Last week, WestJet said so long to Swoop while Air Canada hello to Dubai (from YVR); in other round-up news, Viking is seeking reimbursement for its COVID refunds, CATO continued to question TICO’s review in Ontario, and G Adventures launched its “biggest, boldest,” sale of the year.
We don’t use AI. Indeed, Travel Industry Today produces content the old-fashioned way – by real people, who really travel, and through travel industry sources cultivated literally for decades. I mention this because a just-released survey by The Canadian Journalism Foundation reports that fully one-half of Canadians admit they are not confident in their ability to distinguish between fake news generated by AI and human-produced content.
Recording-breaking winds up to 190 kph – some of the highest in decades – slammed France’s Atlantic coast Thursday as Storm Ciaran lashed the UK and countries around western Europe, cancelling flights and trains, uprooting trees, blowing out windows and causing travel mayhem around the region.
The 2023 Canada’s Best New Restaurants Top 10 have been unveiled by Air Canada, with Toronto restaurant Kappo Sato taking the coveted top spot. In it’s 22nd year, the list is the longest running and most respected Canadian restaurant ranking. More than 30 restaurants across the country were visited by a single anonymous reviewer in determining the rankings.
The recent attempt by an off-duty pilot to shut down the engines of a US airliner in midflight highlights the threat that insiders pose to aviation safety with their ability to go where passengers are prohibited. Events like the one on Horizon Air jetliner are very rare, but they are potentially devastating.
The phenomenon of Beatlemania screamed itself into existence 60 years ago in October 1963. Sixty years later, Liverpool’s The Beatles Story has released a new video that explores the phenomenon with first-hand accounts of those frantic fanatical days.
Everything moves more slowly in Arctic. The seasons are condensed in Canada’s far north as nature takes advantage of a few fleeting months of light and hibernates in the long dark months. There’s a timelessness to the land that has never been altered by roads or development.
It’s hard to pick a song for Electric Light Orchestra – after all, during the British band’s heyday (1973-86), the Jeff Lynne-led collective boasted 15 Top 20 songs on the Billboard chart (and 27 in their home country), not least the innovative Chucky Berry-Beethoven (Ludvig von) mash-up, “Roll Over Beethoven.” But since that classic clocks in at eight minutes and nine seconds, I’ve opted here for something a little more concise.
Dining out is more expensive than ever. The cost of gas is rising again. And the price of travel – including airfare and hotels – has kept pace. Right? Not exactly, according to a US study. Airfare costs declined by 13% between September 2022 and September 2023, according to September 2023 Consumer Price Index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Air Transat is getting creative with this weekend’s daylight savings time change, giving Ontarians a chance to win an all-inclusive trip to Jamaica. But only those who are out and about between 1 and 2 a.m. on Nov. 5 – just after the clocks are set back and an hour “lost” – and who spot a digital billboard with a QR code displayed for contest entry.
The catastrophic implosion of the submersible Titan in June during an expedition to view the Titanic wreckage 4,000 metres below the ocean’s surface not only led to the deaths of all five people aboard but also called attention to the rise in adventure tourism.
The Canadian Association of Tour Operators (CATO) is continuing its campaign calling for the Ontario government to initiate a thorough review of the province’s Travel Industry Act, reiterating its belief that the ongoing TICO review is merely a “cosmetic change” that does not address that Act’s fundamental flaws, including providing adequate consumer protection.
ACTA members sailed with Avalon for a special version of the association’s annual summit; Flight Centre launched a new YouTube series, TRAVELSAVERS is counting new members, and Direct Travel is set for its first leisure conference, all in this week’s round-up.
US federal regulators have told Southwest Airlines that the carrier failed to provide enough help to travellers who were stranded during massive cancellations last December, and the airline could be subject to a fine. Southwest said in a regulatory filing Monday that it can’t estimate the cost of a fine and damages from lawsuits stemming from nearly 17,000 cancelled flights last December.
A Delta Air Lines pilot has been indicted for allegedly threatening to shoot the plane’s captain if the captain diverted the flight because of a passenger who needed medical attention. The man has been charged with interference with a flight crew – a felony offence punishable for 20 years in prison. Delta says the man no longer works for the airline.
