Whether it’s green beer, a drop of Irish whiskey or a pot of poitín, having a drink on St Patrick’s Day (or anytime really in Ireland) is considered the norm. And while far be it from us to be thinking about not drinking while in the haze of St. Patrick’s Days (it’s a weekend, really, not a day), it does happen we’re told.
Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, long a popular destination for tourists, is closing off some private-property alleys in its famous geisha district because of complaints about misbehaving visitors. Tourists crowd the narrow, quaint streets of the area called Gion, often following tour guides who show people around and lecture for long hours, local district official Isokazu Ota says, adding, “We are going to put up signs in April that tell tourists to stay out of our private streets.”
For many Canadians, no vacation is made complete without adding a sprinkle of adventure to their days in paradise. From history and culture to marine life and picturesque ocean views, the top-selling sun destination of Cuba is full of unique experiences that travellers of all kinds will love and can only get in this beautiful country.
Florida’s rubbery, slow-moving sea cows are beloved by all who are fortunate enough to meet them. Manatees widely roam the waters of Florida from April through October, though when the heat hasn’t hit full on, they still hang out in places like freshwater Florida Springs, where the temperatures remain constant throughout the year.
A steady increase in Canadian visitations to the Cayman islands – including a record-breaking Q1 and best-ever March – has prompted a boost in airlift to the Caribbean destination with additional flight frequencies by both Air Canada and WestJet.
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.
The Brightline rail service, which connects central and south Florida, has announced its next stop: Stuart in Martin County. The new location – on the Sunshine State’s Treasure Coast half-way between Miami and Orlando – was chosen after a review of five proposals in the area.
The Turks and Caicos Islands has emerged as the best-performing destination in the Americas for 2023, according to the latest UN Tourism Barometer, with the Caribbean nation seeing an arrivals jump 127% since (pre-pandemic) 2019.
The famed – and troubled – Miami Seaquarium, an old-Florida style tourist attraction that was used as a setting in the “Flipper” TV show and more recently home to Lolita, the beloved Orca that died last year, is being evicted from the waterfront property it leases from Miami-Dade County.
With the pandemic firmly behind it, Japan is uniformly rated as one of 2024’s most desired destinations, and one of the most tantalizing features of a visit is seeing sakura – cherry blossoms – which paint the landscape in cities and countryside a magnificent pale pink from March through May.
Visit California has officially revealed its new ‘Ultimate Playground’ global brand platform, the state’s first brand evolution in more than a decade. Launched this week with the “Let’s Play” global campaign, the Ultimate Playground aims to inspire global travellers, including Canadians, to stay and play in California on their next holiday.
With the 63rd Annual Can-Am Days set to kick off Saturday (March 9) – coinciding with some school breaks – Canadians will begin their annual seasonal migration to Myrtle Beach. But while the festivities and special offers continue through March 17th, the Grand Strand region of South Carolina has a host of new offers and attractions that carry on throughout 2024.
Spring is in the air in Arizona – and that means spring training baseball, desert blooms, and plenty of Canadians. And while the former are annual rights of Spring, the latter is especially welcome news as the southern US state expects to at last surpass pre-pandemic numbers in 2024.
Carnival Cruise Line has announced plans for a US$100-million pier extension that will double the arrival capacity of Celebration Key, Carnival Cruise Line’s new exclusive destination scheduled to open on Grand Bahama island in the summer of 2025. With the additional $100- million pier extension investment, the now $600-million flagship project remains the largest of its kind ever undertaken by Carnival Corp.
WestJet flight WS34 from Toronto touched down in Dublin on Friday, marking the return of transatlantic flying by the carrier between eastern Canada and Europe. The service to the Irish capital also kicked off the 10-year anniversary of WestJet’s entry into Europe, commemorating the airline’s inaugural transatlantic flight between St. John’s and Dublin in 2014.
Located on the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, Los Cabos might be the “most isolated” region of Mexico – “you have to come by air,” notes the managing director of the region’s tourist board, Rodrigo Esponda – but Canadians clearly have no trouble finding the vacation hotspot.
