Destinations
More Appreciation For Agents
Tourism Ireland is offering up a big thank you to travel agents all across Canada for their support and partnership. When the time is right, we look forward to getting out and meeting in person to share the world-famous ‘céad míle fáilte - ‘a hundred thousand welcomes.’ Tourism Ireland offers a number of support programs for agents, including: The Ireland Specialist Program Content Library: 45K video and images free to use Ireland Insiders Facebook Group - Exclusive to Travel Agents Sign up to our monthly e-zine for updates on events, fams and...
Jamaica Says It’s Your Day
The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) is celebrating its long relationship with travel agents today and to mark Travel Agent Day 2020, the JTB will show its appreciation and give back to Jamaica travel specialists in Canada and the U.S. in a meaningful way. Here in Canada, the JTB is giving away Tim Hortons gift cards to travel specialists based in that market. The first 300 Canadian agents to register at www.visitjamaica.com/canada/contest will receive a $10 gift card via email. In the U.S., the JTB will partner with Jamaican-owned food distributor Grace Foods to provide travel...
Jamaica’s Bartlett Defines A New Generation
Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett has branded future travellers as Generation-C amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Bartlett offered the definition during his keynote address to the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) UK Chapter’s Annual General Meeting recently, as he outlined the key challenges for the Caribbean region facing COVID-19 and measures in place for recovery. He defined the term Generation-C or GEN-C as intergenerational, a merging of the demographics the island traditionally targeted and importantly one which was essentially ageless. Said...
Delayed Operator Payments Hurting Caribbean Hotels
The head of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) is calling on international tour operator that have delayed paying hotels for services delivered to operators’ clients as early as January to expedite reimbursements. In a letter to major trade organizations representing the bulk of tour operators that do business with the Caribbean, the CHTA’s CEO and director general, Frank Comito, asserted that 69% of hotels report that they have not been receiving timely reimbursements from tour operators for services provided during the first quarter of 2020. The average amount...
Israel, TravelBrands Sign Marketing Deal
The Israel Ministry of Tourism and TravelBrands have signed a year-long marketing agreement to develop an impactful campaign focused on promoting tourism to Israel from Canada. The new project will focus on positioning Israel as “a dynamic destination that caters to all tourism segments” such cultural tourism, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions), adventure tourism, culinary tourism and heritage tourism. The agreement was signed by Gal Hana, Consul, director of Tourism for Canada and Frank Demarinis, CEO & president of...
Destinations More Optimistic About Recovery
In the fourth wave of its series of bi-weekly tracking surveys of North American destination professionals, MMGY Travel Intelligence reports that in the last two weeks, respondents’ outlook on their local tourism economies has started to improve. Conducted in partnership with Destinations International Foundation, the latest tracking survey found that the percentage of destination professionals who expect their local economy to worsen fell sharply from 72% in Wave III of the survey to 41% in Wave IV, indicating expectations are starting to stabilize. MMGY Global notes that a...
Antigua, Barbuda Getting Agents Ready For Future
The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority (ABTA) has been hosting a series of webinars within each of its major source markets, to inform the trade of destination developments related to COVID-19, and to support travel agents eager to use their downtime to sharpen their product knowledge. Webinar sessions have taken place in the United States, Canadian, United Kingdom and European markets, and have focused on showcasing the destination’s key selling points, as well as capturing insight from the agents as to the consumer sentiment within their markets. Colin James, CEO of the...
This Is What’s At Risk: UNWTO
For many countries around the world, May 1 marks International Labour Day and to mark the occasion, the World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) secretary-general, Zurab Pololikashvili has a message for the world. He writes: “For many millions of people around the world, tourism is so much more than a leisure activity. Our sector gives them the chance to make a living. To earn not just a wage, but also dignity and equality. Tourism jobs also empower people and provide a chance to have a stake in their own societies – often for the first time. This is what is at risk right...