Destinations
Wine And Dine With Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival, organized by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), will go ahead with an “online + offline” format for the first time to give audiences at home and abroad a new gastronomic experience not bound by time and geographical constraints. The Festival, which will run for five weeks from now until Dec. 15, will feature a wealth of online experiences, including an Online Wine Cellar, Gourmet at Home Menus, live-streamed cookery and wine-tasting masterclasses on a new one-stop online platform. Offline experiences include special deals and gastronomic...
Swoop, IHG Partner On Trusted Travel Getaways
Swoop has unveiled Trusted Travel Getaways -- packaged vacations designed to enable Canadians to enjoy a warm-weather vacation with confidence this winter. The limited offering of vacation packages aims to provide travellers with enhanced peace of mind throughout their travel journey. Trusted Travel Getaways will operate to Montego Bay, Jamaica, departing from Toronto beginning Dec. 19. Swoop launched the program in partnership with IHG Hotels & Resorts and it will provide travellers with accommodation at the Holiday Inn Resort Montego Bay All-Inclusive. As well,...
ABTA’s CEO Offers A Look At The Future
Colin C. James, CEO of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority (ABTA), joined a panel of leading tourism industry experts to discuss the Future of Travel and Embracing the New World of Tourism during this week’s WTM Virtual. Led and moderated by BBC presenter, Babita Sharma, ABTA’s CEO was joined by Dr. Betty Radier - CEO of the Kenya Tourism Board, Jonathan Keane - Managing Director of Global Aviation, and Godja Sönnichsen - Director of Communications at TUI Cruises. The aim of the session was to explore the future of tourism and to discuss what the new trends and...
Grenada Prepares For Return Of Cruises
The Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) is continuing to implement key strategic cruise business actions in preparation for the safe and gradual resumption of the industry. One of these actions is the completion of an Aquila Centre for Cruise Excellence destination readiness workshop for public and private sector cruise teams including the Grenada Ports Authority, Ministry of Health, Customs, Grenreal, Immigration, Local Agents and Tour Operators. As part of the workshop (September to October) dubbed ‘How To,’ stakeholders completed the five-part series focused on health and safety...
Winners of Cayman Islands Prize Draw Announced
Last Thursday, Baxter Media hosted an exciting and engaging webinar with the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism. The session was well attended by travel agents from across Canada. Presenting first was Tammy van Zyl, Marketing Representative for the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism. Tammy's thoroughly engaging presentation was followed up by short presentations from Dan Haase (Director of Marketing, The Locale Hotel) and Paula Juarez-Robinson (Luxury Retail Travel and Sales Manager, Seafire Resort and Spa). The winners of both prizes associated with the webinar have been...
Bubble Plan Working For Singapore, Hong Kong
According to ForwardKeys, the mid-October announcement that Hong Kong and Singapore have reached an in-principle agreement to establish a bilateral Air Travel Bubble (ATB) -- which would allow leisure travel between them to restart in November – has triggered an immediate release of pent-up demand. In the week that followed the announcement, flight searches for travel from Singapore to Hong Kong, which had been flat since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, soared to 50% of 2019 levels, while bookings jumped to 30%. The main focus of travellers’ interest is the Christmas...
Second Wave Threatens Recovery: ETC Report
According to the European Travel Commission’s latest quarterly report, “European Tourism: Trends & Prospects” for Q3 2020, a new surge in Covid-19 cases and the reintroduction of travel restrictions have halted European tourism recovery with international tourist arrivals to Europe down 68%[1] halfway through the year relative to 2019. The ETC has been monitoring the evolution of the pandemic throughout the year and analyzing its impact on travel and tourism. It points out that the easing of pandemic restrictions across Europe led to a slight pick-up in July and August...
Jamaica Tourism Must Get Back On Track
Jamaica's tourism trade appears to have begun recovering from the crippling effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the country's tourism minister says. Edmund Bartlett said during the Monday opening of the country's annual tourism show JAPEX that since the country reopened to visitors on June 15 it has hosted over 211,000 people. As well, hotel occupancy rates are "slowly inching up...," he said. "We are cautiously optimistic that we will see a 40% increase in arrivals over the winter when compared to the proceeding period of a massive downturn... "The coronavirus crisis has...