There are some new spots on the Dr. Beach list of top beaches in the United States and Hawaii takes three of the top seven places. Dr. Stephen Leatherman, who calls himself “Doctor Beach,” has put out his ranking of top beaches for 2024. And there’s a new King, or rather Duke, at the top. For 2024, Leatherman puts Duke Kahanamoku Beach on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu in the top spot. Wailea Beach on Maui (I was there last fall) was third, and Po’ipu Beach on Kaua’i (a long-time fave of mine) came in at number seven. I’m also Read more
Hawaii
A record Memorial Day for travel in the United States, Bluey’s World is coming to Brisbane Australia, and how to save on great trips to Europe. I also have news about more WestJet flights to Mexico, the Caribbean and Florida, new Air Transat Club Class discounts and firework cruises coming up at Niagara Falls. A busy today for the old travel blog. RECORD MEMORIAL DAY EXPECTED IN THE U.S.A. By car, plane, rail and sea, nearly 44 million Americans plan to travel over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, which could beat a record for the late May holiday that Read more
Canadian tourism is setting an ambitious goal to move up the tourism ladder. Whether it can be achieved is something nobody will know for several years. Destination Canada on Thursday May 16 launched its new tourism strategy, ‘A World of Opportunity‘ which sets a firm focus on transforming the Canadian tourism sector and catapulting Canada back into the top seven global destinations by 2030. Destination Canada President and CEO, Marsha Walden, and Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Minister of Tourism, officially presented the tourism roadmap designed to increase Canada’s global competitiveness and bring in up to $160 billion in annual revenue by Read more
The smiles say it all. Canada’s not all the way back, but U.S. tourism reps at this year’s IPW conference in Los Angeles are pleased with how Canadians are returning to key states south of the border. Visit California statistics show Canada last year eclipsed pre-pandemic visitation levels, rising from 1.732 million visits in 2019 to 1.799 last year. Canadian visits to Florida last year were at 93% of pre-pandemic levels. Orlando says it attracted 1.256 million Canadians last year, a new, single-year record. For New York City, visitors from Canada were achingly close to 2019 numbers (995,000, compared to Read more
The Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA) has launched new targeted campaigns as part of its global marketing and visitor education efforts. The purpose of these initiatives is to reinvigorate responsible travel demand from key markets around the world to the Hawaiian Islands. “We are being more assertive in our messaging strategy with inspiring campaigns that spotlight Hawai‘i’s people, culture and experiences unlike anywhere else in the world,” said Mufi Hannemann, HTA board chair. “We need to ensure that the Hawaiian Islands stay top-of-mind among travelers amidst the competitive global market, especially as we head into the summer and fall.” “The Read more
