Air Canada says it has become the first airline in North America to adopt the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower program to better serve customers with non-visible disabilities. In announcing the measure, the carrier also confirmed the first appointments to its new Customer Accessibility Advisory Committee, which will guide the carrier as it accelerates its three-year accessibility plan.
The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) has announced the appointment of Canadian travel industry veteran Sonia Machado to the role of Business Development Manager for Western Canada. Based in Calgary, she’ll be responsible for overseeing sales initiatives and industry engagement activities across British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
In 2024, Germany is set to host a multitude of festivities, ranging from anniversaries to arts and sports events, giving travellers a multitude of reasons to visit the European nation in 2024. And who better that than the German National Tourist Office (GNTO) to call out some of the main events and themes that are sure to inspire.
The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London are returning gold and silver artifacts to Ghana under a long-term loan arrangement – 150 years after the items were looted from the Asante people during Britain’s colonial battles in West Africa. The arrangement sidesteps UK laws that prohibit the return of cultural treasures to their countries of origin (famously including the Elgin Marbles to Greece).
Court documents show Flair Airlines owes the federal government $67.2 million in unpaid taxes, prompting the Canada Revenue Agency to obtain a Federal Court order for the seizure and sale of the carrier’s property. But CEO Stephen Jones says the order – obtained in November – has no impact on the carrier’s operations, which have expanded over the past year and ramped up competition with rival airlines.
Leonardo da Vinci may as well have put a bullseye, rather than an enigmatic face, on the Mona Lisa, as the iconic painting and tourist attraction in Paris’s Louvre Museum has once again been defaced by protesters, this time by a smattering of pumpkin soup.
Airbnb has rolled out rental listings marked by top scores from guests – information that the company’s CEO says will help bring hotel-like reliability to booking a house or room on the site and discourage people from choosing a hotel room instead.
Quark Expeditions has a new ship set to ply polar waters staring this fall. The 138-passenger Ocean Explorer expedition ship will set sail later this year at the start of the Antarctic 2024/2025 season.
Les bon temps of New Orleans is set to roll out at Universal Orlando Resort this weekend (Feb. 3) as annual Mardi Gras celebrations return to the Florida theme park, carrying on for over two months (until April 7).
VoX International has hired Lora Hamre as Account Manager-Travel Trade, working primarily on Tourism Australia and Hawai’i Tourism Canada teams, as well as providing support for other company clients.
A liquor store has opened in Saudi Arabia for the first time in over 70 years, marking a further socially liberalizing step in the once-ultraconservative kingdom. While restricted to non-Muslim diplomats, the store in Riyadh comes as Saudi Arabia’s assertive Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to make the kingdom a tourism and business destination as part of ambitious plans to slowly wean its economy away from crude oil.
The world’s biggest cruise ship – the size of almost four city blocks – began its maiden voyage Saturday from the Port of Miami. Royal Caribbean International’s 7,600-passenger ‘Icon of the Seas’ departed for Caribbean waters after fittingly being christened earlier in the week by the world’s biggest soccer star – Lionel Messi.
Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners are carrying passengers again for the first time since they were grounded after a panel blew out of the side of one of the planes. Alaska Airlines resumed flights with its Max 9s on Friday and United followed suit on Sunday. Those are the only two US airlines that operate this particular model of the Boeing 737, while Canadian carriers only fly Max 8s.
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has a new name and brand: UN Tourism. With the change, the United Nations specialized agency for tourism says it is reaffirming its status as “the global leader of tourism for development, driving social and economic change to ensure that people and planet are always centre stage.”
Abnormally high temperatures for the season continue in many parts of Spain over the weekend. The hot spell has led to an almost summer-like feel in many coastal areas as people take to the beaches to sunbathe or have a winter swim.
At first it sounded like another case of a bad behaviour aboard an airplane when a man opened an emergency exit and walked out on a wing of a plane that was parked and waiting for takeoff at Mexico City International Airport. But despite taken into custody, the man was backed by fellow passengers on the AeroMexico aircraft for doing so.
