War in middle east and eastern Europe, US politics, cats and dogs living together! (to quote Bill Murray in Ghostbusters) … It seems we should all just get together and feel all right, which I tend to do when listening to Playing for Change, the amazing collective of world music practitioners who creatively re-interpret favourite songs in the name of peace, love, unity – and charity – through song.
Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) has “revolutionized” the booking process for ‘Round the World’ tickets, according to the oneworld airline alliance, which counts American Airlines, British Airways, and Cathay Pacific amongst its dozen-plus global members.
In another setback to the beleaguered airline manufacturer, federal safety officials in the US are requiring inspections of cockpit seats on Boeing 787 Dreamliners after one of the jets went into a dive when the captain’s seat lurched forward without warning and disconnected the plane’s autopilot system.
The sun is a red orb sitting low on the horizon. The only sound is the eerie cry of an African Fish Eagle. It’s all rather splendid, quietly cruising on the Zambezi Queen by Mantis along the Chobe River, between Namibia’s Caprivi Strip and Botswana’s Chobe National Park, which together contain one of Africa’s densest concentrations of wildlife.
Sunwing’s 2024-25 winter season will feature the addition of three new sun destinations: Tulum, Camaguey-Santa Lucia, and San Andrés. In total, the company will offer more than 700 hotel in 27 sun destinations throughout Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, from 24 gateways across Canada.
“The most ambitious, groundbreaking ride Universal has ever created,” will highlight the third installment of Universal Orlando Resort’s popular Harry Potter-themed lands when The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic, opens in Orlando in 2025.
Small businesses along popular vacation destinations like boardwalks and piers in the US say the number of tourists flocking to the waterfront is back to normal, meaning pre-2020 levels. But while the affluent are spending freely, lower-income vacationers are sticking to carefully planned-out budgets.
From his office overlooking the runway at Gander International Airport, Reg Wright can see all flights in and out of his corner of Newfoundland. But in recent years, those plane spottings have been fewer and farther between. Gander serves as a microcosm for numerous towns and cities across the country. While Canada’s total domestic passenger numbers now hover at around pre-COVID levels, air travel to smaller communities and even medium-sized cities has withered, pushing up fares and leaving parts of the country less connected.
The federal government says Canada’s appeal as an international tourist destination has been damaged by the 2023 forest fire season, which was the country’s most destructive on record.
Florida welcomed a record-breaking 34.2 million visitors in the second quarter of 2024 – including an estimated 739,000 Canadians. This figure represents a 1.7% increase over the same period in 2023, setting a new all-time high for second-quarter visitation in the state’s history.
With the conclusion of the 26th annual Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas last week, the luxury and experiential travel specialist network has revealed its latest trends for Canadian travellers, including top fall destinations, travel interests and motivations.
Disney Cruise Line has unveiled new details about one of the seven themed areas aboard the Disney Adventure, which will set sail from Singapore in 2025. Disney Imagination Garden, the central hub of the ship, will be an “immersive, enchanted valley inspired by 100 years of heroic and heartwarming Disney adventures.”
A common line of questions has emerged from tourists in Utah’s Arches National Park since an iconic rock arch at Lake Powell known as the “Toilet Bowl” collapsed earlier this month. Are these arches also at risk of falling soon? What is being done to prevent their collapse?
This is a story of what it means to be visited in 2024, the first year in which global tourism is expected to set records since the coronavirus pandemic brought much of life on Earth to a halt. Wandering is surging, rather than leveling off, driven by lingering revenge travel, digital nomad campaigns, and so-called golden visas blamed in part for skyrocketing housing prices.
Luxury and independent travel (FITs) and social media marketing are foremost in the minds of travel advisors as they look ahead to next year, according to a survey of the North American members of Travel Leaders Network (TLN). The poll also highlights the increasing interest and adoption of artificial intelligence.
