A HAPPY ENDING: Tourist gored by Bison says yes to proposal
An Arizona woman who suffered fractured vertebrae and collapsed lungs after being gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park has said “yes” to her boyfriend’s hospital proposal.
ROUND-UP: July 17-21, 2023
Inflation is starting to affect travel planning according to a new poll; Canada’s passport value rose this year; Sunwing revealed its winter flight/package schedule; and Experience Kissimmee says thank you at a Partner’s Event.
INFLATION AFFECTING TRAVEL PLANNING – POLL
A new poll says a third of Canadians have changed or cancelled their vacation plans due to inflation. In addition to concerns about inflation, Canadians are also feeling the sting of flight delays and cancellations with almost half of Canadians surveyed said they think airlines aren’t reliable when it comes to their departures and arrivals.
GREECE IN FLAMES: Wildfires rage near Athens, Europe swelters
Firefighting aircraft and ground crews from other countries headed to Greece on Thursday to help battle wildfires that have intensified as a heat wave baked much of southern Europe in temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
HEED THE HEAT: How to recognize and prevent heat illness
With record temperatures ravaging regions from Europe to the US, health officials are warning locals and travellers alike to heed the heat and take precautions against heat illness.
RARE RUNWAYS: The world’s most beautiful landing strips
It’s estimated there are more than 41,000 airports in the world. And while it would be impossible to visit them all, British-based company Artemis Aerospace has channelled its eye-in-the-sky ethos to come up with a shortlist of six must-see runways that provide rare and beautiful vistas, guaranteeing a great start, or end, to a visitor’s journey.
PUBS, PATIOS & BARS: Iconic San Fran brewery weighed down by history
San Francisco’s iconic Anchor Brewing Company – dubbed “the birthplace of craft beer” – says it is shutting down for good. The 127-year-old brewing company, known as a trailblazer of craft beers, announced it would close after years of declining sales and tough economic conditions. The tap room will remain open until the end of the month.
THREE SCENIC GROUP SHIPS WILL LUXURIATE IN THE CARIBBEAN
Scenic Group is planning a warm waterfall season with three of its ocean-going yachts – Emerald Azzurra, Emerald Sakara and Scenic Eclipse II – island hopping in Caribbean. It’s a new destination for all three yachts, and there’s a wide variety of itineraries, amenities, and excursions.
LISTENING IN: Collective Soul shines on
Collective Soul is touring this summer (new album), including multiple dates across Canada. I caught the band in Kitchener, Ont. a couple of weeks back, at last crossing one of my all-time faves off my concert bucket list.
TANGIBLY IMPROVED: YYZ commitment to enhanced service pays off
Toronto’s Pearson airport says a staffing boost and other initiatives have ‘tangibly improved’ service, and issues that sparked chaos at Canada’s largest airport last summer have been addressed. And no longer is the Toronto hub rated last globally in on-time performance.
‘STAY INSIDE’: Tourists in Europe hunker down to avoid heat
Officials have warned residents and tourists packing Mediterranean destinations to stay indoors during the hottest hours as the second heat wave in as many weeks hits the region and Greece, Spain and Switzerland battled wildfires.
AIR CANADA ENHANCES INFLIGHT SERVICE
Air Canada has added a host of new features for passengers, from check-in to inflight. The upgrades include expanded in-flight food and beverage offerings, more family-friendly options in the airline’s in-flight entertainment library, as well as additional advances to the Air Canada App.
FLOOD WATERS APPROACH TAJ MAHAL
Rising water from the Yamuna river on Wednesday reached the outer boundary walls of India’s iconic Taj Mahal and submerged one of its adjacent gardens after record monsoon rains swelled rivers across northern India over the last three weeks.
RETAIL ROUND-UP: TRAVELSAVERS sees forest through the trees
TRAVELSAVERS has partnered with Trees4Travel and there were some very exclusive accolades for several Canadian cruise agents from Direct Travel in this week’s Retail Round-up.
CARNIVAL EXPANDS USE OF FACIAL BIOMETRIC TECHNOLOGY
Carnival Cruise Line continues to expand the use of facial biometric technology to expedite the debarkation process and its partnership with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The cruise lines says over three million guests have already used utilized the new technology, with helps make disembarking from ships faster and easier.
