Travellers are eager to hit the road in 2025 with more trips and longer stays, but government policy developments in the U.S. are nudging many international travellers – beyond Canadians –to reconsider how and where they go, according to the Spring 2025 Traveller Sentiment and Safety Survey conducted by Global Rescue.
Exit tourists. Enter cardinals. The Vatican has closed the Sistine Chapel, where cardinals will gather next week for the conclave to elect the next pope after the death of Pope Francis on April 21 at age 88. Francis was buried Saturday after a funeral in St. Peter’s Square that gathered world leaders and hundreds of thousands of others, and a nine-day period of mourning is continuing before the conclave can start.
By Wallace Immen/ While Champagne’s traditional, it was premium Canadian whisky anointing the Great Lakes cruise ship Victory 1 in a recent christening ceremony at the Port of Toronto, where Godmother Emily Coleman broke a bottle across the bow of the first of two ships offering round trips between Toronto and Chicago.
The Bermuda Tourism Authority (BTA), the destination marketing organization for the island of Bermuda, is accelerating its growth strategy in the North American market with the appointment of Fever Pitch Marketing Communications as its new Canadian agency of record.
There is so much going in Switzerland this summer that a recent annual briefing from Switzerland Tourism stretched to 33 pages. From annual festival favourites to milestone anniversaries, and hotel happenings and touring tidbits to cultural can’t-misses, there’s literally something for everyone. But we don’t have the space, nor you the time, to list them all – myswitzerland.com does that – so we’ve settled on 10 items of interest guaranteed to make your clients yodel.
By Michael Baginski/ Kicking off today (Monday), a whopping 30 U.S. destinations are taking part in Brand USA’s multi-day Brand USA ‘Canada Connect 2025’ mission, with timely events in Toronto and Montreal that the US DMO acknowledges are taking place at “pivotal moment” amid “shifting travel trends on both sides of the border.”
Major U.S. airlines are reducing their flight schedules and revising or withdrawing their profit outlooks for the year due to less domestic travel demand as sentiment about the national and global economies sours. American, Southwest and Delta all cited weakening sales among economy class leisure travellers in declaring the economic outlook too uncertain to provide full-year forecasts.
Shifts in the real estate market – such as declining demand for office and strata developments –have created a rare window of opportunity for hotel development in Vancouver – a city that urgently needs to build 10,000 hotel rooms by 2050 to keep pace with growing demand, according to a new report by Destination Vancouver and the BC Hotel Association.
Goway is raising the curtain on its first Micro Film Festival, and travel advisors are being invited to contribute – with the winning entrant earning a prize package that includes attendance at a gala screening event in Los Angeles.
Registration is now open for Sandals’ annual 2025 Masterclass training series. Designed exclusively for the Canadian market by Unique Vacations Canada, the sessions will feature both in-person sessions across the country and online events, led by national training manager Lorna Richards.
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.
Operations at Pearson airport in Toronto Thursday morning were disrupted after a 30-year-old man was shot dead by police outside Terminal 1. Police described the event as an isolated incident and said there was no known threat to the public, nor was the airport itself the target. There were no other injuries.
The White House said this week that there have been “successes” at the Canada-U.S. border with only 54 people apprehended last month in the Swanton Sector of the northern border – which includes areas of New Hampshire, Vermont and New York – a 95% drop since March 2024.
India and Pakistan cancelled visas for their nationals to each other’s countries and India closed the only functional land border crossing between the countries in the latest retaliatory moves following the killing of 26 people, including 24 Indian tourists, in an attack by gunmen in disputed Kashmir, which India blamed on Pakistan.
A free room upgrade is the jackpot of hotel stays; with this in mind, Casino.org has sought out the “luckiest” hotel chains for guests to score the coveted bump. To that end, the company analyzed reviews of 40,000-plus properties across the 15 largest hotel chains in the US and Canada.
