From the world’s first-ever “surf coaster” and immersive escape rooms inspired by blockbuster films, to a new luxury resort and a high-speed rail connection to Miami, the ever-expanding ‘Theme Park Capital of the World’ is set to bring a host of new experiences for visitors in the coming year
Luxury cruise brand Cunard will sail over 110 international voyages next winter, including the maiden voyages of new ship Queen Anne. Across the new itineraries, the four-ship fleet comprising of Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth, and Queen Anne, will call at 126 unique ports in 51 countries, with voyages ranging from two-night city breaks to a 108-night world voyage.
Four cruise lines have been sentenced by a US judge to pay a total of nearly US $450 million for having used a Havana port nationalized by the Cuban government in 1960. Friday’s ruling by a Florida federal judge requires the Carnival, MSC SA, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian lines to pay $109 million each, plus court costs, to Havana Docks, an American company that held the concession to use that facility.
Travel in 2023 will see a diversity of choices – some of them entirely unexpected – by consumers, a trend dubbed “no normal” by Expedia. Indeed, top travel trends prove there is no “one-size-fits-all” for travel in 2023.
The Chinese government has sharply criticized COVID-19 testing requirements imposed on passengers from China and threatened countermeasures against countries involved, among them Canada, the US, and several European nations.
Crew members aboard two cruise ships rescued around two dozen migrants in small boats, the latest episode of hundreds making or attempting landings in the Florida Keys over the past several days, authorities said.
New York City’s tourism recovery in 2022 reached 85% of record visitation levels in 2019 (pre-pandemic), according to NYC & Company, the official destination marketing organization for the city. It total, an anticipated 56.4 million travellers will have visited the by the end of the year, representing a 71.4% increase over 2021.
With winter scenes like most Canadians experienced over the holidays, it’s of little surprise that nearly 88% of residents of this country travelling to Hawaii last fall expressed satisfaction with their visit to the islands, according to new data from the Hawaii Tourism Authority. The “excellent” rating mirrored overall visitor satisfaction levels that have continued to trend upward trend since the beginning of the year to rival pre-pandemic levels.
Signifying expansion plans for south of the border, Coast Hotels Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of APA Hotel Canada, Inc. and one of North America’s fastest growing brands, has acquired the master franchise agreement of all existing franchised hotels of Coast Hotels USA.
British rail workers are staging a fresh round of strikes – the first of 2023 – that will disrupt services all week. Around half of the UK’s railway lines are closed, and only one-fifth of services are running amid a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions. Many places, including most of Scotland and Wales, have no train services.
Starting Jan. 5, the federal government will require air travellers aged two and older coming from China, Hong Kong, and Macao to test negative for COVID-19 before leaving for Canada. However, experts say the move will not help in preventing new variants or the spread of the virus.
The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) says nearly 50 million travellers entered Canada in the first 10 months of 2022, approximately four times the 2021 volume. Correspondingly, the agency reports that it also stopped proportionally more drugs and guns from entering the country during a year when travel bounced back from pandemic lows.
Canadians who were caught violating federal COVID-19 quarantine rules racked up at least $15 million in fines in 2022, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada, but it’s not clear how much of that will actually be paid.
New York City was the most expensive destination in the world for accommodation on New Year’s Eve, according to a survey compared hotel rates across 50 major cities globally
Carnival Cruise Line has announced that Emeril Lagasse will serve as its Chief Culinary Officer – a role in which the celebrated chef and restauranteur will support Carnival’s chefs with guidance on food trends and techniques, as well as advise on future menu items and dining concepts.
An Irish national reportedly taking a selfie while on a tour in western Thailand died last week after falling out of a moving train on the country’s aptly named “death railway.”
Besides atrocious, debilitating weather across much of the continent, and resulting travel chaos, cancellations, and lost bags, the world of travel continued to turn over the holidays as China took its biggest steps yet to open its borders – in both directions. Also, Air Canada and WestJet were rated for punctuality, and StatsCan said what we all know: Canadians are travelling again. Read on for the rest of the news you have may have missed while shovelling, or unwrapping gifts.
“We expect to reach 2019 levels…” “Record year 2019…” “When the world was normal in 2019…” 2019, 2019, 2019. I’m so sick of 2019. More to the point, can you believe this has been going on since 2019 (end of if you count China where it all began)? Seriously, it seems so long ago it might as well have been 1919.
Quebec City wants to host the next season of the popular HBO series “The White Lotus” and the region’s tourism arm is aiming to make it happen. Destination Québec cité and its advertising agency LG2 have created a presentation promoting the provincial capital and its biggest assets as an ideal filming spot, notably the Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac.
Looking to get off the beaten track and discover the essence of rural, sustainable tourism in 2023? Consider these villages – the world’s best in 2022, according to the UNWTO – designated from across destinations from Austria to Vietnam.
As this is our last issue of 2022, we thought it might be fun to check what the highest read stories of the year were. What did readers find interesting? Weather? There was certainly lots of that. Interviews? We had some really good ones. Travellers acting up? Far too many of those. Trends? The state of the industry? Career appointments and changes? Articles about all of those got good reads but number one was a surprise.
It seemed that 2022 was year of catch-up, getting ships that were due to arrive during the lockdown finally christened and launched on their careers. So this year is the first time in three years where we can confidently board ships that are brand new and hopefully are not postponed because of restrictions or shortages.
“Those Were the Days” was a smash in 1968, topping the charts in the UK and almost (No. 2) in the US, where it was held out of top spot by “Hey Jude” no less. Not sure the song’s ranking in Canada, but it was a pretty big hit in my house and one of the first songs I remember when I was kid.
Some passengers who have flown out of Toronto Pearson during the frantic holiday season say they’ve waited days for their bags to show up at their destinations, with little communication on the status of their luggage. Images from Pearson airport show hundreds of lone bags piled up at the airport after major winter storms caused days of flight delays cancellations, leaving many holiday travellers stranded.
Snowbirds, the northerners who flock to warmer southern and western US states in the winter, are more financially constrained, more mobile, and younger than before.
A new report from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce says the province’s tourism industry is not expected to fully recover from the pandemic until 2025. The joint report with the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario contains a host of recommendations, from tax incentives to cannabis tourism to affordable housing in order to support staff recruitment. The report says tourism businesses in the province are generating 64% of the revenues they saw in 2019, on average.
Diners are invited to taste the world from the comfort of more than 350 restaurants across Vancouver at the 21st Annual Dine Out Vancouver Festival, taking place from Jan. 20 to Feb. 5.
The top of the Empire State Building won’t be the only place visitors to New York can get high as the city opens its first legal dispensary for recreational marijuana in city today (Dec. 29), marking a long-awaited launch of a cannabis industry that could become one of the most lucrative US.
Venice has been flabbergasting visitors for centuries. Entering the city via the Grand Canal is an unforgettable experience whether it’s your first time or the tenth. Walt Disney could not have improved upon this architectural fantasy of Romanesque and Renaissance palaces, domed churches and arched bridges, all bathed in that rich radiant light that is Venice’s alone. Truman Capote once quipped that, “Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one go.”
You certainly don’t need us to remind you of what’s going on outside most of your windows. However, given the havoc being caused by the weather to travel plans across this country. Here’s a general overview of what happened in Canada over the holidays.