Cuba on show: Cayo Santa Maria hosts annual FITCuba
Cuban tourism authorities have just held the country’s annual tourism show in a venue that’s a showcase for the very type of vacation experience that’s at the cornerstone of the country’s tourist trade… Read >>

Cowabunga, amigo!
The Costa Rican community of Puerto Viejo is building a tourist following, many of them young surfing dudes and dudettes drawn by the waves off its Caribbean Sea-fronting shores. Puerto Viejo was populated in part by people whose forefathers were from Caribbean islands, with English last names common in the community… Read >>

Costa Rica committed to staying green
Costa Rica’s tourism minister says a country that has become synonymous with ecotourism will be careful not to kill the goose that laid the golden egg, as it further develops its vacation offerings in a time of heightened environmental concerns… Read >>

Costa Rica’s curious crocodiles
Costa Rican guide Maurice Motte Simpson guarantees that those who sail along Costa Rica’s Sarapiqui River won’t spot any velociraptors. But that doesn’t mean they won’t see any large predators, as they ply the waterway… Read >>

India Tourism prepares to shutter Toronto office
One tour operator that sends people to Asia says the apparently imminent closing of India Tourism’s long-running Canadian office will be a significant setback, while another doubts that it will have much impact on Canadian visitations to the Asian nation… Read >>

Thai island is ‘energized by the moon’
The party-hearty crowd put the Thai island of Koh Phangan on the international tourism map, but those involved in the island’s tourist trade say there are weeks of blissful peace between each raucous gathering of thousands of young people… Read >>

Chocolate tours provide insights into a once-regal confection
Would Carolina Lizana snicker at the thought of a Snickers bar being called a chocolate bar? Quite possibly, given that the Costa Rican chocolate enthusiast is quite particular when it comes to using that description… Read >>

Attraction aims to make the world a more ant-friendly place
Sergio Marin is hoping that those who visit one of the attractions at interior Costa Rica’s Aguas Bravas will be a little more careful about where they place their feet while walking.
Marin, one of the guides at the facility, found in the province of Heredia, notes among its attractions is a carefully created one that provides a showcase for leafcutter ants, … Read >>

Providence: Coolest city that ‘you’ve never been to’
A new Air Canada route will enable Ontario residents to see some old structures that have thankfully survived the wrecker’s ball. The airline will soon begin daily non-stop service between Toronto and Providence, Rhode Island, with plans now calling for the service to run from May 17 to Oct. 18, and Providence tourism officials are hopeful that Air Canada will decide to make it year-round… Read >>

Tourism Authority of Thailand upbeat about its new Canadian office
The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s first dedicated Canadian office is up and running, a development expected to lead to a quick jump in the number of Canadians vacationing in Thailand… Read >>

Yesteryear’s mining helps town’s tourist trade
The tourism trade in the Mexican town of El Rosario is clearly benefiting from what’s truly a silver lining. El Rosario, found 76 km from the Pacific coast city of Mazatlan, was founded in 1655, and over the centuries, the mining of silver was a major component of its economy… Read >>

Tianguis Turistico puts Mazatlan on show
City expected to benefit
Mexican tourism authorities this month put the Pacific coastal city of Mazatlan squarely in the tourism limelight and, in doing so, helped promote a city that’s one of a number of destinations they believe is well worthy of large numbers of vacationers, but which is also overshadowed by such better-known locales as Cancun and Acapulco… Read >>

Discover the value
New Hampshire can easily host the ‘shop till you drop’ crowd
New Hampshire tourism authorities are selling a destination in which buying is a prime attraction. The state promotes itself as a shopping mecca, thanks in part to its being one of only five US states that don’t have a sales tax, and tourism officials say that helps offset the current gap between the Canadian and US dollars… Read >>

Mother Nature is part of the allure of the Fort Myers area
You shall see shells… The Beaches of Fort Myers and Sanibel spokeswoman Francesca Donlan pulls no punches when she says her Florida destination is particularly suited for those who love gathering seashells on ocean vacations… Read >>

Growth is in the air
Japan buoyed by new Air Canada service
The Japan National Tourism Organization is welcoming an upcoming air link between this country and Japan, service the JNTO believes will help it move nearer to reaching an ambitious goal it has set for itself by the change of the decade… Read >>

Thailand’s tourism authority opens Toronto office
Reason for celebration
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has opened a downtown Toronto office, a move that reflects the growing importance it attaches to the Canadian market and one which bucks a trend in recent years that sees many tourism boards opting to have their staff work from home… Read >>

Ethiopian city believed to be home to long-lost ark
Exploring a mystery
Does a smallish sanctuary in the Ethiopian city of Axum hold the answer to one of religion’s great enduring mysteries? Ethiopians certainly believe that’s the case… Read >>

Nicaragua: I like you just as you are
Nicaragua is hot literally and figuratively. Those vacationing in the Central American country can expect the hot, tropical weather sun-seekers want, and Ana Garcia of the Nicaraguan Tourism Board told a recent Toronto gathering that Canadian interest in her homeland is soaring,.. Read >>

Babra launches FareLink.com
New company only deals with travel agents
Travel industry veteran Surjit Babra is back in the industry with a new firm and a familiar promise. Babra, best known in the travel agency community as the founder and ex-owner of SkyLink Travel, has a new venture called FareLink.com, which he says provides the industry with a single platform for searching multiple vendors and a common user interface for pre- and post-sales service… Read >>

Korea looks to build on Olympic success
John Hyungkwan Park is inviting Canadian schussers to hit the same Korean slopes that Olympic gold medalists have won glory on. Park, director of the Korea Tourism Corporation’s Canadian office, says the glitch-free PyeongChang Winter Olympics have provided his homeland with opportunities to make further inroads in the Canadian market… Read >>

Vienna invites tourists to step on to dance floors
Austrian tourism officials say it’s easy for tourists to have a ball in Vienna. And that’s particularly true for those visiting at the beginning of each year at the height of the season when the Viennese like to dress in an elegant manner and take to dance floors… Read >>

Experience the wonders of Spain
Laura Pena Alberdi is promoting her homeland in an artful manner. Pena, who oversees the Tourist Office of Spain’s Canadian operation, says a country that draws huge numbers of European sun-seekers to its long coast is also keen to showcase its cultural side, including its having been home to the likes of Goya, Picasso and El Greco, who became household names in the art world… Read >>