Toronto’s Pearson airport says a staffing boost and other initiatives have ‘tangibly improved’ service, and issues that sparked chaos at Canada’s largest airport last summer have been addressed. And no longer is the Toronto hub rated last globally in on-time performance.
Officials have warned residents and tourists packing Mediterranean destinations to stay indoors during the hottest hours as the second heat wave in as many weeks hits the region and Greece, Spain and Switzerland battled wildfires.
Air Canada has added a host of new features for passengers, from check-in to inflight. The upgrades include expanded in-flight food and beverage offerings, more family-friendly options in the airline’s in-flight entertainment library, as well as additional advances to the Air Canada App.
Rising water from the Yamuna river on Wednesday reached the outer boundary walls of India’s iconic Taj Mahal and submerged one of its adjacent gardens after record monsoon rains swelled rivers across northern India over the last three weeks.
TRAVELSAVERS has partnered with Trees4Travel and there were some very exclusive accolades for several Canadian cruise agents from Direct Travel in this week’s Retail Round-up.
Carnival Cruise Line continues to expand the use of facial biometric technology to expedite the debarkation process and its partnership with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The cruise lines says over three million guests have already used utilized the new technology, with helps make disembarking from ships faster and easier.
The Italian tourism ministry thought it had a sure-fire way to bring travellers into the country: turning a 15th century art icon into a 21st century “virtual influencer.” But the ad campaign has faced significant backlash – with critics calling it a “new Barbie” that trashes Italy’s cultural heritage.
Heat-related closures notwithstanding, tourists are waiting more than two hours to visit the Acropolis in Athens. Taxi lines at Rome’s main train station are running just as long. And so many visitors are concentrating around St. Mark’s Square in Venice that crowds get backed up crossing bridges – even on weekdays.
The Association of Canadian Independent Travel Advisors (ACITA) is urging independent travel advisors to check their CRA accounts to see if their federal support payments during the pandemic have been recalled.
Canadians can claim the world’s 7th-most valuable passport – up from 8th last year – according to the respected Henley Passport Index, which ranks the world’s 199 passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. Singapore took top spot in the ranking in a major poll shakeup as Japan placed third after reigning for five straight years.
ACTA is adding two additional experiential learning opportunities for travel advisors in 2023. Trips to the Dominican Republic (Aug 15-21) and Alentejo, Portugal (Nov. 13-19), join the sold-out ACTA – Avalon Waterways European River Cruise Summit taking place in October.
Visitors to Las Vegas this week stepped out momentarily to snap photos and were hit by blast-furnace air. But most will spend their vacations in a vastly different climate – at casinos where the chilly air conditioning might require a light sweater.
An emergency evacuation slide fell from an airliner and landed in the backyard of a home near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, causing no injuries but damaging a roof, officials and witnesses said.
As ACTA tackles the industry-wide labour shortage, amongst several issues that are currently bedeviling retail travel in this country, ACTA’s president says the issue comes as no surprise.
Travellers arriving or departing the UK via London Gatwick – notably Canadian passengers on WestJet and British Airways – face potential disruptions to their flight plans later this month and in early August after almost 1,000 workers at the airport voted to strike in a dispute over pay.
United Airlines and the union representing its pilots say they reached agreement on a contract that will raise pilot pay by up to 40 percent over four years. The union valued the agreement at about $10 billion. It followed more than four years of tumultuous bargaining that included picketing and talk of a strike vote.
Despite its forbidding name, and extreme temperatures, tourists are flocking to Death Valley National Park, the infamous desert landscape on the California-Nevada border.
Anne Marie Moebes, a 40-year travel industry veteran, has joined Vancouver-based technology company BranchUp to head up its marketing and educational strategy.
Upmarket cruise line Azamara is returning to Canada in 2025 for the first time since 2017 with two brand-new voyages. Marking the cruise line’s return to the country for the first time in more than five (sailing) years due to the pandemic, Azamara’s new sailings will stop in six Canadian ports.
An American woman was fined after attempting to bribe a police officer at the Munich airport’s passport control over the weekend, according to German federal police. The 70-year-old was travelling from Athens to Washington with a stopover in Munich when she attempted to go through passport control without presenting a valid ID, police said.
Though it is universally agreed that business is booming, the Canadian travel industry certainly still has its share of woes at the moment – though for one shining day in Milton, Ont., the rain clouds parted and the sun beamed down for close to 200 enthusiastic participants in ACTA’s 34th annual summer golf tournament.
As tourists in central Athens huddled under mist machines, disgruntled visitors bemoaned the temporary closing of the Acropolis in Athens on the weekend as Greek authorities proactively shut the world monument’s gates between midday and early evening amid a heat wave that continues to grip southern Europe.
As if last week’s rail strike wasn’t enough, hundreds of flights across Italy were cancelled on the weekend, forcing travellers at the peak of tourist season – and in the middle of a heat wave – to make alternate plans, after air transport unions went ahead with a planned work stoppage.
Condolences from the travel world and beyond are pouring in for Jill Stewart, the wife of Sandals Resorts executive chairman Adam Stewart, who died after a year-long battle with cancer. The Stewarts were married for 14 years and shared three children.
In a sign of continued strength for cruise travel, Holland America Line says its bookings on July 11 were higher than on any day in the brand’s 150-year history. Booking revenues also broke the line’s single-day record.
There’s no better way to sell a destination than to know a destination. With this in mind, the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) is offering Canadian travel advisors a chance to take part in its annual series of familiarization trips for 2023, taking place this fall.
In last week’s news, ACTA rallied support for federal government financial relief, the Canada-US border was declared to be in “disarray,” the world’s biggest cruise ship completed sea trials, Lynx announced a new destination, and The Bahamas celebrated a major milestone.
Mexico’s armed forces are taking control of the capital’s main airport, and the government plans to give the military control of nearly a dozen more across the country as the president takes aim at corruption and mismanagement.
Members of Unifor Local 114 working at the ‘Victoria Clipper’ are warning that the pace of bargaining for their next contract suggests that the Victoria-Seattle fast ferry service could be disrupted before the end of the summer.
For young Canadians hoping to take a trip on a budget, there’s a new challenge on the horizon beyond finding a way to fit all of one’s necessities into a backpack: the lingering effects of high inflation. According to StudentUniverse, a student and youth-focused travel agency, the top concern for young people who wish to travel is the financial cost. However, with the right approach and mindset, spending a few months in Europe may not be as far out of reach as it seems.