Caution: Don’t take a course in Oceania Cruise’s Culinary Centre on a full stomach. You’ll learn why soon enough. I’m just a guy whose past culinary achievements have been grilling burgers at summer barbecues and frying eggs at breakfast.
It’s remembered as the epic coming together of two of the world’s greatest rock bands, The Beatles and Queen. But the momentous jam by Paul, Ringo, Brian May and Roger Taylor – notably aided by a who’s who of musical friends, with a full orchestra, for the rendition of “All You Need is Love” – was so much more.
By Michael Baginski/ Despite cross-border travel woes, the sky is far from falling for travel, according to a panel of top agents at Virtuoso’s recent ‘On the Road’ event in Toronto. Indeed, the biggest takeaway from the session was that travellers are mostly going to travel no matter what, though in the current circumstances, that may simply mean changing destinations – and how agents get them there may require some flexibility and finesse.
Air Canada has been ordered to pay passengers more than $10 million in damages by the Quebec Court of appeal in a class-action lawsuit that alleged they were charged more than the ticket price advertised – more than 15 years ago.
ACTA has opened nominations for its the 2025 ACTA Awards – six awards that recognize travel agency leaders and travel advisor nominees across a variety of categories. “The ACTA awards promote excellence in our industry and are a chance to nominate those who deserve recognition,” says Wendy Paradis, ACTA president.
VoX International Inc. has been named Canadian representation for Experience Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI), the official destination marketing and management organization (DMMO) for the Caribbean islands.
AmaWaterways christened its newest luxury river cruise ship, AmaSintra, which set off on its inaugural voyage along the Douro River in Portugal. The launch of the vessel further strengthens AmaWaterways’ presence in Europe and bring to three, along with sister ships AmaDouro and AmaVida, the company’s number of ships in the top trending destination.
Coinciding with Earth Day (April 22), Sandals Resorts International (SRI), unveiled its Corporate Social Responsibility Report, offering a sweeping look at the company’s ongoing promise to protect and uplift the Caribbean – “the place it calls home.” Titled ‘Love Exceeds Expectations,’ the report showcases more than 40 years of impact, innovation, and stewardship across education, community, and the environment.
A coalition of North American tourism associations committed to open borders is calling for “innovative solutions and unified action” to protect and promote the “pivotal” role of travel during the current “unprecedented” bilateral crisis between Canada and the U.S.
Canadian travellers (53%) are now conscious of travel’s impact on communities as well as the environment, and two thirds (66%) now want to leave places better than when they arrived, according to a new survey by Booking.com.
WestJet has announced a major expansion of its domestic network with new non-stop service between Halifax and St. John’s and three western Canadian cities for summer 2025 – all boosting domestic travel options as well as connections to transatlantic services from the eastern seaboard.
This week: The Travel Agent Next Door has Flex Pay options for its advisors/clients; Globus family of brands is feeling ‘social’; a booking contest from Explore Worldwide (win a trip!); and loyalty program enhancements from Palladium Hotel Group.
Effective today (April 23), Ritushri Dhankher officially begins her role as National Travel Trade & Aviation Manager – Canada for VisitBritain, based in Toronto. She replaces the retiring Lynda Falcone. Well known for her tenure as a member of the VisitBritain team in Canada, Dhankher’s promotion adds the aviation portfolio to the title.
Turkey has begun a new phase in sweeping restorations of the nearly 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, focusing on preserving the monument’s historic domes from the threat of earthquakes. Officials say the project will include reinforcing Hagia Sophia’s main dome and half domes, but will remain accessible to visitors during the work.
By Michael Baginski/ With tariffs, sovereignty threats, and fears over border privacy/security, the number of Canadians currently choosing to travel to the U.S. is clearly waning (by how much depends on the source, and mode of travel, i.e. air vs. car), however, one thing is certain according to a panel of top travel agents at a recent Virtuoso gathering in Toronto: travel advisors would be best advised to be like Switzerland and remain politically neutral on the matter when it comes to clients.