Destinations
WTTC Safe Travels Stamp Hits 100
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) reports that three months after its launch, 100 destinations are now using its ‘Safe Travels’ stamp, with the Philippines becoming the official 100th destination. Launched earlier this year, the WTTC’s Safe Travels stamp is the world’s first ever global safety and hygiene stamp. It was developed in order to help restore confidence in travellers and work to revive an ailing travel and tourism sector and is now also being used by many more major holiday destinations such as the Maldives, Bermuda, Namibia, Uganda and...
Summer Momentum
New research indicates that U.S. travellers’ perceptions of safety for domestic travel, transportation, lodging and even business travel are at their highest since the start of the global pandemic. MMGY Global reported the findings in its latest MMGY Travel Intelligence's Travel Intentions Pulse Survey Wave VIII (TIPS) and MMGY Global’s Travel Safety Barometer. That research is designed to track how COVID-19 is impacting travellers’ attitudes, perceptions, and behaviours. Chris Davidson, executive vice president of insights and strategy, observed: “We’re seeing this...
Get Ready To Zoom In On Israel
The Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT) is hosting its first-ever virtual trade show, “Zoom in on Israel,” for Canadian travel advisors on Sept. 22 from 1pm to 3 p.m. The roundtable event will take place via Zoom and will feature Israel’s top travel industry professionals as they share what’s new in Israel tourism and the diverse itineraries that they can arrange for their clients. Gal Hana, IMOT’s Director and Consul for Canada, said: “Though this has been a tough year for the travel industry, we are working to come back even stronger with a newly reinforced interest in...
Air Canada Pass Offers Flexibility, Certainty
Air Canada has introduced its new Infinite Canada Flight Pass, designed to give customers flexibility and certainty for booking travel within Canada. For one flat fee, pass holders will be able to book travel without blackout or booking restrictions, make changes or cancellations without penalty, and fly as often as desired for up to three months, depending on the duration of pass purchased. Lucie Guillemette, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Air Canada, said that: “Air Canada recognizes that as air travel begins to return to normal customers want...
Americans Feel Safe Travelling This Fall
The latest tracking study of US travel sentiments by Longwoods International reports that half of American travellers feel safe to travel this fall season. It is also reporting that two thirds of those who plan to travel will be visiting friends and relatives, while 58% plan on a road trip somewhere in the U.S. Outdoor activities are preferred during pandemic travels, such as visiting national and state parks, fall foliage tours, hiking and biking. Amir Eylon, president and CEO of Longwoods International, said of the findings: “Clearly a sizeable percentage of the travellers...
Going Domestic
With domestic tourism set to return faster than international travel, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has released Understanding Domestic Tourism and Seizing its Opportunities, highlighting the fact that UNWTO data shows that in 2018, around 9 billion domestic tourism trips were made worldwide – six times the number of international tourist arrivals (1.4 billion in 2018). The publication identifies ways in which destinations around the world are taking proactive steps to grow domestic tourism, from offering bonus holidays for workers to providing vouchers and other...
BC Saving Beaches And Small Ship Tourism
In mid-August, a fleet of tourism ships began an unprecedented, six-week expedition to the Great Bear Rainforest’s outer coast as part of the Marine Debris Removal Initiative (MDRI), a project funded by the provincial Ministry of Environment & Climate Change Strategy. With the blessing from Indigenous leaders in the region, the expedition expects to remove between 75 and 100 tons of marine waste, including plastics, from up to 1,000 km of coastal beaches along the Great Bear Rainforest. A group of BC small ship tour companies developed this innovative project in response to...
CHHB Urges Government To Extend CEWS
A newly formed coalition representing people with a stake in this country's ailing tourism trade is calling on Ottawa to extend the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy well into next year, warning that if the federal government goes ahead with its planned phase-out of the subsidy, widespread travel industry bankruptcies could follow. Ottawa plans to begin reducing the subsidy -- which offers businesses struggling with a drop of 50% or more in revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic to have the federal government pay for 75% of their firms' salaries -- as of Sept. 26 and then eliminate...