STRATFORD, ONTARIO – It’s a gorgeous spring day in southern Ontario, one of those days when the entire world seems to have woken up from its winter slumber and taken to the streets; discovering flowers in bloom and new smells and the feeling of sunshine on its collective faces. I’m standing near the Queen’s Jubilee Statue in the centre of town when a young woman in fashionably torn jeans (think Meghan Markle) and a black t-shirt decorated with a white skeleton on the front comes skipping along the sidewalk, looking for all the world as if she’s eight years old Read more
Canada
Here’s a cool bit. A study from Nestpick, a furnished apartment search engine, found that six of the world’s top 10 cities for millennials are right here in Canada. The study gave Berlin the nod as the top world city for millennials to live, work and play. But Montreal was second, Toronto fifth and Vancouver sixth. The Nestpick study looked at everything from recreation to business, housing, food, universities and “openness” before coming up with its rankings. “Millennials grew up in a shrinking world, where the internet opened doors their parents never could have dreamed of, and budget airlines made 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
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
