By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ Start with the name. It’s Guad-el-oup – which is to say, not Guad-a -loup-eh (a city in Mexico). You could call it “the biggest small island in the Caribbean,” as some inhabitants boast, or, better still, just call it Gwada, as the locals do in their creole dialect.
With warm weather on the horizon, WestJet says it is underlining its in-flight footwear expectations and putting a ban on bare feet. Guests are required to keep shoes, socks, slippers or other forms of foot coverage on at all times, including during takeoff, landing. and while moving about the cabin, warns the airline.
With over 267,000 islands, Sweden has more islands than any other country on Earth – islands that are defined by calm, rest, clean air and restorative nature, large or small, set in the sea or emerging from a lake. With a rethinking of what luxury means, Sweden is now offering five of them for free to use and care for during a year.
By WALLACE IMMEN/ Explora Journeys has joined a roster of cruise lines changing course from the Middle East and sailing throughout the winter in the Mediterranean. MSC Cruises, and Windstar Cruises are also rerouting to sail in Europe and North Africa through the winter months as the closing of the Gulf of Hormuz continues with no end in sight.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ Last summer I shared my discovery of the year (which held for the rest of the calendar) – a “brand new” 30-year-old band from Scotland I had managed to miss before, prompting an enraged Scottish fellow to point at me at a trade show in Mexico of all places and yell – in full, glorious brogue – “How could ya ha’ missed Primal Scream?”
Despite the current challenges in the Middle East that are further disrupting both global and regional travel and costing the travel industry hundreds of millions of dollars daily, The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) says research of previous crises shows that tourism demand following security-related incidents, with the right response, can recover in as little as two months when governments and industry act quickly to restore traveller confidence.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday allowing Palm Beach International Airport to be renamed the President Donald J. Trump International Airport. The change is set to take place in July, formally rebranding the airport near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
This week: ACTA opens applications for its annual cruise summit, plus a new education experience in Iceland; TTAND savours Celebrity Cruises awards; Nexion launches its inaugural CANex conference; First in Service Travel marks a milestone; and agents could win a spot on a FAM to Bermuda…
By CINDY-LOU DALE/ Japan’s hospitality sector is entering a defining new phase. After years of recalibration following the pandemic, the country’s luxury hotel pipeline for 2026 reveals a confident, carefully considered return to growth – one that prioritises cultural sensitivity, adaptive reuse and regional diversification over sheer scale.
Sunwing Vacations has released its 2026 summer schedule, featuring flight options from key gateways across Canada to a wide range of popular sun destinations across Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. including Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Punta Cana, Montego Bay and more.
Porter Airlines has appointed Carlo Rinaldi as Director, Quebec Market Development, to lead the company’s commercial presence in the province. Based in Montreal, Rinaldi will drive Porter’s market development strategy, with a focus on growing corporate travel, expanding agency partnerships, and deepening engagement across the travel trade and corporate sectors.
After weeks of chaos in U.S. airports, the Transportation Safety Administration said the first paychecks in weeks were being sent as early as Monday to its workers, giving the beleaguered aviation system a boost of optimism. As a result, wait times at some TSA security bottlenecks, such as the airport checkpoints in Atlanta and Houston, improved significantly Monday morning.
Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau will leave the company later this year after coming under fire last week for his failure to deliver a video condolence message in French following a plane crash that killed two Air Canada Express pilots.
On “Zero Waste Day” Monday, global tourism leaders pledged to tackle a major global sustainability challenge: food waste. Launched today by the United Nations Environment Program and UN Tourism, the groundbreaking “Recipe of Change” initiative will see major tourism stakeholders measure food waste in their operations and implement operational and behavioural solutions to halve food waste by 2030.
WestJet Vacations’ 2026 newly released summer program features flight and packages options from key gateways across Canada to a wide range of popular sun destinations across Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America, including such hotspots as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Punta Cana, Puerto Plata, and Montego Bay.
Following the recent storms that brought flooding to parts of the Hawai’i, the historic town of Haleʻiwa, is moving forward as shops and restaurants reopen – and visitors are being welcomed back, says state tourism officials.
Alberta says it is aiming to be an “iconic” leader in indigenous tourism by helping support and build a vibrant sector and promoting the province as a destination for both Canadians and international visitors.
Effective March 31, most fees for Canadian passports and travel document services will increase as the government begins tying prices to the consumer price index (CPI). As such the cost of a Canadian passport will rise by 2.7%.
U.S. Transportation Security Administration officers could get their first full paychecks in more than six weeks as early as today (Monday) after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday instructing the Homeland Security secretary to pay them immediately.
A 40-metre mountain of ice rose over the suburban Paris countryside on the weekend as Disney opened its Arendelle kingdom to the world – Elsa’s palace glowing at the summit, a “Frozen” Nordic fishing village below, and the company’s new CEO standing before a crowd of celebrities.
A sightseeing company’s helicopter crashed near a remote beach off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, killing three people and injuring two others, authorities said. It was the latest in a series of fatal crashes that has plagued the industry for decades.
Sunwing Vacations’ Partner of the Month, Viva Resorts by Wyndham, is offering both travel advisors and their clients incentives and exclusive vacation perks at its properties across the Caribbean when booked by March 31.
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.
In a social media post Thursday evening, Donald Trump said he would sign an order instructing the Homeland Security secretary to immediately pay Transportation Security Administration agents as Congress struggled to reach a deal to end the budget impasse that has jammed airports and left workers without paychecks.
From Bhutan to Vietnam, Kensington has issued a list of top trending destinations based on internal data and insights from its team. The findings reflect continued demand for the the appeal of lesser-known destinations, a growing desire for personalized and exclusive experiences, a preference for more seamless travel, and the desire for more private, highly customized itineraries.
Niagara-on-the-Lake travellers will soon be able to start an Air Canada trip from their local airport — but instead of boarding a plane, the journey will begin on a bus. Air Canada and the Landline Company have announced that a luxury motorcoach service will connect Niagara District Airport to Toronto Pearson International Airport starting June 15, allowing passengers to book the bus as part of their flight itinerary — similar to a connecting flight.
So, you’re booking your flight, and just when you’re about to check out, the airline asks if you’d like to pay a little something to offset your share of the flight’s pollution. Or, maybe you’re an environmentally minded person, and you’ve heard you can buy these things called carbon offsets.
Eighty years ago, the first Las Vegas buffet opened with the $1 western-themed Buckaroo Buffet that offered cold cuts and cheese. Today, visitors can drop $175 on luxury buffets with lobster tail, prime rib and limitless drinks.
The long-awaited Four Seasons I has begun her inaugural season, a Mediterranean voyage, coinciding with the 65th anniversary of Four Seasons Hotels and the opening of its first hotel on the first day of spring in 1961.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ With St. Patrick’s Day past, and the appreciation of Irish culture having hit its zenith in mid March, it behooves us to remember that the Emerald’s isle’s musical contributions to the world can’t simply be pigeonholed into ethereal folk songs or and lively jigs and reels (“trad” – traditional – music as it is called).