As Travel & Tourism enters the height of the summer season, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has launched a new report calling for a more balanced approach to managing tourism in popular destinations. The new paper sets out six practical actions to help destinations grow sustainably while protecting jobs and communities.
Following of the announcement this week of WestJet’s winter 2025-26 flight schedule, Sunwing Vacations has detailed its corresponding vacation program, which marks its first full winter season with travel on board WestJet. On offer are direct flights from over 20 airports across Canada to over 25 sun destinations including new destinations Nicaragua and Samana, plus the returning island of San Andrés, Colombia, plus an expanded resort portfolio and inclusions.
This week: ACTA is set to host a townhall meeting; ACV FAM introduces northern Portugal; Total dominance and movin’ on up at TRAVELSAVERS’ Canada; Virtuoso celebrates a milestone; meet the Trevello agents who are ‘Simply the best’; and new agent tools from Explora Journeys.
For the first time in almost 20 years, travellers may no longer be required to take off their shoes during security screenings at certain U.S. airports. The Transportation Security Administration is looking to abandon the additional security step that has for years bedeviled anyone passing through U.S airports, according to media reports.
Canadian travellers have to contend with snow, Australia has… reptiles. An Aussie domestic flight was delayed recently for two hours after a stowaway snake was found in the plane’s cargo hold as passengers were boarding a Virgin Australia flight at Melbourne Airport bound for Brisbane.
By Michael Baginski/ Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” is now law, which is bad news for Brand USA. At nearly 900 pages, the budget reconciliation legislation – signed by the president with the backdrop of fireworks on July 4 – is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. But buried in the document is the slashing of funding for the marketing organization responsible for promoting U.S. tourism abroad by 80% to a mere $20 million.
WestJet’s 2025/26 winter schedule will feature five new destinations across the Caribbean and Latin America. While departures will increase by three percent year-over-year, capacity will be consistent with last winter, as seats will be removed from former Sunwing/Swoop aircraft, which will be updated to WestJet’s standard configuration before the start of winter.
European travellers are showing strong interest in Ontario as a destination of choice. According to a new Europe Pulse Study conducted by Context Research Group (CRG) on behalf of Destination Ontario and Destination Toronto, more than half of leisure travellers from the United Kingdom, Germany and France are considering a trip to Ontario in the next two years, with Canada seen as culturally and experientially distinct from the United States.
Nine restaurants have received prestigious Michelin stars in the tastemaker’s first foray into Quebec, cementing the province’s reputation as a hot spot for culinary creativity. All nine of the starred restaurants announced recently are categorized as serving contemporary or creative fare.
VoX International has announced Noah Case as its new Account Executive, Eastern Canada for Tourism Australia, based in Toronto. He will support Tourism Australia’s travel trade efforts in Eastern Canada alongside Paul Larcher, the Tourism Australia Account Director for Canada, while working closely with Gustavo Inciarte, who continues to support the tourist board in the Western Canada market based in Vancouver.
For the first time in over a century, Parisians and tourists can take a refreshing dip in the River Seine. The long-polluted waterway has finally opened up as a summertime swim spot following a 1.4 billion euro ($1.5 billion) cleanup project that made it suitable for Olympic competitions last year.
Like a runaway train, the travel and tourism industry is projected to serve 30 billion tourist trips by 2034, according to the World Economic Forum – a development that will generate significant commercial opportunities, but also the massive challenges of climate change, labour shortages and infrastructure gaps, which will require nothing less than a “bold reimagining of the systems that underpin travel and tourism.”
A protest by hundreds against gentrification and mass tourism that began peacefully Friday in Mexico City neighbourhoods popular with tourists turned violent when a small number of people began smashing storefronts with rocks read: “get out of Mexico” and harassing foreigners – mostly American tourists who have flooded into Mexico’s capital in recent years.
A wildfire in Greece prompted evacuations in coastal areas south of Athens, as firefighters in neighbouring Turkey remained locked in a battle to contain flames tearing through forested hillsides in the west of the country.
