Destinations
Dominican Republic Unveils Accessibility Widget
As it prepares to the expected surge in travel planning, the Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism recently launched a new accessibility widget on its website, GoDominicanRepublic.com. This new tool makes Dominican Republic one of the first destinations in the Caribbean to offer robust website functionality for users with differing abilities. The widget enables users with limited visual, cognitive, and mobility abilities to make full use of the website, with intuitive tools that enhance accessibility. Users can open the widget by clicking or tapping the icon in the lower left corner...
Anguilla Picks Rogers-Webster For New Role
The Board of Directors of the Anguilla Tourist Board (ATB) has promoted Shellya Rogers-Webster to the position of Deputy Director of Tourism. In her new role, Rogers-Webster will be predominantly responsible for leading and managing the Anguilla Tourist Board’s internal and external relationships and communications, including financial management, human resources, public relations, government relations, ATB policy, and corporate restructuring. The Hon. Minister of Tourism, Mr. Haydn Hughes said: “I am very pleased to see Mrs. Shellya Rogers-Webster elevated to the post of...
Discover America Canada Looks To The Future
Annual U.S. tourism show IPW will be held in Las Vegas this fall and will buck a trend that's developed over the past year by having delegates actually gather at the event. Susan Webb of Discover America Canada told the group's annual general meeting -- done virtually this year -- that plans call for people to attend the show -- which promotes the United States to the world and is a mainstay of the international tourism circuit -- "in person." Other major tourism shows over the past year have been done virtually as coronavirus and accompanying government restrictions make...
CTO, GWU Team Up On Toolkit
The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has teamed up with the George Washington University International Institute of Tourism Studies (GW IITS) to develop a recovery toolkit to provide a useful guide for small and medium-sized tourism enterprises as they plan for their reopening, and a dashboard for ministries and destination management organizations to capture and report on key recovery metrics. Seleni Matus, executive director of the GW IITS, observed that: “The global pandemic has accelerated the importance of sound digital strategies for destinations and tourism...
Carriers Taking Off To USVI
The U.S. Virgin Islands are gearing up to welcome more airlift this summer. Following a meeting with American Airlines in Dallas, Texas on Friday, U.S. Virgin Islands Commissioner of Tourism Joseph Boschulte announced that the nation’s largest carrier will expand its service to the Territory to meet increased demand for summertime travel. Beginning on June 3, 2021, passengers in Dallas or connecting from Western and Midwestern cities will have not one but two daily flights from which to choose when traveling to St. Thomas, while Charlotte, North Carolina-based travelers will benefit...
Swoop Gears Up For Summer
Swoop is expanding its summer schedule, adding new routes and more ultra-low fares to British Columbia. The airline's expanded summer operations will bring new service to Victoria and celebrates the return and addition of new routes from Kelowna. Charles Duncan, President of Swoop, said: “Our summer schedule expansion is in response to strong advance sales and in anticipation of demand from Canada's most price-conscious travellers as they look towards the accelerated pace of vaccine rollouts across the country.” Duncan added: “We are thrilled to be offering Canadians even...
Carnival Picks Discover The World In Argentina, Brazil
Carnival Cruise Line has named Discover the World as its new General Sales Agent (GSA) in two key Latin American markets, including Argentina and Brazil. The appointment was effective March 15 and Adolfo Perez, Senior Vice President – Global Sales and Trade Marketing for Carnival Cruise Line, said: “We are very pleased to launch this new partnership in Argentina and Brazil with Discover the World, which offers wide-ranging technological capabilities to support their impressive marketing and digital media platforms. We’re looking forward to working with the team at Discover the...
Not A Pretty Picture
As the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pummel global tourism in 2021, the UNWTO reports that there was an 87% fall in international tourist arrivals in January, compared to 2020. And the UNWTO remains ‘cautious in its outlook for the rest of the year, while continuing to call for stronger coordination on travel protocols between countries to ensure the safe restart of tourism and avoid another year of massive losses for the sector. Following a difficult end to 2020, global tourism suffered further setbacks in the beginning of the year as countries...