The federal government has firmly put air travel on its radar after laying out plans in last week’s budget to speed up airport security screening and reduce flight delays, but observers say there is still much to do to the sector’s problems.
The Global Tourism Film Festival (GTFF), set to take place in North Bay, Ont., April 28-30, has announced a special presentation by the Ukraine Government Agency responsible for the country’s tourism development, joining a full roster of Canadian and international presentations and professional development for travel counsellors.
It’s not just the legacy, symbolic and practical, of the 2022 Commonwealth Games – sport is at the beating heart of England’s West Midlands. From tennis to cricket, and football to golf, visitors to Birmingham and surrounds visitors will discover a rich sporting pedigree in the region.
A federal budget and US travel tidbits (borders crossings, vaccine mandates) lead this week’s round-up of last week’s travel news, along with the naming of a new Ontario registrar, a Disney Cruise Line milestone, and the announcement of new Dubai reps in Canada.
A new cross-border study finds Canadians take more pride in their country than Americans do in theirs – and are more unified than Americans in viewing their country as a caring and safe place to call home, and a positive contributor to the globe. And Americans, it seems, agree.
The US Travel Association says the US Senate’s passage of a bill to terminate the government’s COVID-19 emergency declaration – and repeal vaccine requirements for visitors – will provide a much-needed boost for travel for the country.
Congratulations to Dorian Werda as the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) announces her appointment as Registrar, Travel Industry Act, 2002, overseeing all regulatory functions for Ontario’s travel agencies, booking websites and tour operators. The appointment is effective April 1, 2023. Werda has been with TICO since its inception in 1997 and is a member of TICO’s leadership team with deep knowledge of Ontario’s travel industry and its regulatory environment.
Board members picked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to oversee the governance of Walt Disney World say that their Disney-controlled predecessors pulled a fast one on them by passing restrictive covenants that strip the new board of many of its powers.
While most of Britain will be celebrating the coronation of King Charles III this spring, the quaint Cotswold town of Malmesbury will also be looking back over a thousand years to another other milestone: the crowning of the first king of Britain – Athelstone, who is today the town’s most famous son.
Visitors to one of Florence’s most iconic monuments – the Baptistry of San Giovanni, opposite the city’s Duomo – are getting a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see its ceiling mosaics up close thanks to an innovative approach to a planned restoration effort. Rather than limit the public’s access during the six-year cleaning of the vault, officials have built a scaffolding platform for the art restorers that will also allow small numbers of visitors to see the ceiling mosaics at eye level.
Catch a wave and you’re sitting on top of the world. Surfing is a must-do on a visit to Dubai, but with apologies to the Beach Boys, we’re doing it on sand, miles from the nearest water. Instead of a surfboard, we’re riding in a 4X4 SUV specially tricked out to be able to keep from wiping out as we climb and slide over soft sand dunes. No previous experience is required for the passengers–other than the ability to hold back the urge to scream occasionally.
One of the great things about satellite radio, unlike regular (car) radio, is the enormous range of stations (and subsequently songs) available. And with such diversity comes the occasional re-discovery of a song once loved, but somehow entirely forgotten, like one I heard the other day – “Beach Baby,” a one-hit wonder from (the surprisingly British) band The First Class.
For Canadians fed up with air-travel disruptions the Federal government says help is on the way. However, travellers will also face higher airport security fees in 2023, according to this week’s budget. And as for help for travel retailers, ACTA says simply it is “discouraged but not surprised.”
Despite two in three Ontarian’s expressing concern about having their travel plans delayed or cancelled nearly the same amount says they intend to travel this spring and summer anyways, according to new research from the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO).
Flair Airlines said this week that it has reimbursed almost all 1,900 passengers whose flights were cancelled after the seizure of four of the carrier’s planes earlier this month, but some customers say they are owed more money – while others say no refunds have come through at all.
Germany is “bullish” on its prospects for travel from Canada this year – after all, the European nation saw 253% year-over-year increase in overnight stays in 2022. And while any statistics these days are inherently inflated due to diminished travel during the pandemic, the German National Tourist Board expects travellers to continue to rediscover, or continue to, travel again with gusto this year.
Visitors to the west of England can discover a host of dramatic ways to up the action and see the region in a new light – leaving museums and galleries behind for a day for adventures ranging from simple walking to weaselling, and axe-throwing to hot air ballooning. There’s even shark diving for the more intrepid traveller.
Luxury cruise line Cunard is celebrating a century’s worth of history and memories by launching its new “Sea Views Exhibition,” curated by British photographer and filmmaker Mary McCartney. Boasting images from Cunard’s photography archive together with photos submitted by past and present guests of its iconic cruise liners, the Sea Views Exhibition is a culmination
The reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is going fast enough to allow its reopening to visitors at the end of 2024, less than six years after a fire ravaged its roof. The cathedral’s iconic spire, which collapsed in the blaze, will gradually start reappearing above the monument this year in a powerful signal of its revival, said the army general in charge of the colossal project, Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress clashed in an escalating political war over irregular immigration in the US. The two sides squared off Tuesday along an unusual and largely unfamiliar front: the 8,900 kilometres of the Canada-US border.
An 8,000-km seaweed belt lurking in the Atlantic Ocean is expected in the next few months to wash onto beaches in the Caribbean Sea, South Florida, and the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.
About two-thirds of people with disabilities encountered barriers on federally regulated planes and trains in 2019 and 2020, highlighting a lack of consultation and enforcement by agencies involved, the federal auditor general says in a new report.
Porter Airlines has launched three new routes between Ottawa International Airport and Boston, New York-Newark and Thunder Bay, providing new travel links for the region.
EXPLORA I, the first of up to six luxury ships to join the Explora Journeys (EJ) fleet, will debut this summer in Northern Europe as the luxury lifestyle brand of the MSC Group sets sail for the first time.
Despite ongoing protests and an online petition with 11,000 signatures demanding that work be halted, a zipline on Rio de Janeiro’s world-famous Sugarloaf Mountain is scheduled to be inaugurated later this year.
New Orleans’ 40th annual French Quarter Festival, billed as Louisiana’s largest free showcase of music, food, and culture, is set to let les bons temps rouler in April with a line-up of more than 270 acts. The festival launches three weeks of musical festivities in the city, with the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival taking place the last weekend of April and first weekend of May.
Celebrating 20 years of marine animal conservation grants, the SeaWorld Conservation Fund announced 22 new grants made in 2022 to support third party research, rescue, and conservation programs to protect marine animals and their habitats. To date the non-profit Fund has provided more than US$20 million in grants to 1,391 organizations across all seven continents.
Departing flights out of the Israel’s main international “airport” were grounded Monday stranding 70,000 travellers as the country’s largest trade union group launched a strike across a broad swath of sectors, joining a surging protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary – a plan that is facing unprecedented opposition.
Nine islands in the middle of the Atlantic making up the archipelago known as the Azores have a year-round, pleasant temperature which, when combined with the islands’ unparalleled nature, cover the two basic must-haves for a safe, fun family vacation or for those looking to relax and re-charge in isolation with nature.
About eight million years ago, the first signs of the Azores islands started to appear in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean as a result of volcanic eruptions. Eventually, nine major islands were created about 1,2000 kilometres (800 miles) west of mainland Portugal. These islands make up the Azores archipelago and are Mother Nature’s gift from the centre of earth for us to enjoy.