RETAIL ROUND-UP: ACTA, Jamaica, Ensemble, Swan Hellenic
ACTA-affiliated travel advisors say irie to Jamaica destination experience with support from Sandals and Air Canada,, while Ensemble and Swan Hellenic sail off with a new preferred partnership.
NATHALIE BOMBARDIER JOINS TRAVELBRANDS
TravelBrands has named Nathalie Bombardier as its new Business Development Manager for Québec. In her role, she will focus on supporting travel agents in Rive-Sud, West Montreal, Downtown Montreal, Estrie, Abitibi, and Gatineau regions.
AIRFARE SUBSIDY TO HELP LABRADOR RESIDENTS
Newfoundland and Labrador’s government has announced an “Air Access Pilot Program” that allows people of Labrador and parts of the Great Northern Peninsula to access a subsidy to help lower the soaring cost of air travel in the province.
CANADIANS NOT SHUFFLING OFF TO BUFFALO: US travel downturn forecast to continue
For a few hopeful weeks this summer, a bright billboard on the major highway linking Toronto to New York greeted Canadian drivers with a simple message: “Buffalo Loves Canada.” The marketing campaign, which included a $500 gift card giveaway, was meant to show Buffalo’s northern neighbours they were welcome, wanted and missed.
PAT DINEEN: Remembering a rare elite everyman
By Michael Baginski/ I first met Canadian travel industry legend Pat Dineen on a press trip to Greece in the early 1990s. We got to know each other sipping ouzo in a harbour café in a postcard-perfect Greek fishing village, moon overhead, the strains of bouzouki in the air, and Pat was talking about… sumo.
HERE COMES THE SUN: ACV launches new digital brochure
With its annual cross-country “Dream Makers” tour hitting the road this week – starting in Halifax on Wednesday – Air Canada Vacations has released its 2025/26 Digital Sun Brochure for a fourth consecutive year, featuring more hotels, more destinations, and more cruise options than ever before.
JODINE CLEMENT TAKES NEW ROLE AT TTC TOUR BRANDS
Citing a continued investment in Canada and commitment to the travel advisor community, TTC Tour Brands has promoted Jodine Clement to Director of Sales, Canada. In her new role, Clement will oversee national sales strategies, strengthen partnerships with travel advisors and continue building on the company’s growth in the Canadian market.
SPIRIT FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY AGAIN BUT VOWS TO KEEP FLYING
Budget carrier Spirit Airlines said Friday that it has filed for fresh bankruptcy protection months after emerging from a Chapter 11 reorganization. The ultra low-cost airline said it plans to keep flying as usual during the restructuring process, meaning passengers can still book trips and use their tickets, credits and loyalty points. Employees and contractors will also continue to get paid, the company said.
ROUND-UP: Aug. 25-29, 2025
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.
US FLIGHT ATTENDANTS FED UP TOO: But why they are unlikely, or unable, to strike
At the end of work trips, Nathan Miller goes home to a makeshift bedroom in his parents’ house in Virginia. The 29-year-old flight attendant is part of a PSA Airlines crew based in Philadelphia, but he can’t afford to live there. Miller says he makes about US$24,000 a year staffing multiple flights a day as a full-time attendant for the American Airlines subsidiary.
WESTJET, COPA AIRLINE SIGN INTERLINE AGREEMENT
WestJet and Copa Airlines have announced an interline agreement that will significantly enhance connectivity across both carriers’ networks. The agreement allows WestJet guests to seamlessly travel beyond its newly announced destination, Panama City, with access to 37 Copa Airlines destinations across Central and South America. Additionally, Copa guests travelling north will gain access to WestJet’s extensive North American network.
DUST IN THE WIND: Phoenix walloped by massive storm
A powerful dust storm roared through the Phoenix area earlier this week with a wall of dust towering hundreds metre high dwarfing the city’s neighbourhoods. Called a haboob, the wind-driven phenomenon blackened skies and knocked out electricity for 15,000 customers late Monday afternoon.
IT’S A DOG’S LIFE: Helsinki unveils sightseeing tour for man’s best friend
With more than 1,000 dogs in attendance, Finland’s capital, Helsinki, launched what is believed to be the world’s first sightseeing route designed especially for man’s best friend earlier this month. The “Doggy Route to Happiness” featured a canine-sized stick-built tribute to the world-famous Sibelius Monument, “a pup-up” dog café, a dedicated dog island, and even special advertising aimed at four-legged viewers.
TURNING UP THE TASTES ON A TALL SHIP
Talk about a Big Fish Fry! The grill tonight features a grouper so massive it’s almost larger than any of the cooks who are grilling it. But it will somehow vanish like magic into scrumptious filets over the course of a sunset dinner on the Sea Cloud Spirit. It’s just one taste of why dining on the world’s largest fully rigged sailing cruise ship, which carries only 136 pampered guests, is among the most varied and inventive at sea.
