Destinations
Jamaica Lights It Up With 60th Celebrations
Jamaica marked its 60th anniversary of independence on Aug. 6, 2022 and here in Canada, the island lit up iconic Canadian landmarks in black, green and gold to celebrate its Diamond Jubilee Anniversary. A special Jamaica Independence Reception was held in Niagara Falls and hosted by the Consul General of Jamaica and the Jamaica Tourist Board’s Canadian team. Members of Toronto’s Jamaican community and friends of Jamaica were in attendance along with several travel trade partners. Guests were treated to spoken word performances, authentic Jamaican cuisine and the sounds of DJ...
Expedia Group Tracks Canadian Traveller Habits
Expedia Group has been digging into its search data to identify a few of the key habits of Canadian travellers to help travel advisors and other professionals looking to sell trips to Canadians. Some of the trends to look out for through the rest of summer, include: Dusting off passports: Canadian travellers are looking internationally for their summer trips this year with a 235% year on year increase in lodging searches in the months of August and September [1]. In total, international travel searches account for a significant proportion of overall searches, replacing the...
Curaçao Taps Two For New Roles
The Supervisory Board of the Curaçao Tourism Development Foundation (CTDF) has named Muryad de Bruin as Counterpart Statutory Director for the Curaçao Tourist Board (CTB) and Jacqueline Sybrandy-Held as Regional Manager North America. The appointments are effective immediately. De Bruin will take on responsibilities for providing strategic direction to and leading the destination management and marketing organization; will serve as an advisor to the government on tourism affairs; and represent Curaçao on all tourism-specific platforms, both locally and abroad. The counterpart...
Explore France On New Collette Tour
Collette reports that travellers are saying Oui to All Things France on a new explorations small group tour of Paris, Provence and the French Riviera. Travellers on the operator’s 12-day Essence of France tour will head to Paris, Provence, and the French Riviera where they will experience the local culture on a hunt for truffles with a local chef and his truffle-sniffing dogs. They will also head to a hands-on perfume making workshop and enjoy a cheese tasting at a goat farm in the Provencal country side. Prices for the tour begin at $4,749 per person. Jaclyn Leibl-Cote,...
Tourism Making Robust Return In Puerto Rico
Since the start of 2022, Puerto Rico has broken its record of jobs in the leisure and hospitality sectors every month, signaling a robust reboot of the economic engine. The 82,300-worker record in 2015 was surpassed in November 2021 with 83,000 tourism-related jobs reported. Starting in January 2022, each month has seen a figure that surpasses the previous record to reach 86,700 workers in June of this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Brad Dean, Discover Puerto Rico’s CEO, said: “These impressive employment numbers reflect our local tourism...
Travel South Ready To Welcome Canadians
Travel South USA quite understandably wants us to travel south for our vacations. The organization promotes 12 southern U.S. states, touting an array of attractions that include different genres of music, varied landscapes and regional cuisines. Florida isn't among association members, with Travel South USA president Liz Bittner saying Florida's tourism trade tends to largely revolve around beaches and theme parks, which isn't the case for her association's members. "There is a plethora of experiences," Bittner told a Tuesday Toronto gathering that featured Southern American...
Air Canada Offers Operational Update
In its latest update, Air Canada outlined its operational improvement initiatives implemented in response to the challenges the global airline industry has encountered emerging from the pandemic. Michael Rousseau, President and Chief Executive of Air Canada, said that: “At Air Canada, we know how much our customers value travel and their reliance on us to transport them safely, comfortably and without disruption. This is always our goal and we share with them their disappointment that, coming out of the pandemic, the global industry faltered due to the unprecedented challenges of...
ACTA Summit Will Feature Sadler, Almeida Garret
ACTA’s Toronto Summit will feature Gary Sadler, Sandals Exec VP and Visit Portugal’s new Canadian director, Ines Almeida Garret (who will speak at all three summits) as speakers. The Future of Travel is Bright -- ACTA welcomes Gary Sadler, Sandals and Beaches Executive Vice President of Sales and Industry Relations. The Sandals and Beaches executive team is confident in the growth of travel and are assertively investing in the future. Sadler will his shares his insights about travel industry trends, key success factors and opportunities on how travel agencies and travel agents can...