The party tents are up, straw bales are scattered around sidewalks, and the most crucial 10 days of the year are in full swing. The Calgary Stampede is a yearly celebration of western culture that kicked off Friday with a parade and includes rodeo events, concerts, carnival games, midway rides, neighbourhood pancake breakfasts, corporate shindigs, and a whole lot of cowboy cosplay.
In a not-at-all subtle message to its neighbours to the north, New York City illuminated its skyline in red and white on July 1 to mark Canada Day and “celebrate the enduring friendship between Canada and New York City.”
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.
Half a dozen major Canadian airports returned to normal operations Thursday afternoon after Canada’s air traffic control service said some received bomb threats early in the morning. Nav Canada said the threats affected airports in Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. The Montreal airport said in a social media post that the threats were specific to Nav Canada’s towers.
Two elderly female tourists in Zambia were killed by an elephant Thursday while on a walking safari in a national park, police said. Eastern Province Police Commissioner Robertson Mweemba said the victims – 68-year-old Easton Janet Taylor from the U.K. and 67-year-old Alison Jean Taylor from New Zealand – were attacked by a female elephant that was with a calf.
Would you go? Well, you can’t, even if you wanted to. Nevertheless, North Korea took a “proud first step” toward realizing the government’s policy of developing tourism, according to leader Kim Jong Un at the opening of a mammoth beach resort in the Asian pariah nation this week.
An 80-year-old man drove a compact luxury Mercedes-Benz A Class sedan down Rome’s landmark Spanish Steps early in the day recently before getting stuck part way down, municipal police said in a statement.
A crowd on shore waves and cheers as we sail out of the Welland Canal into Lake Erie. This ship that’s cruising to all five of the Great Lakes is rare sight in itself. And our Victory1 has the retro lines of a passenger ship that might have plyed these inland seas a century ago.
Each year on since 2008, Ringo Starr has invited people everywhere to pause at 12 noon local time on July 8 – his birthday – to say, think, or post “Peace and Love” as a collective moment of global unity. The heartfelt tradition is now recognized worldwide as a simple yet powerful gesture of kindness and hope.
Australian airline Qantas said Wednesday that a hacker made off with a trove of customers’ personal data including passenger names, emails, phone numbers, birth dates and frequent flyer numbers.
WestJet and Aeromexico have expanded their codeshare partnership, offering guests on both sides of the continent enhanced access to a broader network of destinations in the two countries with the ease of a single booking.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is set to launch the “ultimate recognition experience” this summer for Canada’s top-performing travel trade professionals. The initiative will spotlight “the best in the business – those who go above and beyond to sell and promote Las Vegas” with special perks, exclusive invitations, and iconic Vegas experiences.
Transat Distribution Canada (TDC) recently celebrated the exceptional performance of approximately 60 of its top travel advisors. The professionals, hailing from Transat Travel/Voyages Transat agencies, the agent@home program, and its franchise and affiliate agencies across Canada, were treated to a seven-night dream trip to Club Med La Palmeraie in Marrakech, Morocco.
By Anita Draycott/ When the International Association of Golf Tour Operators awarded Wales the “undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year in 2003,” that kudo, plus the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in 2010, put the country on the global golf map. Wales hosted The Senior open in 2014, 2017 and 2023. This year the AIG Woman’s Open comes to Royal Porthcawl (July 30 to Aug. 3).
The French Riviera resort of Cannes is imposing what its city council calls “drastic regulation” on cruise ships, banning any vessels carrying more than 1,000 people from its harbor starting next year. The home of the world’s premier film festival is joining a growing global backlash against overtourism, which recently saw uproar over Jeff Bezos’ and Lauren Sanchez’ Venice wedding last weekend, water-gun protests in Spain, and a surprise strike at the Louvre Museum.
U.S. President Donald Trump has instructed his top Cabinet officers to review U.S. policy toward Cuba, ordering them to examine current sanctions and come up with ways to toughen them within 30 days. In one potential significant change, the order said the U.S. should look for ways to shut down all tourism to the island and to restrict educational tours to groups that are organized and run only by American citizens.