Border Force staff at London Heathrow airport are planning a four-day strike from Aug 31 to Sept. 3. The strike will be the latest in a series of rotating job actions that have disrupted the facility over the summer. The 650 Public and Commercial Services (PSC) members who work in passport control at terminals 2, 3, 4 and 5 at LHR have been in dispute with their employer after a new roster was imposed in April.
Fresh from retaining its status as the country’s culinary capital on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list, Montréal is riding high this summer with a dizzying array of activities and developments, from hot new restaurant and hotel openings to unique sporting events and vibrant festivals. We break it all down here.
Prominent Canadian hotelier Josef Ebner is retiring, marking the culmination of an amazing 60-career that has spanned 14 properties in seven countries, notably as a long-time executive at Toronto’s Chelsea Hotel – Canada’s largest hotel – where he currently serves as RVP Canada & Managing Director. His last day will be Nov. 15.
A women who brazenly threatened to auction off Graceland – the former home of Elvis Presley and Memphis, Tennessee’s top tourist attraction – to the highest bidder has been arrested, halting a bizarre scheme in which she had claimed ownership of the property based on an allegedly bogus foreclosure.
The World Health Organization has declared the ongoing outbreaks of mpox in Congo and elsewhere in Africa to be a global urgent emergency, requiring urgent action to curb the virus’ transmission. Sweden has since announced it had found the first case of a new form of mpox previously only seen in Africa in a traveller, while other European health authorities warned more imported cases were likely.
Air Canada’s pilots are expected to wrap up voting on Thursday regarding a possible strike, which could take place as soon as Sept. 17. The pilots who are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association are looking to close the wage gap with airline pilots in the US.
The Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) has issued an advisory statement – including information on potential claims eligibility for consumers – regarding Canada Jetlines, which announced last week that it had temporarily ceased operations as of Aug. 15, 2024.
The town of Jasper will be rebuilt, but It could take more than a century for the freshly burned forest in Jasper National Park to regenerate into the postcard-perfect form that attracted Canadians from across the country, and visitors from around the world, a wildfire expert says.
Transat has unveiled its electronic brochures, featuring a range of packages for winter 2024-2025. Travellers can choose from a variety of destinations in Mexico, South and Central America, the Caribbean, North Africa, Florida and Europe.
Canada Jetlines (now the late Canada Jetlines) dominated news at the end of last week; but before that, there were airline updates from almost all the major Canadian players, disturbing dispatches about the weather (isn’t there always it seems?), cruise news, a Sandals masterclass update, and much more – all covered in this week’s round-up.
Canada Jetlines has grounded its planes and ceased operations amid a cash crunch that caused it to become the third Canadian carrier in less than a year to stop flying. The airline, which flew mainly to sun destinations out of Toronto, said Thursday it has been unable to find the capital needed to stay afloat and plans to file for creditor protection.
WestJet says it will be issuing flight cancellations “for the foreseeable future” after planes were damaged by a Calgary hailstorm last week, upending travel plans for thousands of passengers. The country’s second-biggest carrier says 16 aircraft, or 10 percent of its fleet, remain out of commission nine days after the tempest rained down golf ball-sized ice pellets onto parts of southern Alberta, including the province’s largest airport.
For decades, Canada’s food courts were cookie-cutter spaces jammed with the same dozen or so chains hawking dishes ideal for lunch breaks or snacking at the mall. But a new wave of dining spaces has thrown that playbook out the window, sandwiching dozens of lesser-known brands with growing followings into chic sites, where both locals and tourists have a dizzying array of cuisines to feast on at a table of their choosing.
Tourists are easy targets for scammers, pickpockets and thieves. However, recent survey of some the world’s most experienced travellers by Global Rescue revealed expert tips to protect your money, credit cards, and passport when traveling internationally.
An old travel friend has a thing for cats (some of you at Flight Centre will know who we mean!): finds them all over the world and posts pics prodigiously. After all, cats bring value to the venues they inhabit, whether it’s simply adding a cute factor or ratting on rodents. Sometimes, they even come to define the place.