THIS ITEM ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FORM AT www.travelpulse.ca, where I work as senior editorial director. The folks at Expedia recently conducted an airplane and hotel etiquette survey with Canadians and came up with some fun – and somewhat bewildering – results regarding smelly passengers on a plane and the borrowing of someone else’s clothes at an Air BnB/vacation rental. The item I found astonishing is that 68% of Canadians feel that it’s inappropriate at a vacation rental to wear clothes or shoes that belong to the host. That’s cool, but it pretty much suggests that one out Read more
Happy Canada Day to all my friends and family! I was going through my emails on this lovely summer’s day in Toronto and spotted a new study from the Canada Goose clothing company that says 95 per cent of Canadians are proud of their country, which is great. The study also found that 64 per cent of Americans have considered moving north of the border, which I suppose means I was ahead of the curve by 38 years and two months, having landed on these shores via my Honda Accord hatchback on May 1, 1981, following a drive from my Read more
I’ve often written that tourism slogans and campaigns may not matter much in the end. But I could be wrong, and I like the inclusive feeling of this new one from my own city of Toronto. Tourism Toronto today (June 19) announced it’s launching a new destination marketing campaign called “Let Yourself In.” The campaign comes fresh on the heels of the multicultural Toronto Raptors capturing the NBA championship and capitalizes on the city’s sense of welcome and diversity. The campaign also arrives as Toronto celebrates another record year in visitation, having welcomed 44 million travellers into the city in Read more
Newly refreshed rooms. A real sense of history. And a tremendous location. The Hotel Pennsylvania has been one of the top places to stay in New York City for decades, and it shows no signs of slowing down in its 100th anniversary year. I recently was in town for a night and managed my first-ever stay at the hotel, located on 7th Avenue and 32nd Street; directly across from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. It may not be the centre of the universe, but darned if it doesn’t feel like it. They’ve refurbished a number of rooms and have Read more
To quote a band from San Francisco, what a long, strange trip it’s been. But what a finish for the Toronto Raptors. Here’s my post from TravelPulse Canada the other day, talking about the effect the team’s rise has had on Toronto and, indeed, all of Canada. So happy for this country’s sports fans! https://ca.travelpulse.com/news/destinations/toronto-raptors-re-define-toronto-and-canadas-image.html
This is encouraging. The Canadian government today issued a new tourism strategy that talks about new ways of getting more tourists out of the big cities and into other great areas of this wonderful country of ours. They also want to boost numbers in slower seasons, when hotels, attractions and restaurants could surely use the boost. I want to see how the funding develops, but the mere fact a federal Cabinet minister is actually talking about new funding for tourism is great news, as that’s seldom been the case in this country in my experience. Canada’s tourism numbers grew 1.2% Read more
Nice to see a new campaign from The Islands of Tahiti. We all think we know about Tahiti. And, to some extent, most of us do. Pretty much anyone who enjoys travel has seen those exquisite shots of those famous, thatched-roof overwater bungalows stretching out into an Instagram-blue lagoon. You can find those on several islands in the group, for sure. And, I’m not going to lie, they’re amazing. And romantic as all get out (although I was on a trip by myself). But what I remember even more about my visit were the warm and wonderful people I met Read more
