This week: Virtual Travel Week is underway in Las Vegas; Transat Distribution Canada has a social media solution for members; and TRAVELSAVERS leads the way on artificial intelligence.

Small group adventure specialist Intrepid Travel is inviting travel advisors to “step up, compete, and claim the crown” during its August ‘World Sale’ – a booking blitz packed with savings, prizes, and serious bragging rights. 

As the clock ticks down toward a possible strike that could begin as soon as this weekend, Air Canada flight attendants gathered for simultaneous demonstrations outside airports in some major Canadian cities Monday.

The Maritime provinces and Ottawa are spending $9 million to help restore air travel between Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Under a three-year pilot program with PAL Airlines, daily flights will be offered between Halifax, Sydney, N.S., Charlottetown, Fredericton and Moncton, N.B.

Firefighters battled Monday to tackle a large gorse fire that spread across Arthur’s Seat threatening the landmark hill in Edinburgh, which is a popular tourist attraction in the Scottish capital.

The Beyond Borders Tourism Coalition, a unified alliance of US and Canadian and U.S. tourism, trade, and association stakeholders, is calling for urgent policy clarity and coordinated action in the face of escalating tariffs and the recent funding cuts of critical NGOs and infrastructure support, while historic uncertainty grips cross-border travel.  

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.

Canadians renewing or applying for Nexus travel cards can no longer choose an X gender marker, following an executive order from U.S. President Donald Trump that said the American government will only recognize male or female.

France’s biggest wildfire this summer is spreading quickly in a Mediterranean wine region near the Spanish border, having burned an area larger than Paris. French Prime Minister François Bayrou deplored a “disaster on an unprecedented scale” in the region.

This week: Ensemble members celebrate under a Tuscan sun; Virtuoso is set for top tech conference; and TRAVELSAVERS Canada honours own of its own.

As the economy goes, so goes travel (and other discretionary spending in general). So, the travel trade can exhale a little – at least for now – amidst emerging positive sentiment regarding Canada’s economy, including “surprising” resilience in the face of U.S. tariffs, improving consumer confidence, robust domestic travel, and diminishing fears of a recession.

It would seem the most straightforward of notions: A thing takes place, and it goes into the history books or is added to museum exhibits. But whether something even gets remembered and how – particularly when it comes to the history of a country and its leader – is often the furthest thing from simple.

TravelBrands has unveiled significant enhancements to its Loyalty Rewards Program, effective Aug. 1. They include a new sales-based tier structure, expanded redemption options, and elevated benefits across all product lines.