LISTENING IN: Richards and Jones know a thing or two
By Michael Baginski/ Mick Jagger has certainly had his fair share of amazing duet partners, including the likes of Tina Turner, David Bowie and Lady Gaga. Not to be outdone, the second most famous Rolling Stone paired up with the incomparable jazz-pop singer Norah Jones to register his own claim on the well-known ballad “Love Hurts.”
STRUGGLE NOT OVER: Air Canada flight attendants deliver message to pax
As Air Canada flight attendants begin voting this week on whether to accept a settlement offer from the airline, the workers union has issued a message to passengers and the public at large, expressing gratitude and forbearance, but also showing the ongoing frustration that ultimately resulted in a strike action from Aug. 16 to 19, and which may influence the result of the vote.
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN HAMILTON? Refreshed YHM offers southern Ontario winter options
Increasingly an alternative to Toronto’s busy airports, John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport (YHM) has unveiled its latest “refreshments,” and its winter flight program for 2025/26, including increased nonstop service and easy connections to/from southern Ontario to the South.
SEEING DOUBLE: Southwest to require extra seat buy for plus-size travellers
Southwest Airlines will soon require travellers who don’t fit within the armrests of their seat to pay for an extra one in advance, part of a string of recent changes the carrier is making. The new rule goes into effect Jan. 27, the same day Southwest starts assigning seats.
CANADA COMPASS: Icy Parks Canada initiative helps visitors monitor glacier
When you take a photo of yourself, that’s a selfie. When you take a cool photo of a glacier, that’s an “Icy,” says Parks Canada, which has launched a community science program dubbed the Icy Initiative that allows park visitors to help scientists monitor glacier change over time simply by taking and submitting photos in two national and three provincial parks across the country.
NEW YORK CONSIDERS ENDING POPULAR TOURIST ACTIVITY
For more than 150 years, horse-drawn carriages have been trotting through Manhattan’s Central Park, weathering the arrival of the automobile, years of criticism from animal rights activists and even a mayoral administration that vowed to ban the tourist activity. But now the influential nonprofit that manages the 341-hectare park – and has previously stayed out of the debate – has now thrown its support behind a proposal to wind down the industry as early as next summer.
HOTEL HAPPENINGS: Rosewood readying for Maldives
Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, which manages 30 one-of-a-kind luxury hotels, resorts, and residences in 18 countries, is preparing to add the Maldives – a destination the company calls “a preeminent tropical paradise” – to its roster.
WHAT HAPPENS IF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS DON’T RATIFY DEAL?
With an online petition – and some chirping on social media – of nearly half (4,800) of Air Canada’s 10,000 flight attendants expressing dissatisfaction over the airline’s wage offer, union members begin voting today (Aug. 27) on a new tentative agreement.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE: Passengers sue carriers for misleading seats
When is a window not a window? A pair of federal lawsuits filed in San Francisco and New York this week accuse Delta Air Lines and United Airlines of misleading passengers by charging premium fees for window seats next to blank walls.
GOWAY ADVISORY BOARD IS NO GAME
By Michael Baginski/ It was only natural that Goway would convene the inaugural gathering of its recently constituted Travel Advisory Board on one of the travel company’s most important days of the year: its annual exhibition cricket match gala with Air New Zealand at the Toronto Cricket Club.
RETAIL ROUND-UP: Agent news, fams & incentives
This week: Virtuoso recognized its top cruise partners this month at Virtuoso Travel Week, while First in Service scored its own award. Also, Travel CUTS is planning a big reunion for staff and former staff in Toronto.
TICO ANNOUNCES AGM DETAILS
The Travel Industry Council of Ontario has announced details for its upcoming annual general meeting on Sept. 25 at 5 p.m. All TICO registrants and members of the public are invited to attend the virtual event, however only members in good standing are entitled to vote at the meeting.
PROGRESS AND PERIL: Syria’s long road back to tourism
As Syria’s world leaders continue to reestablish relations with the country’s new government after the end of 14 years of civil war, and a new US$4 billion airport expansion is in the works, experts are returning to the nation’s war-ravaged heritage sites, hoping to lay the groundwork for restoring them and reviving tourism to a country that had always been renowned as one of the most amazing places to visit in the Middle East.
GET IN LINE: Air Canada strike complainants can expect lengthy wait
Air Canada customers looking to lodge a complaint with the regulator over their experience during the flight attendants’ strike should prepare for a wait. The Canadian Transportation Agency says its backlog of air travel complaints stood at about 85,000 as of Aug. 14, two days before the strike started.
WESTJET WINGING IT TO PUERTO ESCONDIDO
WestJet is adding Puerto Escondido to its route map for the first time, providing seasonal access for travellers between Calgary and the Pacific coast surf town in Oaxaca, Mexico. Beginning Dec. 12, the route will operate once per week throughout the winter travel season.
A SLOW BOAT TO BURGUNDY
By Cindy-Lou Dale/ Burgundy isn’t just a place – it’s a feeling, a flavour, and a memory in the making. And for travellers seeking a week where time slows to walking pace, European Waterways’ L’Impressionniste offers a six-night voyage through the heart of French region’s wine country, gliding from Escommes to Fleurey-sur-Ouche along the tranquil Canal de Bourgogne.