Birmingham today is hardly recognizable to those who may have visited in the past. Britain’s second city has re-invented itself over the past couple of decades, and not least in recent years leading up to and including last summer’s Commonwealth Games – an event city officials consider a global coming out party for the West Midlands city.
Nine British Columbia tourism and hospitality providers have been recognized for their outstanding contribution to the sector in Canada’s westernmost province. Winners were presented by Indigenous Tourism BC March 2 at a gala awards event sponsored by the British Columbia Hotel Association (BCHA) and the Tourism Industry Association of British Columbia (TIABC).
Seabourn has announced the appointment Natalya Leahy as its new president. Leahy, whose seven years with Holland America Group included operational oversight of Seabourn, succeeds Josh Leibowitz who is leaving the brand to pursue new opportunities.
The famed statue of Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid, one of Copenhagen’s biggest tourist draws, has been vandalized, with the colours of the Russian flag painted on the rock on which she sits.
Airports in Montreal and Toronto made big news last week, along with the unveiling of a number of appealing agent incentives. And, as usual, there’s the latest airline cruise, hotel, and tour operator tidbits, plus much more.
If Sunwing passenger Behfar Sanjarit was at all nervous about flying to Cancun for a recent holiday, it’s only because he was preparing to pop the question to his unsuspecting girlfriend, Golnar Adhami, in an unconventional setting – on the plane at 30,000 feet!
A travel industry coalition is calling on Ottawa to broaden its trusted traveller pilot program and roll it out across the country. The demand comes ahead of an expected busy summer season, and spring break this month when traveller numbers at Toronto’s Pearson airport are expected to be 30 percent higher than a year ago.
With Spring Break on the horizon (at last!) and many Canadians preparing to escape the trenches – not to mention the snowbanks – to head south for heaping helping of sunshine and warm weather, many Florida destinations are gearing up for the annual migration of students and families with a host of happenings throughout March and April.
If you haven’t tried Transat’s mobile app for awhile, now’s the time, as the airline has unveiled a fresh interface and new features, all designed to simplify the user experience.
Alligator antics, lunatic leaders, a yearning for Easter eggs, and roving bands of headphone-stealing bandits on mopeds, were among the items that caught our attention this week in this big, ol’, wacky world.
Move over Miami, Port Canaveral has climbed to number one as the world’s busiest cruise port for the first time ever. New figures from the Florida Ports Council rank the port 45 miles from Orlando as number one, with 4.07 million passengers coming to or from cruises in 2022. That compares with 4.02 million for PortMiami, which has held the title for many years. Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale retained its number 3 spot, with 1.72 million passengers.
Kudos to k.d. lang, who was just awarded Canada’s highest honour in the performing arts – the 2023 Governor-General’s Performing Arts Awards, one of seven Canadians to receive the honour. The lifetime achievement award “recognizes artists for their outstanding body of work and enduring contribution to the performing arts in Canada.”
Air Canada says it has no problem with the Greater Toronto Airport Authority plan to impose limits on carrier operations at Toronto-Pearson airport. The airline says it learned of GTAA’s plans last August and designed its 2023 winter schedule accordingly.
Flexible work arrangements, such as “bizcations,” are some of the most notable work-related outcomes of the pandemic – and something that many employees prioritize. The mobile workplace has become the norm and innovative working arrangements have become a key factor in attracting talent.
From cosmopolitan (and quintessential) British cities to historic castles, and Shakespeare to Peaky Blinders, England’s West Midlands region shows another side of the country beyond the well-known attractions of London. And they’re attributes that Goway is eager to show off in a series of new tours recently introduced by the Canadian tour operator.
Hong Kong lifted its mask mandate on Wednesday, ending the city’s last major restriction imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The city’s chief executive, John Lee, said masks are no longer be required for residents or travellers both outdoors and indoors, including on public transit.
Struggling low-cost airline Viva Air suspended its operations in Colombia and Peru Tuesday, leaving thousands of passengers stranded in airports with little support. The airline, owned by the same group that owns Ryanair, blamed Colombian authorities for delays in approving the airline’s requested merger with Avianca, Colombia’s main carrier.
G Adventures’ popular agent incentive program “Change Makers” is returning this year after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. Agents will be able to earn their way to the global summit – to be held from Sept. 22-28, 2023, in a yet-to-be-revealed destination – by “choosing to change people’s lives through travel.”
A man who US federal agents say tried to board a plane in New Jersey with three guns, including a semi-automatic rifle, and a fake law-enforcement ID is in federal custody and facing two charges.
A JetBlue pilot had to take “evasive action” while landing at Boston’s Logan International Airport when another aircraft crossed an intersecting runway, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Despite the spate of recent “near misses” data from the US Federal Aviation Administration shows the number of the most serious close calls at US airports has actually been decreasing even as overall incidents have risen.
WestJet customers were rebooked on a seven-and-a-half-hour bus trip from Calgary to Regina after their afternoon flight was cancelled on Sunday. Passengers said they were informed less than three hours before boarding that the one-hour flight between the two cities had been cancelled and that they could reach their destination via “ground transportation” that would have them arrive in Regina after midnight.
Air Canada conducted its second annual Black History celebratory flight from Montreal to Halifax on Tuesday – an operation that was planned, supported, and operated by Black pilots, flight attendants, managers, and employees on the ground and behind the scenes.
Tourism Ireland’s annual sales mission is crossing eastern Canada this week as the road show rolls through London, Ottawa, Montreal, and concluding in Halifax on Thursday. The sales blitz to showcase the Emerald Isle to travel agents is supported by a delegation of 20 tourism enterprises from Ireland (plus three Canadian partners), comprising the largest delegation ever to Ireland’s fifth largest revenue market.
Goway is now the exclusive distribution partner in Canada for Australia and New Zealand specialist tour operator APT & Travelmarvel with the new travel offerings to be known as APT by Goway.
It’s the second longest river in the US – stretching from Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to the Gulf of Mexico – so it’s no surprise that the list of experiences visitors can find along the waterway is as lengthy as its name: Mississippi.
The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has announced the resignation of Liz Ortiguera as its Chief Executive Officer. Ortiguera took the reigns in May, 2021, succeeding Dr. Mario Hardy, and was the first Asian female CEO in the organization’s 72-history.
French based hospitality company Accor boasts 5,300 properties and 10,000 food and beverage venues throughout 110 countries. And with more than 40 luxury, premium, midscale, and economy hotel brands – names like Raffles, Novotel and Mercure – it stands to reason that there is always something in the pipeline. Among the dozens of properties this year alone, here is a shortlist of 10 new and notable hotels due to come onstream in 2023.
The UN World Tourism Organization has heralded the re-opening of China as “the final piece in tourism’s recovery” from the biggest crisis in the sector’s history. Before the pandemic, China was the largest source market for tourism in the world.
Porter Aviation Holdings Inc. (PAHI) is entering a partnership with Montréal Saint-Hubert Airport (YHU) to develop a new terminal capable of serving over 4 million passengers annually. Construction will begin in mid-2023, with a scheduled completion by late 2024, providing a second airport for Porter to serve the Montréal market.
When MSC Cruises’ new flagship is officially named in Copenhagen on June 8 it will take the name Euribia – after the ancient Greek goddess who harnessed the winds, weather, and constellations to master the seas. But for MSC, the name represents its mission to master the deployment of state-of-the-art sustainable technologies to protect and preserve the world’s precious marine ecosystem.