Destinations
AMR Collection Hosts Annual TAAB Event
The AMR Collection recently hosted its ninth annual Travel Agent Advisory Board (TAAB) meeting at Dreams Bahia Mita. The annual event allowed hotel executives to connect and get input from agents directly and maximize their expertise, data and feedback to drive innovative promotions and reform existing packages. During this year’s meeting, agents and executives had the opportunity to collaborate on several discussing including a market overview, marketing presentations and the AMR Collection master brand launch and B2B strategy, but it wasn’t all business. Agents...
Redesigned Cultural Center In Istanbul Hosts Festival
Recently opened in Istanbul to much acclaim and fanfare is the restored and redesigned Ataturk Cultural Center. Its opening in late October kicked off a two-week cultural celebration called the Beyoglu Culture Route Festival, which is ongoing through the rest of this week. The Ataturk Cultural Center -- known locally as the Ataturk Kultur Merkezi (or AKM in short) -- features contemporary architecture that references its former, iconic design. Completely reconstructed over 2.5 years by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the AKM welcomes visitors throughout the year to a 2,040-seat...
Making An Impact
The IMPACT Sustainability Travel & Tourism Conference is finalizing its program for January 2022, with resources and solutions to ensure tourism across Canada recovers with a focus on a more sustainable and regenerative future for the industry. Early on, Canadian Tourism: The Great Restart will have Canada’s tourism leaders reflect on the past year and highlight the hidden opportunities the pandemic has afforded the industry to shape a new standard focused on a regenerative future. The panel will explore ways the Canadian tourism industry can not only recover but thrive...
Ireland Now Accepting Mixed Dose Vaccines
Tourism Ireland is welcoming the announcement by the Irish government that mixed vaccines are now accepted as full vaccination. As a result of the decision, passengers are considered fully vaccinated if they have been vaccinated with any combination of a vaccine approved for use in Ireland, as defined in the national regulations published Nov. 9, 2021. For example, if a traveller’s first dose was Astra-Zeneca, and their second dose was Pfizer, they are fully vaccinated 7 days after the Pfizer dose. This includes vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency and some from...
Sunwing Makes Cuba An Easy Entry Destination
As of Nov. 15, Cuba will become one of Sunwing’s Easy Entry Destinations with the island’s lifting of entry restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers. Sunwing is offering flights to Cuba from gateways across Canada in addition to zero change fees, free COVID-19 medical coverage and travel requirements made easy. To make the process as seamless as possible, fully vaccinated travellers won’t need to provide a negative test or quarantine upon arrival in Cuba as of Nov. 15. Passengers will need to provide proof of vaccination, complete the health form provided on board and...
Tianguis Turistico Ready To Welcome The World
Merida, the capital of Yucatan, is gearing up to welcome the world’s travel and tourism industry at the 2021 edition of Tianguis Turistico, set for Nov. 16 to Nov. 19. Participation for the event has exceeded expectations with a record number of registrations and, for organizers, presenting an encouraging outlook for tourism in all of Mexico and sending a clear message: Mexico’s tourism industry is united and working towards the recovery of the sector nationwide. Officials makae it clear that the 45th edition of Tianguis Turístico is the most anticipated and important event in...
For Tourism Ireland Any Time Is The Right Time For A Visit
While the global travel industry is eager to get back to business, one of the challenges that it will be dealing with initially is determining when the high-demand booking windows will open. Tourism Ireland’s executive vice-president, USA & Canada, Alison Metcalfe observed that: “There’s no playbook for this. And I think it would be fair to say that the traditional kind of booking period and the booking windows are literally out the window. So, we’re trying to be as data-driven as possible to track when people are looking to book.” And based on the intelligence that...
Curtain Rising On The 2021 European Union Film Festival
Organizers are gearing up for the 2021 European Union Film Festival, which runs from Nov. 12 to Nov. 28. The three festival presenters in Canada – in Ottawa, Vancouver and Toronto – along with the Delegation of the European Union to Canada and EU Member States have decided to bring audiences another exciting virtual version of the EUFF in November 2021. For the second, and hopefully final time in the long history of the EUFF, organizers are presenting the Festival online and, also like last year’s edition, making it available not only in Ottawa, Vancouver, and Toronto, but all...