Caribbean tourism continued its expansion in 2025, recording a 2.5% increase in international stay-over arrivals to an estimated 35 million visits, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO). However, a decline in Canadian arrivals tempered the gains.
Russia plans to send a second oil tanker to Cuba, the country’s energy minister said late last week citing the island’s ongoing energy blockade and reiterating Russia’s solidarity with the troubled Caribbean nation. Donald Trump countered with “Cuba’s finished!”
Citing unpaid work as a key issue, the union representing approximately 360 WestJet Encore cabin crew members, has officially served Notice to Bargain a new Collective Agreement.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ May will see the return of Antigua and Barbuda Culinary Month, a tourism initiative that continues to grow with a focus on local Antiguan and Barbudan food and chefs alongside guest chefs who are exclusively of Caribbean heritage.
G Adventures marked the first ‘Jane Goodall Day’ – April 3, on what would have been the late pioneering British primatologist, ethologist, and conservationist’s 92 birthday – with the news that it has renewed its partnership the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada for an additional 10 years.
News nuggets, airlines, hotels/resorts, cruising, tours, events, FAMS/incentives, deals, destinations and more are covered in our weekly round-up of travel industry news you may have missed.
Despite the rapid rise of generative AI tools in travel planning, 60% of travellers still prefer human-curated recommendations and verified information, according to a survey of more than 7,000 users conducted by Civitatis, a leading global marketplace for guided tours and excursions in Spanish and Portuguese.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ Start with the name. It’s Guad-el-oup – which is to say, not Guad-a -loup-eh (a city in Mexico). You could call it “the biggest small island in the Caribbean,” as some inhabitants boast, or, better still, just call it Gwada, as the locals do in their creole dialect.
With warm weather on the horizon, WestJet says it is underlining its in-flight footwear expectations and putting a ban on bare feet. Guests are required to keep shoes, socks, slippers or other forms of foot coverage on at all times, including during takeoff, landing. and while moving about the cabin, warns the airline.
With over 267,000 islands, Sweden has more islands than any other country on Earth – islands that are defined by calm, rest, clean air and restorative nature, large or small, set in the sea or emerging from a lake. With a rethinking of what luxury means, Sweden is now offering five of them for free to use and care for during a year.
By WALLACE IMMEN/ Explora Journeys has joined a roster of cruise lines changing course from the Middle East and sailing throughout the winter in the Mediterranean. MSC Cruises, and Windstar Cruises are also rerouting to sail in Europe and North Africa through the winter months as the closing of the Gulf of Hormuz continues with no end in sight.
By MICHAEL BAGINSKI/ Last summer I shared my discovery of the year (which held for the rest of the calendar) – a “brand new” 30-year-old band from Scotland I had managed to miss before, prompting an enraged Scottish fellow to point at me at a trade show in Mexico of all places and yell – in full, glorious brogue – “How could ya ha’ missed Primal Scream?”
Despite the current challenges in the Middle East that are further disrupting both global and regional travel and costing the travel industry hundreds of millions of dollars daily, The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) says research of previous crises shows that tourism demand following security-related incidents, with the right response, can recover in as little as two months when governments and industry act quickly to restore traveller confidence.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Monday allowing Palm Beach International Airport to be renamed the President Donald J. Trump International Airport. The change is set to take place in July, formally rebranding the airport near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
This week: ACTA opens applications for its annual cruise summit, plus a new education experience in Iceland; TTAND savours Celebrity Cruises awards; Nexion launches its inaugural CANex conference; First in Service Travel marks a milestone; and agents could win a spot on a FAM to Bermuda…
By CINDY-LOU DALE/ Japan’s hospitality sector is entering a defining new phase. After years of recalibration following the pandemic, the country’s luxury hotel pipeline for 2026 reveals a confident, carefully considered return to growth – one that prioritises cultural sensitivity, adaptive reuse and regional diversification over sheer scale.
Sunwing Vacations has released its 2026 summer schedule, featuring flight options from key gateways across Canada to a wide range of popular sun destinations across Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. including Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Punta Cana, Montego Bay and more.
Porter Airlines has appointed Carlo Rinaldi as Director, Quebec Market Development, to lead the company’s commercial presence in the province. Based in Montreal, Rinaldi will drive Porter’s market development strategy, with a focus on growing corporate travel, expanding agency partnerships, and deepening engagement across the travel trade and corporate sectors.
After weeks of chaos in U.S. airports, the Transportation Safety Administration said the first paychecks in weeks were being sent as early as Monday to its workers, giving the beleaguered aviation system a boost of optimism. As a result, wait times at some TSA security bottlenecks, such as the airport checkpoints in Atlanta and Houston, improved significantly Monday morning.
Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau will leave the company later this year after coming under fire last week for his failure to deliver a video condolence message in French following a plane crash that killed two Air Canada Express pilots.
On “Zero Waste Day” Monday, global tourism leaders pledged to tackle a major global sustainability challenge: food waste. Launched today by the United Nations Environment Program and UN Tourism, the groundbreaking “Recipe of Change” initiative will see major tourism stakeholders measure food waste in their operations and implement operational and behavioural solutions to halve food waste by 2030.
WestJet Vacations’ 2026 newly released summer program features flight and packages options from key gateways across Canada to a wide range of popular sun destinations across Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America, including such hotspots as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, Punta Cana, Puerto Plata, and Montego Bay.
Following the recent storms that brought flooding to parts of the Hawai’i, the historic town of Haleʻiwa, is moving forward as shops and restaurants reopen – and visitors are being welcomed back, says state tourism officials.
Alberta says it is aiming to be an “iconic” leader in indigenous tourism by helping support and build a vibrant sector and promoting the province as a destination for both Canadians and international visitors.
Effective March 31, most fees for Canadian passports and travel document services will increase as the government begins tying prices to the consumer price index (CPI). As such the cost of a Canadian passport will rise by 2.7%.
U.S. Transportation Security Administration officers could get their first full paychecks in more than six weeks as early as today (Monday) after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday instructing the Homeland Security secretary to pay them immediately.
A 40-metre mountain of ice rose over the suburban Paris countryside on the weekend as Disney opened its Arendelle kingdom to the world – Elsa’s palace glowing at the summit, a “Frozen” Nordic fishing village below, and the company’s new CEO standing before a crowd of celebrities.
A sightseeing company’s helicopter crashed near a remote beach off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, killing three people and injuring two others, authorities said. It was the latest in a series of fatal crashes that has plagued the industry for decades.
Sunwing Vacations’ Partner of the Month, Viva Resorts by Wyndham, is offering both travel advisors and their clients incentives and exclusive vacation perks at its properties across the Caribbean when booked by March 31.
News nuggets, airlines, hotels/resorts, cruising, tours, events, FAMS/incentives, deals, destinations and more are covered in our weekly round-up of travel industry news you may have missed.