Kudos to Alaska Airlines for encouraging visitors to Maui, and offering sizeable discounts on air tickets. The airline says it will offer 40% off on tickets on flights to Maui until Oct. 18, 2023. The governor of Hawai’i currently has banned travel to West Maui until October 17.. West Maui is home to the fire-ravaged city of Lahaina and popular resorts in Ka’anapali, Kahana, Napili and Kapalua. Alaska Airlines’ website has a post with a series of interviews with Maui residents and business owners asking visitors to return in a respectful manner to open areas of the island and help Read more
August 2023
Comparing search data for three of the major long weekends in Canada – Victoria Day, Canada Day, and Labour Day – Expedia explored which destinations Canadians were most interested in for summer 2023, and which destinations see a shift during the fall months. On the global destination list, Toronto came out on top for all three summer long weekend dates in terms of search interest. Recently, Toronto saw a spike in interest for November 2024 with the announcement of pop-icon Taylor Swift’s long-awaited Canadian tour dates. For the first wave of shows, Expedia reported a 5000% hike in flight searches Read more
Hurricane Idalia is sending massive storm surges cascading into parts of Florida, and also wreaking havoc for travellers and airlines. Reuters reports that airlines in the United States canceled more than 850 flights today (Aug. 30) as the storm landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as an “extremely dangerous” Category 3 storm. Southwest Airlines had canceled 222 flights as of noon Eastern Time, while Delta Air Lines and American Airlines canceled 158 and 132 flights, respectively, as of 8:17 a.m. ET, according to flight-tracking website Flightaware.com. The website reported 65% of incoming flights to Tampa International Airport had been cancelled, Read more
If you land at Sacramento International Airport, you might hear a voice over the public address system making the following statement. “We’re proud to offer a unique blend of big-city amenities and small-town charm that can only be found here.” I’m not above borrowing a good quote when I hear one, and I think it’s an apt description. Air Canada in July began direct, daily flights from Toronto to Sacramento, the capital of California and a city I think is heavily underrated. It’s an attractive city filled with towering, leafy trees, fun neighborhoods and a very good food scene. You’re Read more
I wrote a story last week that quoted Hawaii tourism officials as saying it’s a good time to visit Maui. The gist of the article was that many areas of Maui are open to visitors (west Maui won’t open until October 15), and that local workers need tourism to return so they can keep their jobs. Many readers agree, but some still don’t like the idea of visitors so soon after the August 8 fire that killed at least 115 people and destroyed almost all of the beautiful town of Lahaina. Here are some sample comments: “We will leave Maui Read more
