Ya gotta love a country with a sense of humour. And that’s definitely Australia. I loved their Super Bowl commercial (it was great to see the American ones for a change) with Chris Hemsworth and Paul Hogan and other famous Aussies of both a human and animal nature. Good, cheeky fun, and with a nice message about one of my favourite countries. Turns out Tourism Australia is launching a $36 million campaign to lure more Americans Down Under and that the talk of a sequel to Crocodile Dundee was a bit of a gag. (Hopefully that’s not the same for Read more

A cool hotel in a fabulous part of Manhattan. A new, educational attraction from National Geographic. And a thoroughly enjoyable boat ride around the southern tip of one of the world’s great cities. A weekend in New York City is never a bad thing. This past weekend was better than most, owing to great weather (around 12 Celsius on Saturday) you wouldn’t normally expect in January. My wife and I had two nights at the recently opened The Frederick Hotel in lower Tribeca. I don’t love the upper end of Tribeca with its fancy shops and hipsters, but this seemed Read more

WestJet is expanding at a dizzying pace, with plenty more to come. I had a chance to catch up with one of the airline’s top executives this week in an interview conducted for TravelPulse Canada. We have a story on our website but there was more to the interview that I wanted to get in. In case you missed it, the Calgary-based airline announced on Monday that it would begin flying from Halifax to Paris on May 31 of this year and from Halifax to London Gatwick on April 29. Both are new flights, although they currently service London Gatwick Read more

A lot of us tend to gain weight over the holidays. But our piggy banks seem to go the opposite direction. Still, if you plan carefully you can have a great winter holiday (without the crowds) in Europe, one of the most popular vacation spots for Canadians and North Americans. And there are a number of tips, tool and features known as travel hacks that can help you. Here are my top 2018 travel hacks that will help you plan a European trip that’s enjoyable, safe and cost-effective. 1. Choose your destination based on your budget One of the best Read more

Talk about hogging the spotlight. Toronto last year welcomed almost 44 million visitors, spending $8.8 billion – both record numbers. All told, 43.7 million visitors were welcomed to the region last yearn. For the first time, overnight visits in Toronto, which Tourism Toronto folks like to call “Canada’s Downtown,” surpassed the 15 million mark (15.5 million), joined by 28.2 million same-day travellers. Visitors to Toronto spent $8.8 billion – the most economic activity ever generated by the region’s tourism industry. That figure represents $700 million in extra funds over 2016 levels for hotel rooms booked, attractions seen and restaurants experienced. Read more

We’re number two. But our Prime Minister is number one. A new study by U.S. News and World Report found that Canada was ranked number two in the world in terms of best countries. The study looked at 80 countries in the world, examining their economic influence, quality of life and other issues. Switzerland came out on top of the overall country rankings, followed by Canada, Germany (up from fourth last year), the UK (down from third), Japan, Sweden, Australia, the United States (down one spot from last year), France and The Netherlands. Although we barely number one overall, Canada’s Read more