As Canada’s busiest airport, Toronto Pearson is preparing for the upcoming holiday travel period while sharing tips and information for passengers. The holiday season is traditionally one of the busiest times of year at Pearson and this year is expected to be particularly busy, as passenger traffic has steadily increased since the summer. To help make the experience easier, Pearson and its airport partners have introduced a number of tools aimed at making flying easier. This includes: * YYZ Express, an online reservation program that allows travellers to book a spot in the security line ahead of their flight, up Read more

It could take another three years for Ontario’s tourism industry to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, a major new study says. A report from The Tourism Industry Association of Ontario and the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, released today, calls for sweeping changes, including keeping the Ontario staycation tax credit, boosting cannabis tourism, providing better train and rapid transit service, giving indigenous tourism a push, and boosting affordable housing for workers. The study says tourism businesses in Canada’s most populous province are generating less than two-thirds (64%) of the revenues they saw in 2019, and that 70% have taken on debt Read more

Swoop, Canada’s leading ultra-low-cost airline, is setting its sights south with newly added flights to Mexico and the Caribbean from Hamilton, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Abbotsford, B.C. “As Canada’s leading ultra-low fare airline, we are thrilled to be expanding sun-flying this winter,” said Bob Cummings, President of Swoop. “With winter weather upon us, demand for leisure travel down south is reaching new heights and we’re proud to meet that demand with this added capacity.” The “ultra-not-expensive airline” recently completed a significant fleet expansion, inducting six new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft to meet demand for ultra-low-cost leisure travel. Beginning in Read more

Almost one in ten Americans admit to sleeping with strangers on vacation. And roughly one in five hate going on holidays with their in-laws. A study by Play USA looked at American travel habits for trips to Las Vegas and other destinations, and found U.S. residents can get a little rowdy when they’re away from home. Nearly one in 10 said they slept with a stranger in Vegas, and 17% regretted it. Twenty per cent of respondents admitted they behaved worse than they would have at home, with 10% saying they were embarrassed by their behavior. Half of the respondents Read more

WestJet today released its annual Christmas Miracle video. This year’s spot introduces WestJet’s newest community investment program Miracle Miles, transforming ordinary flights with WestJet into an opportunity for guests to give back to their communities. The initiative grants anyone onboard select flights with $1 for every mile flown to give to an eligible charity or non-profit organization of their choice. “At WestJet we are proud to serve a diverse array of communities all year long. In the holiday season we know there is joy to be found in both giving and receiving, so for this year’s Christmas Miracle, we wanted Read more

A new global study conducted by JourneyWoman shows that women over 50 feel ignored and undervalued by the travel industry. Journeywoman surveyed more than 1,000 seasoned women travelers, almost all of them aged 55 or older, and found that 70% of them feel that the travel industry doesn’t understand the needs of mature solo women over 50. Women also expressed concern about the lack of age-appropriate and diverse photography, a desire to see more appropriate terminology to describe older women and more emphasis on mobility and accessibility requirements. Journeywoman, the world’s original solo women’s travel publication, said 96% of the Read more