Brent Carnegie admits he wouldn’t likely have ever listed Albania on his travel bucket list. But the Canadian travel industry veteran recently found himself in what has traditionally been considered a rather mysterious Balkan enclave for a family visit – and he loved it.
The BT Tower, a futuristic landmark on the London skyline for 60 years, is to become a hotel, says owner BT Group PLC. The company, formerly known as British Telecom, said it has agreed to sell the tower to US company MCR Hotels for 275 million pounds ($470 million).
Nevada regulators have issued the first license to operate a lounge – in Las Vegas – where cannabis can be consumed recreationally, marking the first of what are expected to be dozens of such operations and marking what one company owner says is “a platform… where tourists and locals alike can be a part of a new chapter in the evolution of hospitality.”
Representatives from Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) touched down in Montreal last week to share the latest destination news and connect with travel agents, tour operators, and travel media. The event featured dinner and an immersive mural painting activity designed to offer a taste of the coastal city’s eclectic ViBe creative district.
Surpassing all previous records, the Bahamas welcomed over 9.64 million visitors in 2023, marking a historic milestone the Caribbean nation. The figure represents a 38% increase over 2022 and a 33% increase compared to the previous 2019 record.
The Eiffel Tower reopened to visitors on Sunday after a six-day closure because of striking employees demanding better maintenance of the historic landmark, showing traces of rust, and salary hikes. The operator of the 330-metre tower said it reached an agreement with unions representing the workers after promising to allocate an “ambitious 380-million euro (about $412 million) investment by 2031” for renovation work.
From traditional rustic wooden cabins to avant-garde culinary experiences, sugar shacks come in many forms. Long wooden tables draped with checkered tablecloths set the stage for a hearty Québécois meal where almost every dish is bathed in maple syrup. Besides serving up delicious food, sugar shacks are a social hub for friends and family – and a favourite for visitors to La Belle province.
Women in matching checkered aprons, headscarves, and a rainbow of running shoes limbered up as they prepared for the centuries-old pancake race in the English country town Olney. They rolled their shoulders in unison, raised up on their toes and did squats before stepping to the starting line – frying pans in hand.
There was certainly no shortage of top-of-mind topics at Atout France’s annual Canadian roadshow this week – a four-city tour that winds up in Vancouver Thursday after gala event in Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary. After all, the Summer Olympic Games awaits the starters gun July 26 in Paris, D-Day will be thoughtfully remembered in Normandy on its milestone 80th anniversary on June 6, and the long-awaited re-opening of Paris’s landmark Notre Dame Cathedral is scheduled for Dec. 8 (it was famously devastated by fire 2019).
The cruise ships dot the Nile like planes coming into an airport, though the procession belies the fact that they are operating at half capacity or less as Egyptian tourism continues to be rocked by the country’s perceived proximity to the war in Palestine – despite the fact that the distance from Gaza to Giza is close to 500 km., and through the Sinai desert no less.
Travel advisors are invited to connect with JTB Canada team during virtual drop-in sessions as the tourist board launches a new virtual travel agent engagement series with the Jamaica Winter Open House, taking place today (Wednesday, Feb. 21) from 1 to 3 p.m. ET. Further sessions are planned throughout the year.
For anyone with even a passing acquaintance with London, the city’s Tube map is as iconic as the red buses or the black cabs. But for the past few years, there’s been something not quite right about the map originally designed by Harry Beck in 1933 – a collection of orange train lines, mostly orbiting the inner city, known as the London Overground.
Springboarding off a “phenomenal” year of tourism, which included $125 million in revenue from the tourist development tax – the second highest in its history – Visit Lauderdale has unveiled a series of ambitious destination marketing initiatives for 2024 designed to “share our message of inclusion and diversity to travellers who are looking for fun, bold, immersive, and interactive experiences.”
Visitors to Greater Fort Lauderdale will discover a destination where the Sunshine state’s magic collides with the region’s vibrant beats. Beyond breathtaking landscapes and balmy weather, Florida’s musical soul finds its home here, resonating with the rhythm of diversity that makes this destination exceptional.