BOTTICELLI’S VENUS IS AN ‘INFLUENCER,’ AND ITALY IS NOT AMUSED
The Italian tourism ministry thought it had a sure-fire way to bring travellers into the country: turning a 15th century art icon into a 21st century “virtual influencer.” But the ad campaign has faced significant backlash – with critics calling it a “new Barbie” that trashes Italy’s cultural heritage.
TOURISTS RETURN TO EUROPE, NOT EVERYONE IS HAPPY
Heat-related closures notwithstanding, tourists are waiting more than two hours to visit the Acropolis in Athens. Taxi lines at Rome’s main train station are running just as long. And so many visitors are concentrating around St. Mark’s Square in Venice that crowds get backed up crossing bridges – even on weekdays.
‘CALL TO ACTION’: Independent advisors facing CERB/CRB recalls
The Association of Canadian Independent Travel Advisors (ACITA) is urging independent travel advisors to check their CRA accounts to see if their federal support payments during the pandemic have been recalled.
RUN TO THE SUN: Sunwing offers expanded capacity for winter
With Canadian demand for leisure travel to sun destinations continuing to be strong, Sunwing Vacations has unveiled its 2023-24 winter schedule featuring flights on board Sunwing Airlines from 23 airports from coast to coast to 26 sun destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and the US.
CANADIAN PASSPORT VALUE CLIMBS
Canadians can claim the world’s 7th-most valuable passport – up from 8th last year – according to the respected Henley Passport Index, which ranks the world’s 199 passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. Singapore took top spot in the ranking in a major poll shakeup as Japan placed third after reigning for five straight years.
ACTA ADDS TWO NEW 2023 FAMS FOR AGENTS
ACTA is adding two additional experiential learning opportunities for travel advisors in 2023. Trips to the Dominican Republic (Aug 15-21) and Alentejo, Portugal (Nov. 13-19), join the sold-out ACTA – Avalon Waterways European River Cruise Summit taking place in October.
CASINOS AND COLD BEER: Beating blast-furnace heat in Las Vegas
Visitors to Las Vegas this week stepped out momentarily to snap photos and were hit by blast-furnace air. But most will spend their vacations in a vastly different climate – at casinos where the chilly air conditioning might require a light sweater.
THE SKY IS FALLING: Jet junk hits Chicago home
An emergency evacuation slide fell from an airliner and landed in the backyard of a home near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, causing no injuries but damaging a roof, officials and witnesses said.
‘EYES WIDE OPEN’: Travel labour shortage no surprise
As ACTA tackles the industry-wide labour shortage, amongst several issues that are currently bedeviling retail travel in this country, ACTA’s president says the issue comes as no surprise.
GATWICK UNION SETS STRIKE DATE
Travellers arriving or departing the UK via London Gatwick – notably Canadian passengers on WestJet and British Airways – face potential disruptions to their flight plans later this month and in early August after almost 1,000 workers at the airport voted to strike in a dispute over pay.
UNITED PILOTS PARLAY PROFITS INTO ‘HISTORIC’ PAY HIKE
United Airlines and the union representing its pilots say they reached agreement on a contract that will raise pilot pay by up to 40 percent over four years. The union valued the agreement at about $10 billion. It followed more than four years of tumultuous bargaining that included picketing and talk of a strike vote.
HEAT KILLS, BUT ALSO THRILLS: The world’s hottest tourist destination
Despite its forbidding name, and extreme temperatures, tourists are flocking to Death Valley National Park, the infamous desert landscape on the California-Nevada border.
ANNE MARIE MOEBES JOINS BRANCHUP
Anne Marie Moebes, a 40-year travel industry veteran, has joined Vancouver-based technology company BranchUp to head up its marketing and educational strategy.
AZAMARA RETURNING TO CANADA
Upmarket cruise line Azamara is returning to Canada in 2025 for the first time since 2017 with two brand-new voyages. Marking the cruise line’s return to the country for the first time in more than five (sailing) years due to the pandemic, Azamara’s new sailings will stop in six Canadian ports.
NOT THE BRIGHTEST IDEA
An American woman was fined after attempting to bribe a police officer at the Munich airport’s passport control over the weekend, according to German federal police. The 70-year-old was travelling from Athens to Washington with a stopover in Munich when she attempted to go through passport control without presenting a valid ID, police said.