By Wallace Immen/ John Waggoner is taking a Victory lap. The CEO of Victory Cruise Lines says its inaugural season on the Great Lakes was a race run from a literal standing start, but Victory lived up to its name. He’s confident lessons learned this year will make the 2026 season even stronger.
Intrepid Travel has promoted Caroline Tinsley to the newly created role of Head of Partnerships, Canada, marking a key strategic investment in the company’s growth across the Canadian market.
U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra says the administration might have to “take a look at” customs preclearance at Canadian airports for U.S.-bound travellers, given the drop in cross-border visitors. Preclearance, which has been in place since 1952, enables travellers to be inspected before their departing flights, bypassing officers at their U.S. destination.
With the travel industry preparing to mark World Tourism Day on Saturday (Sept. 27), it was fitting that just a couple of days prior, the Tourist Office of Spain welcomed close to 75 tourism leaders and members of the Canadian trade to “Spain Talks” in Toronto – a thought-provoking exploration of contemporary challenges and innovative solutions in sustainable tourism.
Copa Airlines, in partnership with Visit Panama, took part in a two-city roadshow in Toronto and Montreal last week, showcasing Panama´s unique tourism offerings and stopover program to the Canadian travel trade. The roadshow featured over 17 key Panamanian suppliers, including hotels, DMCs, rental car companies, and attractions.
RIU Hotels & Resorts has opened its first hotel in Canada: the Riu Plaza Toronto. The newly built four-star hotel has 352 rooms and is located at 30 Widmer St. in the bustling Entertainment District, walking distance from the Rogers Centre and other downtown attractions.
Air Canada Vacations newly released 2025/2026 Sun Toolkit features more than 620 hotels, including 41 brand-new Sun properties and 32 additions across the United States. The collection also expanded to 64 destinations with five newcomers: Cartagena (Colombia), Miches (Dominican Republic), Palm Springs and Napa Valley (California), and San Juan (Puerto Rico).
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.
The world, and its travel industry, are set to celebrate World Tourism Day Saturday, held on Sept. 27 each year since 1980. This year’s theme is “Tourism and Sustainable Transformation” with a call to action to unlock the benefits of tourism, balanced with checking its negative impacts.
Recent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, travel sentiment is merely shaken, not stirred, according to the Global Rescue Summer 2025 Traveller Safety and Sentiment Survey. Regardless of age, gender, or nationality, the overwhelming majority of travellers surveyed remain unfazed by natural disasters – although a cautious minority is selectively avoiding certain high-risk destinations.
WestJet celebrated Hope Air’s annual Haul for Hope in Calgary Sept. 24 with a record number of all-WestJet employee teams competing to haul a 67,000-pound Q400 aircraft to raise money for Hope Air. Of the total teams in Calgary competing, 10 were comprised of WestJet employees from across all areas of the business, signifying care and commitment to community investment.
News of a sick or injured mountain gorilla can worry local residents in mountainous area of Uganda that’s home to the endangered species. That’s partly because most of the gorillas have been given names, allowing rangers and others to humanize the animal’s suffering. But widespread interest in protecting mountain gorillas also comes from the economic benefits of tourism that have turned poachers into conservationists, married women into porters and rangers into eloquent spokespeople for the great apes.
Jane August had what seemed like a straightforward plan: She would travel to every single museum in the city, producing a short video log of each one. She figured it would take three years at most. But with 136 museums documented since 2021, she still has about 64 to go by her estimation. Here’s what she’s found, so far.
Canada’s beloved ‘Come from Away’ is hitting the high seas for the first time ever courtesy of Cunard, which is introducing the acclaimed theatrical production on the maiden Caribberan voyage of the Queen Elizabeth on Oct. 16 and continuing throughout the vessel’s winter season.
With Canadians in the midst of a trillion-dollar wealth transfer, baby boomers are rewriting the rules of inheritance. A survey from Flight Centre conducted by YouGov reveals that some grandparents aren’t waiting to pass along financial assets; instead, they’re creating a living legacy by funding multi-generational vacations.