Despite his 20-month tenure at WestJet being “quite a roller coaster for sure” through the pandemic and its aftermath, WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech is enthused about his prospects for the company, for which he boldly proclaims, “We want to be the national leisure champions for Canada from coast to coast.”
Air Canada says the country’s passenger rights overhaul will hardly hurt its bottom line, though the full effect won’t be known until implementation next year. The financial impact of regulatory changes – both rights reforms and stricter rules around pilots’ shift length and rest periods – would put “additive pressure” on costs, the airline’s chief financial officer John Di Bert said,
but added, “certainly those would be incremental to the current cost base.”
Canada’s “garden city” – Victoria, BC – is the setting for this week’s International Garden Tourism Conference, with more than 80 delegates from around the world on hand for the event, which is being held in this country for the first time. Public gardens are among the most frequented attractions for international travellers and were amongst the first to recover from the pandemic.
The iconic Sam Lord’s name has returned to Barbados with the opening of Wyndham Grand Barbados, Sam Lord’s Castle Resort & Spa, built on the former site of a notorious 19th-century pirate enclave. The secluded, ocean-front hotel marks Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ entrance into Barbados and has begun welcoming its first guests ahead of a formal Grand Opening in early 2024.
Quark Expeditions is challenging travellers to rethink their bucket list and choose destinations that take them beyond standard and overly popular travel experiences. And that, the Polar specialist hopes, includes choosing an Arctic adventure, for which the company has recently releases its 2025 itineraries.
Commercial operations have begun at Cambodia’s newest and biggest airport, designed to serve as an upgraded gateway to the country’s major tourist attraction, the centuries-old Angkor Wat temple complex in the northwestern province of Siem Reap.
The pandemic brought major work culture changes worldwide and a few of those changes are here to stay. Work from home (WFH) or the remote working concept has been around for a while, but the pace has picked up post-pandemic. Today we highlight the best cybersecurity practices for remote workers.
IATA says its just-released 2023 Global Passenger Survey (GPS) related to accessibility of air transport to passengers with disabilities shows “significant satisfaction” levels among passengers who used special assistance services. But if the recent experience of a disabled British Columbia man who was forced to drag himself off an aircraft after arriving in Las Vegas is any indication, the airline industry still has a long way to go to ensuring helpful, compassionate service for all passengers.
Air Canada reported surging profits in its latest quarter as consumers continued to spend on travel, despite higher inflation and interest rates weighing on their wallets. The country’s biggest airline saw net income for its third quarter jump to $1.25 billion from a half-billion-dollar loss in the same period a year earlier.
With more than 12.2 million crossing the border in the first seven months of the year, “Canadian travel to the US is coming back strong,” Brand USA’s Staci Mellman told attendees at the recent 15th annual Discover America Day – Canada media event in Toronto. “Woo hoo!” she added with as much eloquence as the term can allow.
It’s Halloween and perhaps you’re wearing something kooky (or horrifying) at work today (someone we know has taped on dozens of grey paint samples – “50 shades of grey”) or preparing for the night’s trick or treating; but Tourism Ireland is taking the occasion to remind one and all where the horrific holiday all began: Celtic Ireland.
All things Colombia – including the country’s new tourism brand slogan, “The Country of Beauty” – are being celebrated in Montreal at the Colombia-Canada Tourism Forum 2023, organized by ProColombia, the promotion agency of the country, which is part of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism.
Canadian hotelier Germain Hotels has opened its 19th property in Canada: Alt Hotel Calgary University District. The group’s third establishment in Calgary follows the opening of Le Germain Hotel Calgary in 2010 and Alt Hotel Calgary East Village in 2018 and marks the hotel group’s first property inauguration in Canada since 2019.
Hundreds of people on Sunday stormed into the main airport in Russia’s southern Dagestan region and onto the landing field to protest the arrival of an airliner from Tel Aviv, Israel, prompting Russian president Vladimir Putin to call a called a meeting of security and law enforcement officials Monday.
So long, Swoop, it was nice knowin’ ya. WestJet’s “ultra-not-expensive” airline said farewell on Saturday, completing its last day of operations before joining WestJet’s mainline fleet as part of the company’s evolutionary growth plans that now sees it moving on to integrating newly purchased Sunwing Airlines as well.