Destinations
It’s #TravelWebcastWednesday
Today’s the day. #TravelWebcastWednesday brings together industry leaders for a session on Responsible Travel Redefined. Following the onset of COVID-19, the rapid shutdown of businesses and traffic brought a something of a reprieve to the natural world for a few quiet months as the world entered lockdown. While many people around the world struggled to deal with the new reality, animal life briefly thrived in a cleaner, greener world. Destinations found the air was cleaner and some of the impacts of overtourism lessened. It looked like an unexpected benefit for advocates...
It’s Travel Bubble Time For Barbados
Barbados has implemented a travel ‘Bubble’ for specific countries that have a low incidence of COVID-19. Countries included in the bubble are St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis and Grenada. Under the new travel protocols, persons travelling within the ‘Bubble’ who have not travelled to or transited through any high, medium or low-risk country within 21 days prior to travel to Barbados, will not be required to take a COVID-19 PCR test prior to or on arrival and do not require monitoring during their stay. Other travellers from high and medium risk...
Talks Break Down, Industry Reacts
Following reports that congressional and administration leaders are suspending negotiations on the next phase of pandemic-related legislative relief, the U.S. Travel Association’s executive vice-president of public affairs, Tori Emerson Barnes issued the following statement: “It is critical that leaders in Washington resume talks and move forward on much-needed coronavirus-related economic relief. The travel and tourism industry accounts for 38% of all U.S. jobs lost so far, and travel companies—83% of which are small businesses—remain particularly vulnerable to the economic...
Pure Grenada Is ‘Just-For-You’
The Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA) has launched a new lifestyle campaign -- Pure Grenada, Just-For-You – showcasing the three-island nation of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. The campaign, which was launched this week, invites visitors to discover and explore immersive cultural experiences while having peace of mind that their health and safety is being protected. Aligned with the phased reopening of Grenadian borders, which saw commercial flights from the Caribbean allowed from July 15, and recently expanded to international flights from ‘medium’ risk countries,...
A Message From Myrtle Beach
For those looking for an update on Myrtle Beach, you may want to check out a recent webinar the destination participated in with ACTA. Simply go to http://acta.travellearningcampus.ca/A/en/Product/Details/365/ to listen in. Also of note is the fact that the Myrtle Beach area has re-opened with the health and safety of visitors in mind. The Myrtle Beach area is safe, clean, and doing all possible to ensure everyone remains healthy, taking care of the best interests of our visitors who we ask to be responsible when traveling to our destination. And you can get all the details by...
Belize Postpones Reopening
Due to a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in three districts, Belize is delaying the reopening of the Philip Goldson International Airport (PGIA). The airport had been scheduled to reopen on August 15. In making the announcement, Belize’s Prime Minister Rt. Dean Barrow said that although the airport will not reopen, the weekly repatriation flights for Belizean nationals abroad will continue, including the 14-day mandatory quarantine upon arrival. The announcement also make it clear that ensuring that travellers have reliable, trustworthy, and useful information continues...
A Magical Dive Into Nature
Cenotes are one of the “magical phenomenon” of the Mexican Caribbean, offering visitors travelling off the beaten path an awesome adventure. Formed millions of years ago by sunken earth, these spaces filled with clear, fresh water to form underground rivers that were considered sacred by the ancient Mayans, now part of the world’s largest subterranean river system, the Grand Mayan Aquifer. Cenotes are found throughout the Mexican Caribbean and vary in size, from young caverns, to semi-open cenotes exposed to weather, to open cenotes, expansive spaces that became uncovered...
Canada Needs To Broaden Peak Season
Destination Canada executive-director Chantz Strong says this country's tourism trade clearly needs to broaden its peak season beyond two currently all-important summer months. Strong told a Thursday webinar that the damage done to Canadian tourism during the coronavirus pandemic underscores the risks of having tourism rely heavily on July and August. "This (the pandemic) has identified very critical vulnerabilities in the tourism sector...," he said, suggesting that more efforts be made to attract visitors to this country during March, April, May, June, September and...