Kudos to Canada. And a nod to Hawai’i, as well. A study by Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection has anointed Canada as the safest country on the planet for 2024. Montreal came second in the world for safe cities, beaten only by Honolulu. Berkshire Hathaway nalyzed the responses of 1,702 travelers who were polled between August 24 and September 13, 2023, along with third-party data sources to evaluate concerns such as terrorism, weather emergencies, health measures, and the safety of underrepresented groups. The Berkshire Hathaway rankings also take into account data and information sourced from the U.S. State Department, The Economist, Read more
Canada
Pedestrians are getting a permanent break in Banff. Hawaii Tourism Boasts Strong Holiday Numbers. And indigenous tourism is poised for a Canadian boom. A few travel tidbits for today. BANFF PED ZONE NOW PERMANENT Banff’s popular downtown pedestrian zone is now a permanent feature in the wildly popular Alberta destination. Town officials have decided to keep the zone in place from the May long weekend to Thanksgiving weekend every year. Canadian Press reports the town decided to permanently fund the project, which began during the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of its annual operating budget. “It is, however, still unclear whether Read more
A new study of downtown Toronto commerce shows the tourism industry has bounced back nicely from the pandemic. But we’re not out of the woods yet. The Toronto Star on Thursday ran a story that talked about a University of Toronto School of Cities study that looked at cellphone usage in the city centre to determine the number of daily visitors to various types of buildings. Looking at 2019 levels versus 2023, the study found that Toronto’s hospitality buildings had a 100% recovery rate in terms of visitors. The recovery rate for office buildings was only 69%, and for retail Read more
Folks in Southern Ontario have some great new options for sun vacations, and a new way to reach a cool part of Canada. Toronto Pearson Airport put out a note on social media the other day to point out several new routes to great destinations. Here’s a short list, along with the airlines that are flying there. Fort Myers, Florida — Lynx Air Montego Bay, Jamaica — Canada Jetlines Bonaire, Netherlands — WestJet Miami, Florida — Porter Airlines Fort-de-France, Martinique — Air Canada Kingston, Jamaica — Flair Airlines Lima, Peru — Air Transat Yellowknife, Northwest Territories — Air Canada Read more
Portugal is seeing a tourism boom, but Hawaii is slow to recover from pre-pandemic numbers. I also have a look at the best travel reward credit cards, the top places for women over 50 to travel this year, and most iconic foods from countries around the world. PORTUGAL TOURISM SPIRALS UPWARD Portugal brought in more money than ever before from tourism in 2023, and the country’s tourism boom shows no signs of slowing down. Tourism revenue increased to more than $36.5 billion CAD in 2023 compared to $30.8 billion the previous year, Secretary of State for Tourism, Read more
