What if there was a seamless and easy-going way to book your clients’ next vacation in Cuba? The answer is simple: with Melia properties at the forefront, Transat facilitates access to an exclusive supply chain that promises not just premium quality and variety but also complete peace of mind.
Well-known Canadian travel industry veteran Meg Murgatroyd has joined solo traveller specialist Just You as head of trade sales for North America in a move the company says reinforces its commitment to supporting the travel trade in Canada.
Canada’s tourism industry has rolled out a road map it hopes will attract visitors to Canada after the bruising it took during the COVID-19 pandemic. At Rendez-vous, the country’s largest annual tourism convention held in Edmonton last week, Destination Canada and the federal government unveiled a plan that aims to extend the travel season, increase the length of stays and attract more locals, foreigners and business travellers to a broader range of sites.
WestJet Group launched its first flight to Seoul from Calgary Friday, establishing a direct link between Alberta and South Korea. The nearly sold-out WestJet flight 86 marked the first of 140 flights between Calgary and Seoul this summer, with the 787 Dreamliner service operating three times per week through Oct. 27, returning again in Spring 2025.
Air Canada is significantly boosting its schedule serving Ottawa with year-round flights to Calgary and Winnipeg, increased flights to Halifax and Quebec City, and the addition of widebody service to Vancouver. Additional schedule improvements include more flights to Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, Cancun, and Punta Cana this winter.
As the global travel industry (including Travel Industry Today) gathers in Montego Bay this week for Caribbean Travel Marketplace, host country Jamaica reports that it has recorded an impressive 1.7 million visitors as of May 7 of this year – nearly five percent ahead of last year and putting the island on track to reach its goal of welcoming a whopping five million visitors by 2025.
The authority that runs Montreal’s international airport is going to court to stop an up-and-coming suburban airport from rebranding with the city’s name, arguing it will cause confusion among travellers. But the airport being taken to court is accusing the international airport of trying to protect a “monopoly.”
Five Americans are facing prison sentences of up to 12 years in the Turks and Caicos Islands on charges they illegally carried ammunition during recent trips to the Caribbean tourist destination. Three of the arrests have prompted pleas for mercy from the governors of Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, one of whom called the punishment “absurd.”
Quebec has a “new” tour operator with deep roots, and the “end of revenge (travel)” was officially declared. In other happenings last week, WestJet announced service to Iceland, Transat released its winter flight schedule, and France declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia.
Remember SARS? When misleading news coverage by CNN and other media seemingly convinced the entire world that the entire city of Toronto, and Canada by extension, in 2003 was afflicted and warranted aversion by travellers. Now it’s western wildfires.
Having operated for 106 years, Collette has stuck it’s toe into Canadian waters on plenty of occasions. But Wednesday’s visit seemed special as the Rhode Island-based tour operator gathered with close to 100 key members of the travel trade members in Toronto for the first time since the pandemic, and to be formally introduced to the company’s new CEO Jaclyn Leibl-Cote.
WestJet celebrated the takeoff of service between Calgary and Reykjavik (Keflavik) Thursday, adding another option from Western Canada and the airline’s hub to Europe. Flights will operate four times weekly through Oct. 13 on 737 MAX aircraft, departing Calgary at 8:25 a.m.
With the start of the hurricane season less than a month away and 2024 expected to be busier than average, US officials who predict, prepare for, and respond to natural disasters have a message: It’s not a matter of if a hurricane will hit Florida, but when. Even for those not on the coast, the officials said people need to know the potential danger hurricanes pose, such as flooding; and put together an emergency plan that includes a supply kit.
Here we go again. Cruise entrepreneur John Waggoner is reported to be relaunching Victory Cruise Lines to start cruising the Great Lakes in 2025. He scooped up two 190-passenger ships that have come and gone a number of times from the lakes over the past couple of decades in an auction of the assets of the bankrupt American Queen Voyages.
If you don’t survive the zombie apocalypse you can’t gamble, we suppose. With this evidently in mind, the good folks at CasinoHunters have curated a list of which Canadian provinces we should travel to (or not) to survive such an occurrence were it to happen in 2024.
Of all the covers of “Love Shack” one might expect, a version by Brendan Hunt and Hannah Waddingham wouldn’t be among them. That’s because (for the uninitiated) the duo are better known as the beloved characters Coach Beard and Rebecca from the Ted Lasso TV show. But don’t be dissuaded, the talented pair absolutely nail the B52s’ classic.
