international travel buyers and Canadian tourism sellers over the next three days.
With vibrant greenery, blooming flowers and dramatic Atlantic views around every turn, islands across the Atlantic archipelago offer a sensory escape unlike anywhere else in Europe.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ Even as U.S. Homeland was threatening travel chaos by withdrawing U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers from airports in U.S. “sanctuary cities, the U.S. Travel Association’s signature annual travel trade show IPW 2026 wrapped up on Friday, having drawn nearly 5,000 delegates from over 60 countries, including Canada, over the event’s four full days last week in South Florida.
Hotel industry and tourism groups in Toronto are optimistic that FIFA World Cup matches will bring many people to the city and boost the local economy despite a lack of surge in hotel bookings and high ticket prices.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ The Big Texan Steak Ranch and Brewery Is more than a restaurant, it’s an empire. The family-owned establishment in Amarillo serves over 600,000 lbs of beef a year to more than 600,000 guests and ranks as arguably the top attraction in the Texas Panhandle city that is also home to the famed Cadillac Ranch art installation immortalized in song by Bruce Springsteen.
Caribbean tourism is entering a new strategic phase, one defined less by rapid post-pandemic recovery and more by the need to diversify demand, capture higher-value travellers, and unlock growth beyond traditional peak periods.
The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT), alongside Costa Rican tourism partners and the Canadian team at VoX International, welcomed travel advisors, tour operators and airline representatives to an immersive “Energía Pura Vida” trade networking event last week at Arcadia Earth in Toronto’s The Well.
By CINDY-LOU DALE/ Tokyo’s food is layered: Edo pragmatism, Meiji experimentation, post-war reinvention. These 15 dishes trace the capital’s culinary DNA – but they are only a beginning. In Tokyo, every neighbourhood writes its own menu.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ IPW, the U.S. Travel Association’s signature annual trade show, kicked off Monday in sunny Fort Lauderdale with thousands of industry delegates from around the world on hand to buy and plan future product, but also to suss out for themselves just what’s happening in America at this moment, and yes, to enjoy the incredible warmth and hospitality (and entertainment) that is always on display from both the hosts and exhibitors from across the entire country.
The Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism hosted the DR Tourism Roadshow Toronto on May 12 at the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, bringing together travel advisors, tour operators, airline partners, media representatives, and tourism stakeholders for an evening dedicated to showcasing the destination’s latest tourism developments, experiences, and growing connectivity with the Canadian market.
Havana’s broad avenues are empty at night. Theatres are closed. Bars and cafés have curtains lowered. It’s hard to find lights in the streets or Cubans making money entertaining tourists.
At the top of Signal Hill in St. John’s, Nfld., on a recent afternoon, a steady stream of people walked around a rocky cliff and gasped. Some cheered, some took out their phones to capture the moment – a rush of awe as an iceberg floated in the ocean below, cleaved off from a Greenland glacier and delivered by the Labrador current on a cloudless spring day.