Transat A.T. Inc., its employees and customers will be supporting the humanitarian efforts of SOS Children’s Villages in Ukraine. The company is launching a fundraising campaign to assist SOS Children’s Villages, its long-time partner that has rapidly scaled up its response in Ukraine to meet the critical needs of approximately 500,000 vulnerable children and families affected by the conflict. The campaign calls on its employees, as well as those of the nearly 300 travel agencies that make up its distribution network, the largest in Canada with 2,000 travel counsellors. Air Transat passengers are also being invited to make a donation Read more

Canadians are booking trips to Europe and the U.S.. Cruise companies are expanding rapidly. And new hotels are being built in Canada around the world. The latest RBC consumer tracking figures for Canada finds that travel spending recently touched pre-COVID levels for the first time as pandemic restrictions eased. “The domestic tourism recovery continues to outpace international travel but Canadian spending on restaurants and hotels abroad has also been rising,” RBC said. Meanwhile, the American Automobile Association this week said cruise bookings during the past four weeks are twice as high as this time last year. Just 612 Canadians visited Read more

Reuters reports that the U.S. Travel Association is urging President Joe Biden “to lift COVID-19 travel restrictions and repeal a mandate requiring masks on airplanes and in other transit modes by April 18.” The news outlet says it has seen a letter from the group to Dr. Ashish Jha, the incoming White House COVID response coordinator, that calls for an immediate end to the pre-departure testing requirement for all fully vaccinated inbound international persons and ending the mask mandate by April 18 “or announcing a plan and timeline to repeal the federal mask mandate within the subsequent 90 days.” “It Read more

Air Canada today said it will be donating $10 for every booking made on aircanada.com to support Ukraine relief aid, with a total donation of up to $250,000. This $250,000 donation will complement the $170,000 contribution recently made by Air Canada’s employees and the Air Canada Foundation to the Canadian Red Cross and other charities, as well as the ongoing humanitarian aid destined to Poland and Ukraine transported through Air Canada Cargo. Additionally, Aeroplan Members may donate Aeroplan points at Ukrainian Relief Fund, with 100% of points to be redistributed to various charitable organizations supporting relief efforts for Ukrainian refugees Read more

I love a hotel that provides a real sense of occasion. The Ritz Carlton San Francisco does that in spades. The minute you pull up to the front doors you’ll be thoroughly impressed by the architecture. The hotel occupies a brilliant, white, neo-classical building on Nob Hill that was built in 1909 as the Pacific Coast headquarters of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. It’s got character galore, including magnificent columns that march across the front of the building and tremendous detail in every corner and facade, not to mention nook and cranny. But that’s just the exterior. The lobby is Read more

From the 70th anniversary for Queen Elizabeth on the throne to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, there’s plenty to celebrate in Great Britain this year. On top of all that, they’ve eliminated all travel restrictions, so there’s no form to fill out, no test to take and no quarantine to fret over. “It’s like the gold old days,” I said in a chat this morning with Dame Judith Macgregor, chair of the British Tourism Authority. “Yes,” she replied with a laugh. “We just value it more, don’t we?” Amen to that. Macgregor, an engaging interview, said travel trends are very Read more