Destinations
Ka’anapali Set to Host Children’s Hula Competition
Hawaii's Ka’anapali Beach Hotel will host the 24th children’s hula competition, Hula O Na Keiki, from Nov. 14-16. The event is Maui’s only children’s hula competition and commemorates one of Hawaii’s richest traditions and displays the talents of hula students from around the world. To complement the hula competition, weekend festivities at the hotel include arts and crafts, food booths, cultural workshops and special Hawaiian...
A Memorable Event
Visit Flanders welcomed about 300 travel trade types to an event in Toronto this week that gave them an opportunity to savour the taste of both Flanders and Belgium itself. Line Vreven, director, North America for Visit Flanders, told the gathering of agents, operators, meetings & incentive partners that in the last couple of years, the northern Belgium destination had seen its traffic from Canada grow by 25% and for the first six months of 2014, visitor numbers were up by 8.3%. Vreven told Press Today, that Flanders attracted the well-educated traveller who is interested in...
Occidental Pulls Out of Cuba
Occidental Hotels & Resorts has ended its Cuba presence. The company reports that as of Nov. 1 it would no longer manage the Hotel Occidental Miramar, Hotel Occidental Montehabana, both of which are found in Havana, and the Hotel Allegro Varadero after what it described as a “close and excellent collaboration” with Cuba's Grupo de Turismo Gaviota. Occidental added in a brief statement to the travel industry that “contracts and co-marketing agreements” in place as of Nov. 1 “will be fully respected.” There was no immediate word on who will manage the three...
Air France-KLM Add Vancouver, Edmonton Services
Beginning May 5, 2015, KLM will offer three weekly flights between Amsterdam and Edmonton. And, starting June 22, there will be four weekly frequencies. Flights will be operated by Airbus A330-200 with 243 seats – 30 in World Business Class, 35 in Economy Comfort Zone (offering 10 inches of additional legroom and a doubled seat recline) and 178 in Economy. This service will be in addition to daily flights to Calgary. From May 5 to June 21, 2015, flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Starting June 22, flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and...
WestJet Adds Lauderdale Service Out of Winnipeg
WestJet has launched new weekly, seasonal, non-stop service between Winnipeg and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Flights out of the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson Airport run every Saturday until April 25, 2015. “Winnipeg is a keystone base where service has grown significantly across Canada and, with today's launch, into its fifth non-stop US destination,” said John Weatherill, director, Schedule and Network Planning. “Manitobans love to escape the cold, and our new, non-stop service provides one more opportunity to head to the Sunshine State. The schedule is well-timed to...
Focus on Costa Rica
Costa Rica continues to have a distinctly green hue, says a man who helps carry the flag for the country's tourism in Canada. Joshua Reyes, a Costa Rican living in Montreal, said during a Toronto visit Wednesday that 25% to 30% of Costa Rica is protected against development by parks or other measures. “Costa Rica is a pioneer of eco-tourism,” he said, noting it has .03% of the Earth's land surfaces, but 5% of its flora and fauna. Reyes reported that Costa Rica has more butterflies than Europe and 860 bird species are found in the country year-round and around 20 more...
Flanders Webinar set for Nov. 5
VISITFLANDERS is hosting an agent webinar entitle “Flanders: A Food Lover’s Paradise” on Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. EST. Discover decadent chocolates, Michelin-starred restaurants and funky tonkatsu bars in Europe’s best kept gourmet secret. Savour sweet Belgian waffles, crisp frites and fresh North Sea mussels prepared a la carte for hungry travellers, and drink in the history of some of the best beers in the world. All participants will have a chance to win a five-day trip to visit Flanders and explore world-famous breweries. Participants receive five ballots in the Flanders contest...
Ready For Action
Tourism Ireland has picked Dana Welch as its new marketing manager for Canada. Welch, who replaces Jayne Shackleford, has 9 years experience in strategic marketing. She was most recently senior marketing manager at Cineplex Entertainment. In her new role, Welch will be responsible for leading Tourism Ireland's marketing operations in Canada. More specifically, she'll be responsible for implementing the tourist board's new, 3 year “Strategy For Growth” which aims to grow tourism from Canada by close to 47% between 2014 and 2016. Commenting on the appointment, Alison Metcalfe,...