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.
The World Bank has suspended funding for a tourism project in Tanzania that has caused the suffering of tens of thousands of villagers, according to a US-based rights group that has long urged the global lender to take such action. The World Bank’s decision to suspend the US$150- million project, which aims to improve the management of natural resources and tourism assets in a remote part of southern Tanzanian, was “long overdue,” according to the Oakland Institute.
Venice launched a pilot program Thursday to charge day-trippers a €5 (CDN$7.35) entry fee that authorities hope will discourage visitors from arriving on peak days and make the city more livable for its dwindling residents. But not everyone was happy, with some residents likening the move to turning Venice into a theme park.
Paris’s iconic windmill sails of the Moulin Rouge, a vibrant emblem of French city’s bohemian lifestyle, collapsed Thursday after a show. The incident took place shortly before 2 a.m., after the last performance of the night had ended and the audience had left the historic cabaret venue, renowned for its dazzling shows and can-can dancers. No injuries were reported.
Maureen Gordon has weathered hard times before. She and her husband began running ecotourism outfit Maple Leaf Adventures out of Vancouver about a month before the 9/11 terrorist attacks devastated international travel in 2001. The rebound was relatively quick. Fallout from COVID-19 has proven much more prolonged.
A US$12-billion passenger bullet train linking Sin City to the City of Angels is now under construction with the Las Vegas-Los Angeles line dubbed the first true high-speed rail service in the US. The private company building it is predicting millions of ticket-buyers will be boarding trains by 2028.
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.
Thai wildlife officials have laid out a plan to bring peace to a central Thai city after at least a decade of human-monkey conflict. The macaques that roam Lopburi are a symbol of local culture, and a major tourist draw.
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.
Throughout 2024, Britian’s Royal Collection Trust will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House at Windsor Castle, the largest and most famous dolls’ house in the world. Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House was built between 1921 and 1924 as a gift from the nation to Queen Mary following the First World War.
There’s one less spire in the “City of Spires” after fire gutted the Boersen, Copenhagen’s famed former stock exchange building on Tuesday – a calamity being compared to the destruction of Notre Dame in Paris in 2019.
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.
American Airlines will launch new seasonal service between Quebec City and Charlotte, NC, on Aug. 10, with Saturday flights weekly through Nov. 2.
A new tourism strategy aimed at delivering authentic and memorable visitor experiences by celebrating Gaelic culture, heritage and language has been launched in Scotland. The new plan highlights an increasing interest in the Gaelic language and culture from both domestic and international visitors.
Discover The Palm Beaches (DTPB), the tourism marketing organization for Palm Beach County, Fla., has created a new resource to help travel professionals learn, sell, engage with, and promote The Palm Beaches.
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.
National Tourism Week (NTW) – April 15-19 – is coming up. The campaign is orchestrated by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) and billed as a crucial platform for highlighting the pivotal role of tourism in Canada.
It’s a long way from Queen Victoria to Doja Cat (a rapper), but Madame Tussauds is pulling back the curtain to provide a glimpse into the research process that may culminate in the iconic attractions’ next wax models.
History buffs (or those who watch the new Disney+ biopic on Napoleon Bonaparte) may know the remote island of St. Helena as the site of the former French emperor’s exile, but the British overseas territory – a small, craggy island in the South Atlantic Ocean – hasn’t seen many tourists in the past for good reason: It’s one of the most remote inhabited places in the world.
Cuba is a hot-spot destination for Canadians looking to spend their days soaking up the sun on a soft-sand beach and wading in crystal-clear waters. While renowned Varadero Beach is popular among travellers and picturesque under any light, Cuba is also home to plenty of white sands found off the beaten path that are ideal for travellers seeking some solitude away from the crowds.
From its lavish opening in 1957 on a Las Vegas Boulevard surrounded by wide-open desert, to its sleepier years amid a boom in megaresorts, the Tropicana Las Vegas has been a familiar landmark in Las Vegas. Now the Strip’s third-oldest casino, the famed resort shut its doors for good at noon Tuesday, with demolition slated for October.
VisitScotland has launched an innovative new partnership The Travel Corporation (TTC) and the Travel Foundation designed to inspire and support climate action within Scotland’s tourism industry and drive change with businesses, visitors, and destinations.
Pack your earplugs. Trillions of evolution’s bizarro wonders, red-eyed periodical cicadas that have pumps in their heads and jet-like muscles in their rears, are about to emerge in numbers in part of the United State not seen in decades and possibly centuries.