Destinations
Tourism Rebounding, But Recovery Remains Fragile
Following a weak first half of 2021, international tourism rebounded during the Northern Hemisphere summer season, boosting results in the third quarter of the year, especially in Europe. That’s the topline findings of the newly released UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, which reveals that international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) increased by 58% in July-September compared to the same period of 2020. However, they remained 64% below 2019 levels. Europe recorded the best relative performance in the third quarter, with international arrivals 53% down on the same three-month...
Gift a Christmas Tree this Holiday Season
Looking for a unique gift this Christmas? Well, Trees4Travel has created a special digital Christmas card that can be sent to friends, family or clients for the price of a regular greeting card. All trees gifted will be planted in a developing country on behalf of the recipient, helping to restore the world’s forests and biodiversity, and to support impoverished communities. Christmas tree recipients can follow the progress of their planting projects on the Trees4Travel website once they receive their gift card. As well, the gifted tree will be backed by the Trees4Travel...
Pandemic Concerns Could Impact European Ski Season
According to GlobalData, another European ski season could be hanging in the balance. The global data and analytics company notes that demand for ski trips in Europe is expected to take a hit this year due to rising COVID-19 cases, warning that these destinations could see reduced footfall as early as December. GlobalData said that December usually sees budding skiing travellers heading to Europe, which offsets the continent’s post-summer slowdown in travel. For example, Europe saw domestic and outbound trips increase by 38.3% from November to December in 2019 -- the last year...
Jamaica Gears Up For The Rebound
Clifton Reader, President of the Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association, is upbeat about the future of tourism to the Caribbean destination. “We are no longer inside the tunnel looking for the light, we are outside of the tunnel,” he said during a recent destination update in Jamaica. “Ladies and gentlemen, tourism is open and ready in Jamaica.” After a turbulent time, Reader said Jamaica is now “averaging 65% occupancy for this winter season” — representing 70-80% of its business in 2019, which marked the best year ever for travel to Jamaica. The Managing Director...
Air North Adds Toronto Flights
Air North, Yukon's Airline is adding Toronto, Ontario to its route network. Joe Sparling, Air North’s president and CEO, said that: “As we look towards economic recovery in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories over the coming years, it has become evident to us that another connection to central Canada is going to be essential. Having a direct flight to Canada’s economic hub will kickstart opportunity for both territories.” Sparling’s comments were echoed by Garry Njootli, president of the Vuntut Gwitchin Development Corporation and a member of Air North’s board of...
WestJet, TELUS Partner On Boarding Trial
WestJet and TELUS have teamed up to trial Trusted Boarding, a touchless process that uses safe and secure facial verification technology to verify travellers' identity prior to boarding a flight. The trial was the first-of-its-kind in Canada and took place at the YYC Calgary International Airport. Stuart McDonald, executive vice-president and chief information officer, said: “The travel experience is evolving to include many touchless processes and WestJet is innovating to ensure our guests' travel journey improves to become more seamless and efficient, while prioritizing safety...
IATA Calls For Caution On DCC Validity
IATA is calling for caution following the European Commission Recommendation that the EU Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) should only remain valid for up to nine months after the second vaccination dose, unless a booster jab is administered. Rafael Schvartzman, regional vice president for Europe for IATA, points out that: “The EU DCC is a great success in driving a common continent-wide approach to managing the COVID-19 health crisis and in facilitating the freedom of people to travel again. It underpins a fragile recovery in the travel and tourism sector. And it is critical that any...
More Countries Imposing Travel Restrictions
More countries were reporting cases of the new COVID-19 variant, B.1.1.529 or Omicron, and imposing restrictions on travel from Southern Africa over the weekend. Israel is shutting its borders for 14 days and putting new requirements in place for returning travellers, while restrictions have also been put in place by Qatar, Britain, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Netherlands among others in an effort to prevent the spread of the new variant of concern. On Nov. 26, the Canadian government that as a precautionary measure, until January 31, 2022, it is implementing enhanced...