With Santa Monica having been a key partner at the recent IPW travel trade show – the destination dubbed LA’s “beach city” was the site of after-show festivities for delegates, including Canadian attendees, over the course of two nights – the timing was right last week for Team Santa Monica to follow up with their annual Canadian mission to engage and update the trade in this country on the latest happenings in the SoCal destination.
Visitors injected billions of dollars into Toronto’s economy last year, a new study finds, but tourists have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels amid signs of slowing growth. Some 26.5 million visitors arrived in 2023 and spent $8.4 billion – the bulk of it on hotels, restaurants and transportation – according to a report from Tourism Economics.
Brand USA, the face of US Travel abroad, came calling in Canada this week, continuing its commitment to the US’s top international market and the trade that fuels it. Events were planned for Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary, with the centrepiece being a day-long event designed to connect tour operators and the media from this country with a delegation comprised fully of 30 destination reps from across the US.
For a few moments the sky over Normandy, France, seemed to bleed. A helicopter, camouflaged to match the blue horizon, hovered over the beach at Courseulles-sur-Mer, dropping poppies. First in bursts of red clouds, then spread out on the breeze, like blood droplets dispersed in water. Each blood-red flower represented a Canadian killed in World War II. In all, 48,000 poppies fluttered onto the beach, building and crowd below.
In conjunction with the return of seasonal service between Toronto and Salt Lake City, the Utah Office of Tourism (UOT) raised the curtain at a series movie-themed “Matinee & Mingle” events for the trade in Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto last week celebrating “100 years of film” in the state – including famous flicks like “Footloose” and “Thelma & Louise.”
With a colourful Jamaican vibe and a reggae beat – not least at the Sandals closing night gala beach party – the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) held its 42nd annual Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Montego Bay last week, attracting approximately 1,200 international delegates from 25 countries (including many Canadians) to the region’s “most important” event, which proved to be the largest since 2007, and similarly the biggest in the region since the pandemic, eclipsing last year’s gathering in Barbados.
More Canadians are visiting Britain – and spending – than ever before, according to the latest official statistics highlighted by Britain’s national tourism agency, VisitBritain. Canada’s appetite for travel to Britain is surging with more than 1 million Canadian (1,003,000) visits in 2023, up 12% over 2022 and an increase of 15% since 2019, the year before the pandemic.
In recognizing the importance for travellers to travel sustainably, The Travel Corporation (TTC) family of brands (among them Trafalgar, Insight and Contiki) has introduced a downloadable checklist designed to help clients (and those who book them) become more responsible travellers, ultimately helping to protect and make a positive impact on the planet, its people, and wildlife.
Canada’s tourism industry has rolled out a road map it hopes will attract visitors to Canada after the bruising it took during the COVID-19 pandemic. At Rendez-vous, the country’s largest annual tourism convention held in Edmonton last week, Destination Canada and the federal government unveiled a plan that aims to extend the travel season, increase the length of stays and attract more locals, foreigners and business travellers to a broader range of sites.
As the global travel industry (including Travel Industry Today) gathers in Montego Bay this week for Caribbean Travel Marketplace, host country Jamaica reports that it has recorded an impressive 1.7 million visitors as of May 7 of this year – nearly five percent ahead of last year and putting the island on track to reach its goal of welcoming a whopping five million visitors by 2025.
Remember SARS? When misleading news coverage by CNN and other media seemingly convinced the entire world that the entire city of Toronto, and Canada by extension, in 2003 was afflicted and warranted aversion by travellers. Now it’s western wildfires.
With the start of the hurricane season less than a month away and 2024 expected to be busier than average, US officials who predict, prepare for, and respond to natural disasters have a message: It’s not a matter of if a hurricane will hit Florida, but when. Even for those not on the coast, the officials said people need to know the potential danger hurricanes pose, such as flooding; and put together an emergency plan that includes a supply kit.
Offering cinematic beauty, off-the-beaten-track experiences and transcendently beautiful coastal scenery, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way – the world’s longest-defined coastal touring route – has been one of the island of Ireland’s most successful tourism stories.
Nassau & Paradise Island are havens for travellers seeking sun, sand, and sustainability, and visitors can easily find numerous ways to enjoy the destination in an eco-friendly way. From serene nature excursions to immersive cultural experiences, here are five Earth-friendly ways to explore while making sure that the natural wonders of The Bahamas are preserved for generations to come.
With white sand beaches that seem to stretch on forever, sparkling blue waters, abundant marine life, cultural activities and adventures, Nassau-Paradise Island is guaranteed to live up to its name for couples visiting The Bahamas. With this in mind, the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board has curated some top experiences to help couples make their romantic retreat even more special.
Nassau & Paradise Island are ideal destinations for anyone who loves to kick back and relax, but what about those who crave a little excitement mixed in with their lazy days spent on the sand? A sure way to make a splash is to ride on one of the Bahamian destinations many thrilling waterslides.
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.
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).
An artisan roastery based in the Helsinki has introduced a coffee blend that has been developed by artificial intelligence in a trial in which it’s hoped that technology can ease the workload in a sector that traditionally prides itself on manual work. It is only apt that Kaffa Roastery’s “AI-conic” blend was launched in Finland, a Nordic nation of 5.6 million that consumes the most coffee in the world at 12 kg per capita annually, according to the International Coffee Organization.
Hosting the world’s largest mammal migration, hippo population, man-made lake, and second largest wildebeest migration – not to mention one of the world’s most famous waterfalls – Zambia is gaining an increasing profile among North American travellers seeking travel authenticity.
It is now easier than ever for Canadian digital nomads to work remotely from Türkiye. With the new Digital Nomad Pre-Application platform Digital Nomad GoTürkiye, digital nomads can now easily initiate their application process online. Gaining popularity following the COVID-19 pandemic, digital nomads capitalize on remote work by travelling the world and logging on wherever they have an internet connection.
With outdoor adventure and escaping the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life remaining a top reason to travel, Visit Scotland says there’s never been a better time for travel advisors to get clients thinking about Scotland – a country with “endless options” for being active.
Known for diversity and inclusivity, Orlando has been a pioneer in LGBTQ+ tourism dating back to the original Gay Days in 1991. A winning family travel destination in the 2022 “Gay Travel Awards,” the Florida city promotes inclusivity through events, nightlife, and activities that welcome all and embraces the ethos: “the place where dragons, coasters and Pride flags fly.”
The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority (HTA) has partnered with Kanu Hawai‘i to make it easier for visitors to search and sign up for enriching volunteer opportunities throughout the state. Travellers planning their trips in the Hawaiian Islands can now access the Mālama Hawai‘i Volunteer Dashboard at GoHawaii.com/malama, the state’s official website for visitors.
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.
As jurisdictions like Venice increasingly look to regulate visitors to help solve local problems, Spain’s drought-stricken Catalonia is considering imposing water restrictions on tourists in the driest parts of the region if domestic consumption is not curtailed. The restriction of 100 litres per tourist per day for hotels would go into effect if a municipality fails to keep domestic water use by residents below established limits for three consecutive months under the current “drought emergency” for the northeastern region.
Madonna put on a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, turning Rio de Janeiro’s vast stretch of sand into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans. It was the last show of The Celebration Tour, her first retrospective, which kicked off in October in London.
Around 30 men are crammed into a Kabul classroom, part of the debut student cohort at a Taliban-run institute training tourism and hospitality professionals. The students vary in age, education level and professional experience. They’re all men – Afghan women are banned from studying beyond sixth grade – and they don’t know anything about tourism or hospitality. But they are all eager to promote a different side of Afghanistan. And the Taliban are happy to help.
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.