If 2023 was the year for “revenge travel,” then 2024 is shaping up to be the year for intentional exploration. A recent Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) survey conducted by YouGov reveals that 61% of Canadians are planning to pack their bags within the next year – but this time with a purpose. Canadians are trading impulsive getaways for mindful travel choices, seeking meaningful experiences that align with their values, aspirations – and tighter budgets.
WestJet has announced enhancements to its winter 787 schedule, including expanded year-round service between Calgary and Tokyo, as well as increased daily flights between Calgary and Paris Charles-de-Gaulle International (CDG) and London Heathrow International (LHR) Airports. The airline is also enhancing its presence on popular leisure routes with service between Canada, Mexico, and Hawaii.
All-inclusive pioneer Club Med is planning its first property in the Middle East: Club Med Musandam, a luxurious beach resort set to open in 2028 in Oman. The 300-room, Exclusive Collection resort will incorporate the culture of Oman in its design, entertainment, food & beverage, and provide guests with access to a private beach with incredible scenery.
Offering cinematic beauty, off-the-beaten-track experiences and transcendently beautiful coastal scenery, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way – the world’s longest-defined coastal touring route – has been one of the island of Ireland’s most successful tourism stories.
Royalton CHIC Antigua has officially opened its doors, marking a new all-inclusive addition to the Blue Diamond Resorts’ portfolio. Featuring 225 rooms, the brand’s first property on the island designed exclusively for adults also notably introduces the innovative ‘Party Your Way’ concept.
Emirates has announced record profits of US$4.7 billion for 2023 as the airline fully took flight after the turbulent years of the coronavirus pandemic disrupted its operations. The airline carried 51.9 million passengers in its 2023 financial year, as compared to 43.6 million the year prior.
It’s not just you. A lot of people think Google searches are getting worse. And the rise of generative AI chatbots is giving people new and different ways to look up information. While Google has been the one-stop shop for decades – after all, we commonly call searches “googling” – its longtime dominance has attracted a flood of sponsored or spammy links and junk content fueled by “search engine optimization” techniques. That pushes down genuinely useful results.
“Bonjour, Quebec!” WestJet Group CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech declared at a staff celebration of the launch of Vacances WestJet Quebec/WestJet Vacations Quebec (WVQ) yesterday at Sunwing’s airport-area office in Toronto. A concurrent event was taking place in Laval as Sunwing staff there also celebrated the launch of a “new tour operator” in the province.
U.S. airlines are suing to block the Biden administration from requiring greater transparency over fees that the carriers charge their passengers, saying that a new rule would confuse consumers by giving them too much information during the ticket-buying process. The US Transportation Department says it will vigorously defend the rule against what it called “hidden junk fees.”
Travel advisors can now register for Sandals Masterclass 2024 – an extensive series of webinars taking place for regions across the country that kick off May 22 in Ontario and continue into September. The sessions are created by Unique Vacations Canada exclusively for Canadian travel advisors to help them drive growth and increase sales to Sandals and Beaches resorts in the Caribbean.
Coinciding with Travel Advisor Month in May, Globus family of brands – Globus, Cosmos, and Avalon Waterways – has introduced new business-to-business brand marketing platform and a new and improved Travel Advisor Portal (TAP) for partners under the theme “We’ve Got U.”
Transat Distribution Canada hosted its first training academy since before the pandemic, this time taking to the high seas for a cruise-focussed session aboard a Virgin Voyages vessel in the Caribbean; Ensemble convened its owner-managers for a Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona; and Direct Travel and FCM both made key executive appointments.
The union representing staff in New Brunswick’s Tourism Department says money spent by the tourism minister and her deputy on a European trip could have helped stave off staffing cuts at popular attractions in the province. CUPE Local 1190 president Jonathan Guimond said the $42,000 Tourism Minister Tammy Scott-Wallace and staff spent last September on a trip to France and the United Kingdom amounts to 2,000 additional hours his members could have worked.
What were they thinking? Airport security officers in Miami found a slithering surprise recently – a bag of snakes hidden in a passenger’s pants. According to an X post by the US Transportation Security Administration, officers at Miami International Airport found the reptiles concealed by an unnamed traveller at a checkpoint.