It was an ambitious plan. And probably a stupid one. My wife and I had an invitation to take the Rocky Mountaineer train from Denver to Moab, Utah from April 22-24. We also had a visit lined up for Las Vegas from April 28-30. Flying home from Utah to Toronto on April 24 and then flying back out west to Las Vegas on the 28th seemed silly. I started to think, which is often a dangerous occurrence in my household. “I’ve always wanted to see the great national parks of Utah,” I told my wife. “What do you think?” She Read more
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Jennifer Ollinger of Visit Detroit says she tells people the hardest part of her job is getting people to visit her city. But once they come and see the great food scene, stylish, boutique hotels and sparkling waterfront in this Michigan city, she says her job is done. “The city sells itself.” It wasn’t always this easy. As someone who has worked at Visit Detroit (the city’s tourism bureau) for 25 years, she’s seen her share of low points, including a municipal bankruptcy and far too many headlines about a city gone to seed. “In my second month on the Read more
Maui residents are still in shock from the fire that destroyed almost all of the small, lovely and immensely charming city of Lahaina. They don’t want to think about tourism right now, and I don’t blame them. But, at some point, tourists will return. At some point, tourists should return. But when is the right time? Is it September? Early October? U.S. Thanksgiving? The answer to that depends a lot on the individual. I know I couldn’t possibly go for a while, but I’m thinking I should probably visit in the next few months and spend a few dollars in Read more
Florida tourism today announced the strongest international visitation numbers the state has seen since 2019. According to new estimates from VISIT FLORIDA, international visitors have dramatically increased travel to the Sunshine state. The first half of this year saw massive increases in overseas (+21.8%) and Canadian (+81.1%) visitation compared to the same time period in 2022. Florida welcomed a total of 33.1 million visitors between April and June 2023, with 1.9 million of those being overseas visitors and 846,000 Canadian visitors. Florida also continues to beat records with annual visitation with 70.8 million visitors in calendar year 2023. “VISIT FLORIDA Read more
The warning bells are going off in Hawai’i, and around the world. With the achingly beautiful town of Lahaina lying in smouldering ruins, locals and lovers of Maui and Hawai’i (such as me) are sounding the alarm about deep-pocket developers swooping in and grabbing gobs of property, and what that might mean in terms of over-development. Surely the city and Maui county have rules in place that have kept hotel chains from building 10-storey towers on Lahaina’s Front Street. But can government officials insist that new structures reflect the character of the old Lahaina? Can they demand that weathered wood Read more
