News

The era of 47 open browser tabs and crowdsourced vacation spreadsheets may be losing its shine. According to Globus’s 2025/26 Wish List Survey of more than 25,000 North American travellers, today’s travellers are recalibrating. After years of do-it-yourself trip planning, they are gravitating towards expertly designed journeys that balance access, flexibility and breathing room – with an expert on-hand to take care of everything.

This week: Nexion fights back against fraud; Travel Leaders Network has a new preferred supplier – AIC Hotel Group; Collette is set to host its next quarterly travel advisor update; and Goway’s Travel Academy hits a milestone.

Ontario will declare Toronto’s island airport the province’s first special economic zone as it moves to take over land owned by the city, Premier Doug Ford said Monday. This is the latest move by the Ford government to push expansion of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to include jets.

TSA officers haven’t gotten a paycheck since Feb. 14. The vast majority of employees at TSA are considered essential, and roughly 50,000 continue to work without pay. But hundreds have quit or called in sick and absentee rates were two or three times higher in places. While frustrated travellers are calling for TSA agents to be paid, Tom Homan, the White House “border czar”, confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would be deployed to U.S. airports on Monday…more

Iran’s top military spokesman warned Friday that “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide won’t be safe for Tehran’s enemies. The threat renewed concerns that Iran may revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle East as a pressure tactic in the war.

With Cuba currently facing repeated nationwide power outages, including the March 16 island-wide blackout that left roughly 10 million people without electricity, Intrepid Travel says it is cancelling its upcoming trips to Cuba through April 30.

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.

A new poll suggests that most Canadians want the government to ban or regulate the use of algorithms to set prices – a common practice in travel – with half of respondents saying the practice of dynamic pricing is unfair because it can result in people paying different prices for the same product.

Cuba is preparing to receive its first shipment of Russian oil this year, just days after the government announced it was operating on natural gas, solar power and thermoelectric plants as severe power outages continue to hit an island whose power grid is crumbling.

Canadians remain passionate about exploring new destinations, but changing global dynamics are reshaping how and where they travel. According to CAA’s Travel Wise National survey, more than half of Canadians (51%) now say geopolitical and economic factors, such as instability abroad, a perception of the U.S. as being less welcoming, and rising travel costs, are influencing where Canadians choose to travel.       

Travel disruptions continued south of the border as airlines worked to recover from a powerful storm system that had already snarled flight schedules earlier in the week while the partial government shutdown continued to fuel long lines at security checkpoints.

Donald Trump turned away from Iran long enough on Tuesday to pledge imminent action against Cuba’s socialist government as his moves against the island bring the U.S.’s longtime opponent deeper into crisis.

Business travellers believe travel for work will get easier over the next five years with optimists (44%) outnumbering naysayers (17%) by more than two to one. And they expect AI to play a key role in improving the business travel experience and trust AI to streamline expense management, according to new research from American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT).

The CEOs of American Airlines, Delta, Southwest and JetBlue, are imploring U.S. Congress to restore funding to the Department of Homeland Security and embrace a bipartisan solution to pay federal aviation workers including airport security officers during the partial government shutdown.

This week: TTAND tunes in to luxury; Virtuoso unveils 21 Canadian cruise “icons’; KVI Travel also “evolves” with enhanced luxury offerings; Uniworld University introduces a new course; and Coconut Bay Resort & Spa in Saint Lucia has a bonus for advisors.

As fears of a global energy crisis rose on Monday, Donald Trump said he demanded about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open as Iranian strikes continued to rain down on Gulf countries as the week began.

According to new data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute, the recent acrimonious U.S.-Canada trade relationship, fueled by the economic hostility of the Trump administration, is not reflected in the general views of Americans. Three-quarters (73%) in the U.S. say they have a favourable view of Canada.