THAILAND TOURIST DIES TAKING SELFIE
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.”
ROUND-UP: Dec. 19-30, 2022
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.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS!
“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 WANTS ‘WHITE LOTUS’: Believes HBO show would boost tourism
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.
‘BEST TOURISM VILLAGES’ OF 2022
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.
THE TOP THREE HIGHEST READ STORIES OF 2022
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.
SPLASHY NEW SHIPS SHOW CONFIDENCE IS BACK IN 2023
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.
LISTENING IN: Oh, yes those were the days!
“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.
A CASCADING EFFECT: Luggage piles up at Toronto Pearson airport
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.
THE NEW BREED OF SNOWBIRDS
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.
IS THERE A PLAN?: Five trends impacting the future Canada’s tourism industry
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.
TABLE SET FOR VANCOUVER DINE OUT FEST
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.
NEW YORK OPENS FIRST (LEGAL) POT SHOP
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.
ODE TO VENICE
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.”
OH, THE WEATHER OUTSIDE: Extreme weather shuts down power and strands travellers across Canada
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.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS: China ends quarantine for foreign travellers
Foreign companies welcomed China’s decision to end quarantines for travellers from abroad as an important step to revive slumping business activity while Japan on Tuesday joined India in announcing restrictions on visitors from the country as infections surge.
THE EVOLVED TRAVELLER: What do clients want in 2023?
If 2022 was the year of the changed traveller, 2023 is the year of the ‘evolved’ traveller, according to Hilton, whose annual 2023 trends report reveals that consumer expectations for the new year will include a focus on frictionless travel, more engaging experiences, a sense of caring, and enhanced wellness offerings.
SOUTHWEST CANCELLATIONS DRAWS FEDERAL INVESTIGATION: Senators demand traveller compensation over dividends
A day after most US airlines had recovered from the storm, Southwest Airlines again scrubbed thousands of flights Tuesday in the aftermath of the massive winter storm that wrecked Christmas travel plans across the US, and the federal government said it would investigate why the company lagged so far behind other carriers. Those flights accounted for more than 80% of the 3,000 trips that got cancelled nationwide Tuesday, according to tracking service FlightAware.
TRAVEL ON TRACK IN OCTOBER
Statistics Canada says Canadian international travel rebounded sharply in October as the transportation industry continued its post-pandemic recovery. The agency says Canadian residents returned from 3.3 million trips abroad in October, nearly four times the figure recorded during the same month of 2021.
WHAT’S THE PLAN FOR PORTER? New planes usher in ‘new era’ for carrier
Porter Airlines received an early Christmas present with the delivery of the first two of 50 Embraer E195-E2 ordered by the airline at a ceremony Dec. 21 at Embraer’s headquarters in Brazil. In the run up to the new year, Embraer will deliver a further three aircraft to Porter.
ROUND-UP: Dec. 19-23, 2023
From Vancouver to the deep US south, and populous southern Ontario in between, wild winter weather cancelled flights and disrupted holiday travel plans across the continent ahead of the Christmas weekend.
Winter whacked pretty much everyone across the continent last week; the Canadian Transportation Agency revealed Canada’s most complained about airlines; G Adventures ticked off Russia; India started arrivals testing again – all this and more in our past-weekly Round Up.
SNOW DAY – BUT NOT IN A GOOD WAY: ‘It’s been a tough few days of travel’
Across Canada, Friday is shaping up to be a snow day – but not in a good way, as winter weather continues on the storm-weary west coast and an expected wallop of rain, ice, and snow arrives in Toronto and points east. On the eve of Christmas Eve it’s a gift for travellers akin to a lump of coal in one’s stocking.
INDIA RESUMES RANDOM ARRIVALS TESTING
India has begun randomly testing international passengers arriving at its airports for COVID-19, but the country’s health minister says there are no plans yet to halt flights from countries where new cases have been reported.
PUBS, PATIOS & BARS: Four festive Caribbean cocktails for the holiday
For children, the holidays are a time to sample the latest and greatest in seasonal confectionary – an all-you-can-eat feast of whatever cookies and sweets their relatives baked that year. For adults, the holidays represent a time to indulge in sweet things of a more liquid and alcoholic variety.
LISTENING IN: This Christmas medley is just too much
I implied last week that I am largely uninspired by most of the overwrought and overthought holiday musical fare that comes like the snow this time of year (whether you want it or not). But I’m not in fact a mean one like Mr. Grinch, because I do in fact love that classic song, along with many of the other great cartoon tunes that still make me smile.
CANADA’S MOST, AND LEAST, COMPLAINED ABOUT AIRLINES
Air Transat is the least dissed domestic airline in 2022 by consumers at just over two (2.2) complaints per 100 flights flown, according to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), which has published a new dashboard that tallies the grievances. At the more dubious end of the scale, Flair Airlines racked up the most moans per century at 13.7.
WINTER WOES CONTINUE: Snow a blow at YVR, Toronto next
The woes for travellers stranded by heavy snow at Vancouver’s airport are spreading across the country and Toronto Pearson International Airport is now advising of an approaching storm that could derail things further.
HE’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS: Man gets creative when flight cancelled
A Newfoundland man was barrelling home Wednesday in a rented Toyota Corolla after his WestJet flight from Toronto to St. John’s was cancelled three days ago.
PUMPING UP THE JAM: Jamaica primed for record winter
Jamaica is set to have a record winter tourist season, with the Jamaica Tourist Board forecasting that it will welcome nearly 1.5 million visitors and earn approximately US$1.5 billion in foreign exchange, prompting the country’s tourism minister to declare, “We’re back to normal.”
DESPERATE FLIGHT: Stowaway dies in plane wheel well
A dead man was found in the wheel bay of an airplane that flew from Gambia to Britain, Gambian authorities said this week. The unidentified body of a man was found on a jet operated by a British charter carrier TUI Airways, which had flown from Gambia’s capital of Banjul to London’s Gatwick airport.