VANCOUVER – A classic restaurant and a newly-old classic hotel. I spent the first couple days of this week in one of the world’s favourite cities, eating and drinking and checking out some great locations. Topping the list has to be the Rosewood Hotel Georgia , a 1927 beauty that was given a five-year renovation and re-opened in 2011. I’d seen it before but hadn’t stayed the night until this trip. And I’m happy to report it’s just as sexy and seductive and luxurious as it looks. I love hotels with a real sense of style and arrival, and that’s Read more

A province for all seasons. And one that absolutely LOVES Ontario. The folks from Quebec Tourism threw a fabulous cocktail reception at a cool gallery in Toronto’s Distillery District on Tuesday, talking up the fabulous, year-round destinations they have to offer. It’s pretty remarkable when you think about it. They have awesome cities like Montreal with great festivals like Montreal en Lumiere, which started today and goes to March 2. They also have Carnival in Quebec City, which just wrapped up another fabulous season. They also have some of North America’s best skiing and snowboarding in places like Tremblant, Mont Read more

They were calling it “the lost decade.” Tourism officials gathered in Toronto last week for the annual Canadian Tourism Marketing Summit. And it wasn’t pretty talk. This country is in desperate need of a new tourism strategy. So far, the Harper government in Ottawa seems oblivious. We thought we were perhaps riding high after the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. But the statistics tell a very sad story. In 2002, Canada ranked eighth in the world in international tourist arrivals, with 19.6 million visitors. That was good for number eight in the world. By 2011, the year after the Vancouver Games, Read more

It’s not too late to book that last-minute Valentine’s Day trip. If you’ve got the cash, here’s a list of ten of the most romantic hotels I’ve stayed at outside of North America. Bon chance! Le Tahaa Private Island Resort, Tahiti: Possibly the most beautiful place I’ve stayed on the planet, with stunning over-water bungalows and a true South Pacific feel. A great Tahitian dance/fire show, too. See photo above. Park Hyatt, Sydney: Hard to beat the view of the Sydney Opera House from this luxury property. Great food and service in a sleek and sexy hotel. 137 Pillars House, Read more

At first I meant it as a bit of a joke. After watching Justine and Chloe (and Maxine) Dufour-Lapointe race in the freestyle skiing event at the Sochi Olympics on Saturday and seeing Justine win gold and Chloe silver, I mentioned on Twitter that the Canadian Tourism Commission should enlist them immediately as ambassadors for travel to Canada. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Lest we think these girls were only noticed north of the border, I can tell you that my Dad lives in California and read about the D-L girls and saw them Read more

It’s that time again. The Sochi Olympics have already begun, and the Opening Ceremony is Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern time. This is the first winter Olympics I’ve missed being at since Nagano. I was the Star’s Olympics assignment editor and on-site web person for all the Games from Sydney in 2000 up to Vancouver in 2010. Vancouver was a magical way to finish my Olympics career. I spent pretty much 15 to 16 hours a day at the Main Press Centre, organizing assignments and covering the odd press conference and writing sometimes eight or 10 stories a day for Read more