Visit California today announced Julie Coker has been named the organization’s next – and only second ever – president & CEO, succeeding longtime leader Caroline Beteta, who announced her retirement earlier this year. Coker will assume the role Oct. 1, swapping coasts from New York, where she was president & CEO of NYC Tourism + Conventions.
A round-up of news nuggets, airlines, hotels/resorts, cruising, tours, events, FAMS/incentives, deals, destinations and more are covered in our weekly round-up of travel industry news you may have missed.
Sunwing Vacations, now Canada’s largest former supplier of Cuba vacations, says it has seen a dramatic switch in bookings to the Dominican Republic in place of the troubled Caribbean island.
Some Canadian airlines are scaling back fuel surcharges as fuel prices fall, while others are holding steady for now.
Brazil’s federal police detained disembarking airline passenger in Sao Paulo’s international Guarulhos airport for racism on Wednesday, the latest in a series of high-profile arrests of foreign tourists on similar grounds.
Rare natural phenomena such as auroras, solar eclipses, wildebeest migrations and volcanic eruptions are the strongest catalysts for event-driven international travel, surpassing sporting events, concerts and festivals, according to a new survey of global travellers.
Canadian travellers are prioritizing longer, higher-value trips that are driving strong growth for the summer, according to new data from Virtuoso. Notably, while demand for travel to the U.S. has softened, the travellers who are going are spending significantly more, and Canadian summer travel overall is pacing well ahead of last year.
Halfway through Toronto’s World Cup hosting journey, visitors from around the world say the city has offered them much more than soccer.
Hailing the ranking as a “major milestone in operational excellence,” WestJet reports it has earned a place among the world’s most on-time airlines in the latest Cirium On-Time Performance Report.
Qantas Airways plans to launch the world’s longest direct flight next year, a service of up to 22 hours nonstop between London and Sydney.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ With nearly 1,000 WestJetters, Toronto Blue Jays representatives – including legendary players Pat Borders and Edwin Encarnacion – and community members in attendance, WestJet celebrated the renewal of its long-standing partnership with the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday by unveiling a new co-branded plane that will take the iconic Jays logo to 35,000 feet, and wherever the plane flies.
As part of an unprecedented emergency economic package designed to open up Cuba’s struggling economy, the Cuban government has announced the rollout of a historic package of 176 free-market reforms designed to completely revitalize the island’s travel sector.
With fuel prices dropping in the wake of an apparent agreement between the U.S. and Iran to end the war in the Middle East, Porter Airlines says it is reducing its temporary surcharge for new reward flight bookings to $20.
France recorded its hottest day ever Tuesday as an early heat wave gripped Europe, prompting the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre museum to restrict visiting hours and disrupting school and transportation schedules in multiple countries.
This week: ACTA is concerned over cuts, Ensemble ups tech ante, Utah Office of Tourism hosts Canadian travel advisors, Flight Centre Canada gets a gift partner, and Collette collects food donations.
Expedia Travel Agent Affiliate Program (TAAP) is redefining its role beyond a booking platform, introducing new capabilities that help travel advisors and agencies streamline back-office operations, reduce manual work and scale their businesses more effectively.
Citing economic models in China and Vietnam, Cuba’s Communist Party has approved an emergency economic package featuring unprecedented free-market measures aimed at opening up the struggling island’s economy following heightened pressure from the United States.
Great planes deserve great destinations (and vice versa), so it’s no surprise that Air Canada’s new Airbus A321XLR aircraft made its international debut en route to Toulouse, France, on June 15, flying from YUL Montréal-Trudeau airport to Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (TLS).
Garner Hotels, a midscale conversion brand within the IHG Hotels & Resorts portfolio (IHG) portfolio, has reached 100 open hotels globally since its August 2023 launch – IHG’s fastest ever brand to scale globally.
A large fire almost completely destroyed a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic on Friday, forcing the evacuation of almost 1,700 tourists. Local media reported an Italian tourist died in the fire and several other tourists required medical assistance.
A U.S. senator is urging the head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resist any pressure from President Donald Trump to prioritize construction of his planned triumphal arch over aviation safety.
One of Europe’s emerging “it” destinations now has direct service from Canada courtesy of Transat, which officially inaugurated its new non-stop service between Toronto and Tirana late last week. The first flight (TS422) marked the launch of the first air link between Canada and Albania.
In response to recent global airspace disruptions, rising jet fuel costs, and heightened travel uncertainty amid the U.S.-Iran conflict, Emirates has introduced Comprehensive Travel Cover, a product the company says is an industry-first travel insurance offering broad, multi-risk protection for travellers throughout their journey.
Visitors to the Acropolis can now see the Parthenon’s western side looking whole for the first time in about 220 years. Officially unveiled last week (June 18), restorers have slotted two new marble blocks into long-empty gaps high on the temple’s western end – the view visitors see when they first enter the ancient monument in Athens.
A round-up of news nuggets, airlines, hotels/resorts, cruising, tours, events, FAMS/incentives, deals, destinations and more are covered in our weekly round-up of travel industry news you may have missed.
Booking flights and accommodation online means vacationers share a lot of sensitive information with travel businesses – names, addresses, passports, and more besides. However, this data may be at high risk of hacker interception – especially if travel firms don’t take steps to protect it adequately enough.
Cuba is prepared for a fight with the United States and is praising Canada for its humanitarian aid, said a senior diplomat visiting Ottawa from Havana this week.
Every day, visitors from around the world make their way to the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art – not necessarily for the galleries inside, but for a statue of a fictional boxer from South Philadelphia. The bronze figure of Rocky Balboa – arms raised in victory, clad in boxing trunks and boots – has become a point of pilgrimage for people around the world.
Business in the front, party in the back. A packed Danish crowd recently celebrated the much-maligned but enduring mullet hairstyle, defined by very short hair at the front and longer hair at the back.
Films, series and music tours are increasingly shaping destination choices, turning cultural content into measurable travel demand, according to new data from Civitatis. Travellers are increasingly choosing destinations based on what they watch, listen to and engage with digitally, says the activities booking platform.