2024 has started with numerous challenges – and potential opportunities – for Atlantic City, the historic east coast seaside resort primarily known for its famous boardwalk, and gambling opportunities, that has been transition for several years. Foremost among them is likely to be whether New Jersey lawmakers approve a measure to ban smoking in the nine casinos (a vote that is taking place today – Jan. 29).
Forbes named its best Canadian employers for 2024 – find out which travel companies made the list; other Round-Up highlights include five new planes for WestJet, the launch of Lynx summer service from Montreal to L.A., a sales booking record for Holland America, and consideration by Crystal of its status in the Red Sea.
With Canadians leading the way, the latest flight booking data from the World Travel & Tourism Council and its knowledge partner ForwardKeys shows that France is set to keep its pole position as the world’s most popular destination for international arrivals this year.
Federal regulators in the US have approved an inspection process that will let airlines resume flying their Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners as soon as this weekend. The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said that his agency’s review of the scary incident on board an Alaska Airlines Boeing jet gave him confidence to clear a path for the planes to fly again.
Avalanche deaths are not as uncommon as they should be, and mountain conditions in southern British Columbia are currently deemed “very dangerous,” according to Avalanche Canada. Nevertheless, as snow accumulates across much of western North America, some hardy winter sport enthusiasts continue to head to vulnerable ski areas and backcountry slopes despite the threat, and frigid temperatures.
United Airlines will offer more than 100 new flights to cities in North America this summer and will remain the largest US carrier to/from Canada with over 150 daily flights between the countries, serving nine destinations in Canada from all seven of its US hub airports.
Los Cabos is perhaps best known internationally for its luxurious accommodations, sophisticated cuisine, and breathtaking landscape, but for fishing enthusiasts, this dichotomous destination of beaches and deserts is known for a very different reason: With teeming waters off the Baha peninsula in Mexico home to a wide variety of sea life, Los Cabos is specifically reputed as the “Marlin Capital of the World.” And anyone can (try to) catch one.
A quick pivot to replace cruises in the Middle East has opened a new opportunity for winter cruising in the Mediterranean. Windstar Cruises has received so much demand it’s decided to keep Star Legend in Europe for a second winter with more varied itineraries. It’s part of a trend that is seeing MSC Cruises operating ships year-round from Italy and Spain and a plan for AmaWaterways to start cruising as early as February on European rivers.
A buddy messaged me the other day and said, “Have to say it’s the first time I’ve ever landed in Vancouver to see everything covered in snow.” It was so cold in T.O. my wife wouldn’t let me walk the dog (her concern was for the dog!). And don’t get us started on the rain and fog. Needless to say, winter is wearisome in this country, and there’s so much more to come.
When Cathy Olliffe-Webster’s 90-year-old mother-in-law died suddenly last year, her family had to make the trek from Cold Lake, Alta., to Ontario in a hurry. The jewellery business owner figures the flight would have set her and her husband back $2,000 because it was a last-minute booking, but they scored a hefty discount.
Porter Airlines is introducing a new senior leadership structure to support its ongoing growth. The president and CEO roles will be separated, with Michael Deluce continuing in the position of CEO, while current executive VP and CCO Kevin Jackson assumes the role of president.
The City of Dryden, Ontario’s chief administrative officer and the local airport’s manager are leading efforts to address a pending gap in plane service, following the announcement that Bearskin Airlines will end its scheduled passenger air service to Dryden, Kenora, and Fort Frances in May.
On Saturday a Boeing 757 jet operated by Delta Air Lines lost a nose wheel while preparing for takeoff from Atlanta, potentially creating more uncertainty around one of the nation’s top manufacturers after a troubling string of incidents involving its planes.
Six months after recording its largest booking day, Holland America Line says it surpassed that mark last week to set a new single-day sales record. The bookings on Jan. 16 topped the previous record from July 11, 2023, by 18%, making it the biggest sales day in the 150-year history of Holland America Line.