Adam Stewart, Executive Chairman of Sandals and Beaches Resorts, returned to the stage at the Skift Global Forum last week, sharing his vision for the future of all-inclusive hospitality with an audience of industry leaders, innovators, and travel executives from around the world.
In a world where everything seems to be going up in price, Contiki says it is “flipping the script” to offer its 18-to-35 clientele lower tour costs, plus other benefits on its Europe 2026 roster of trips. The “bold new global pricing model” is designed to make travel more affordable, transparent, and accessible, says the company.
This week: WestJet Vacations and Las Vegas hit a home run with TRAVELSAVERS Canada advisors at the Rogers Centre (even if the Jays didn’t win); Aqua Expeditions has introduced a new loyalty program for the travel trade; and there’s still time to register for Antigua’s Black Pineapple Awards.
It’s going to be a case of Jailhouse Rock for a Missouri woman has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for scheming to defraud Elvis Presley’s family by trying to auction off his Graceland home and property before a judge halted the brazen foreclosure sale.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is following through on his threat to force Delta and Aeromexico to dissolve their longtime partnership because of his concerns that Mexico isn’t being fair to U.S. airlines.
Canadians might be shunning trips to the U.S. as the tariff war trundles along, but Americans are still heading north, so much so that July marked a milestone. Statistics Canada said Tuesday that more U.S. residents came to Canada that month than Canadian residents returned from the U.S. It’s a feat that’s only happened one other time in roughly the last two decades, if you exclude the COVID-19 pandemic outliers of August and September 2021.
After it formal recognition of the Palestinian state this week, Canada has updated it’s travel advisory for “Israel and Palestine,” though still warning visitors to avoid non-essential travel to the former and “all travel” to the latter.
Several unidentified drones shut down airspace over Copenhagen Airport on Monday night, prompting concerns that Russia could be behind the flyover above Scandinavia’s largest airport. There was no indication that the operators of two to three drones intended to cause harm to anyone, police said, and the drones disappeared after several hours. But the incident caused a major disruption to air traffic in and out of the airport.
Transat Distribution Canada (TDC) welcomed members from across Canada (except Quebec) at its annual flagship event, Rendez-vous, in Mississauga, Sept. 20-21. Held under the theme “Star Power. Lighting the way in a sky of choices”, the gathering brought together agency owners and managers, travel advisors, the TDC leadership team, and around 55 preferred partners.
By Wallace Immen/ Riviera Travel is taking a singular approach with one of its European river ships. Beginning in 2027, its MS George Eliot will exclusively sail solo departures on the Danube, Rhine and Moselle rivers, marking the first time a cruise ship has devoted its entire season to solo guests.
Spirit Airlines plans to furlough 1,800 flight attendants before the end of the year, the cash-strapped budget carrier said Monday. The company said it made the “difficult decision” to put cabin crew members on temporary leave to match staffing needs with expected flight demand during Spirit’s second bankruptcy in a year.
Despite political tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, economic uncertainty stemming from tariffs and fears of treatment at the border, data from SAP Concur suggests Canadian business travel to the U.S. during the first half of the year has remained stable compared with last year’s levels, even if it means some companies are taking more precautions at the border.
By Michael Baginski/ The Florida Keys isn’t your typical Florida (or U.S.) destination. Sometimes quirky, always laid back, the Keys stretches for 200 km south from Miami over the Atlantic Ocean, Florida Bay, and Gulf of Mexico, boasting great year-round weather and a feeling of being in the Caribbean without leaving the North American continent.
A recent West Group team-building workshop marked the official integration of WestJet Vacations trade sales team members with the existing Sunwing Vacations. Travel advisors will continue working with their established contacts at both brands, which will maintain their distinct identities and product offerings.
Goway Travel has officially concluded its first-ever Micro Film Festival, celebrating the creative power of short-form storytelling. Launched earlier this year in celebration of Goway’s 55th anniversary, the festival invited travellers, travel advisors, and professional creators to share their globetrotting journeys in a compelling 55-second film.