Starting this week, Canadians will face new entry requirements to enter the United Kingdom, to be followed later in the year in Europe. The electronic travel authorization (ETA) process takes effect Wednesday (Jan. 8) in Britain and is expected to follow by mid-2025 in Schengen zone countries. Notably, the ETAs must be completed (at least the first time) before arrival in the destinations.
Air Transat pilots have filed notice to beginning bargaining with the company over a new contract with the warning, “We want management to know we are ready to fight for a contract that addresses the concerns of our pilots and brings stability to our airline.”
TRAVELSAVERS Canada advisors are feeling optimistic about the upcoming year; Ensemble expands its Range with a new content-rich digital platform; top Trevello advisors cruised in style in South America with Swan Hellenic; Direct Travel got festive across the country; Onvigo recognized its first-year top achievers; and TTAND agents were honoured in Antigua.
Intrepid Travel, with almost 1,000 small group adventures across all seven continents, has dropped its ‘Five for 2025 Travel Trend Predications’ for the year ahead. Trips led by women for just women, Gen Z solo adventures, and parents looking to connect with their kids in new ways were just a few that made the list.
The chief executive of start-up Riyadh Air, which will take flight this summer, says that boarding passes – both paper and digital – will likely disappear withing five years, to be replaced by biometric scans for passengers.
The twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda has become the first Wellness Destination officially recognized by the Wellness Tourism Association (WTA), satisfying all nine of the WTA’s stringent criteria.
Aeromexico had the world’s best record – 87% – for on-time arrivals in 2024, according to an annual ranking released late last week. Delta Air Lines scored the highest among North American carriers, while WestJet and Air Canada finished at the bottom of that regional pack with on-time ratings below 72%.
A blast of snow, ice, wind and plunging temperatures stirred up dangerous travel conditions in parts of the central US on Sunday, as a disruptive winter storm brought the possibility of the “heaviest snowfall in a decade” to some areas. At the same time, the UK and Germany were walloped by heavy snow and freezing rain that similarly caused travel chaos as roads and airports closed.
Record-breaking heat waves in 2024 – including three of the hottest days on record globally, according to NASA – are fueling the rise “cool-cations” – trips to cooler, climate-resilient destinations during off-peak seasons that offer relief from extreme weather and crowded hotspots – amongst Canadians this year, according to Flight Centre Canada (FCC).
Tourism boards from Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia recently joined forces in Toronto to connect with Canadian travel advisors and inspire bookings to Central Europe in 2025 and beyond. The event was part of the Discover Central Europe roadshow, which also visited Boston and Fort Lauderdale with the aim of showcasing the region’s heritage, vibrant cities, and natural beauty.
The Piney-Pinecreek Border Airport had a unique claim to fame – its runway straddled the border of the US and Canada. But after seven decades of operation, the small airport that sits near Roseau, Minnesota, and Piney, Manitoba, closed for good on Dec. 27.
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.
If 2023 was a year of wonder about artificial intelligence, 2024 was the year to try to get that wonder to do something useful without breaking the bank. So, what’s in store for AI in the year to come?
A spike in deadly gang violence prompted Trinidad and Tobago to implement a country-wide state of emergency last week. The declaration followed a weekend marred by a spate of gang-related violence that resulted in multiple deaths, including five men believed to be victims of reprisal shootings.
TTC Tour Brands, which includes Trafalgar, Brendan Vacations, Costsaver, Contiki, Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold has made a list, checked it twice, and revealed its top trending destinations for 2025 based on recent booking behaviour by Canadian clients.
Florida condominium owners are looking at higher costs from condo associations in the new year, a consequence of a safety law passed by state lawmakers in 2022. It requires associations to have sufficient reserves to cover major repairs and to conduct a survey of reserves every decade.
Travel advisors have been called therapists, curators, creators, and “architects of dreams.” Add another honorific: peacemakers. That’s according to Jamaica’s minister of tourism Edmund Bartlett, who spares no hyperbole in describing the important role travel agents play in the world.
A team of US investigators including representatives from Boeing on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. The country’s worst aviation disaster in decades triggered an outpouring of national sympathy and a seven-day national mourning has been declared until Jan. 4.
Hong Kong Airlines will resume direct flights to Vancouver starting Jan. 18. The twice-weekly services will provide additional travel options for passengers travelling between Hong Kong and Vancouver, and those connecting via Hong Kong.
From exploring Norway’s pristine fjords to venturing deep into the Amazon and to discovering the cultural heritage of Northern Morocco, Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) has curated a list of seven destinations that promise “a fresh perspective on beloved destinations” for travellers in 2025.
In a packed session on digital marketing trends at the recent World Travel Market in London, Dan Christian, host of a popular Travel Trends podcast, revealed the trends – from AI and videos to search engine optimization and advertising on TikTok – that are at the forefront of travel marketing today.
The Ulmer Münster in southern Germany is the world’s tallest church. For now, anyway. The Gothic-style Lutheran church’s reign – begun on May 31, 1890 – could end in 2025, when La Sagrada Familia Basilica’s “Tower of Jesus Christ” in Spain is set to be completed.
It’s been quite a year – exhausting may be the best word to describe it. The heat is on as the world gets hotter – in more ways than one. So, here’s a look at some of what we saw in 2024 and what we can perhaps hope for in 2025.
Safety and security are understandably more important than ever when it comes to finding a safe place to live, work, or travel. 2024, The Global Peace Index 2024 ranks 163 countries based on their levels of peacefulness. They evaluate factors such as societal safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and the degree of militarization.
The federal government is proposing new rules surrounding airlines’ obligations to travellers whose flights are disrupted, even when delays or cancellations are caused by an “exceptional circumstance” outside of carriers’ control.
It’s been a long year in travel – strikes and almost strikes; the weather (oi, the weather! – too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too windy!); wars; inflation; bankruptcies; planes (or at least parts of them at any rate) literally falling out of the sky; dynamic pricing (remember that word); Donald Trump; and, as Bill Murray opined in ‘Ghost Busters’ of the end of days, “cats and dogs living together!” It’s enough to give one… brain rot.
Air Canada’s 2024 season of Dreams Take Flight wrapped up before Christmas with the last flight of the year departing from Calgary, whisking deserving children away for a special day at a theme park in California. Over the last 12 months, more than 900 children from across Canada were took part in the Air Canada Foundation program, which supports the health and well-being of children across the country, in particular creating hope and resiliency for children facing adversity.
Dog lovers rejoice: The US The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has released its annual downloadable 2025 TSA Canine Calendar, a tradition that honours the agency’s more than 1,000 explosives detection canines working across the country.
One Georgia city will welcome 2025 with a larger-than-average bang. The Macon-Bibb County Commission will implode a vacant 16-story hotel that once housed Elvis at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The County spent $4.5 million last year to buy the hotel in a federal bankruptcy proceeding and then agreed to hire a demolition firm to blow up the building at a cost of up to $2.6 million.
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.