Tourism is rebounding strongly in cities across Canada. But most tourism officials say they’re not quite back to pre-pandemic levels, and that labour shortages could limit their ability to recover as quickly as they’d like. A review of tourism officials in several major Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary, finds municipal leaders are generally in a positive mood as Tourism Week in Canada kicks off. “Right now … the occupancy is strong,” said Karen Soyka, Vice President, Strategy & Business Development at Destination Vancouver. “What we have (for figures) is really up to March, and what we’re seeing is Read more
Canada
Visit Scotland held a fine event in Toronto on Tuesday night, with tons of great information about a destination Canadians love to visit. I’ve somehow never been to Scotland as a travel writer, but I was there after I graduated from college and had a marvellous time in Edinburgh and up around Loch Ness. There are a remarkable 13 UNESCO sites in Scotland, and they’ve created a UNESCO trail so you can enjoy all of them, or sample from the ones you think look best. Of course, there’s also amazing history, increasingly fabulous food, Scotch whisky and gin, the Edinburgh Read more
May 29th to June 4th marks Tourism Week in Canada, and Burlington, Ontario is a great place to check out. “Travel has slowly started to return, and we look forward to welcoming more visitors to Burlington, Ontario this summer,” tourism officials said. “This is good news for Burlington’s tourism businesses, after two unprecedented years, and they look forward to serving residents and visitors.” Tourism in Canada was a $105 billion industry sector employing approximately 1.8 million workers, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many communities, tourism and hospitality was the first and hardest hit sector, which will take the longest Read more
Despite numerous calls to end random testing of arriving passengers at Canadian airports and to ease crowded conditions at airports across the country, the Canadian government today said it’s extending current border measures until at least June 30. In a statement on Twitter (you think they’d put out something more official), the Public Health Agency of Canada today said it will continue the current rules for another month. That would appear to mean random tests for arriving passengers at Canadian airports will continue. PHAC said on Twitter that all travellers, regardless of vaccination status, must continue to submit their information in Read more
Toronto holds down most of the top spots in the latest list of the top 100 restaurants in Canada, but Vancouver fared quite well, and Calgary made a big splash. Ten of the top 20 restaurants on the latest Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants List are in Ontario, with eight in Toronto. Vancouver had three in the top 20, all of them in the top 10, including number one and number three. Calgary had three in the top 20, coming in at positions 10, 12 and 18. Major Tom in Calgary, which was ranked 12th overall in Canada, was named best Read more
