A new Flight Centre Canada national YouGov survey suggests the shift away from U.S. travel for Canadians isn’t going away. It also says three times as many Canadians are interested in a Europe trip as they are in a visit to the States. The study found that 62% of Canadians say they are less likely to visit the U.S. in 2026 compared to last year. The U.S. also placed fifth on the list of where Canadians would like to go this year, finishing far behind trips within Canada and trips to Europe and slightly behind visits to Mexico and Asia. Read more
A new list of top hotels from Forbes. Tourism jumps for Anguilla, Curacao and Shanghai. A new Marriott hotel in Barbados. And a continued drop in Canadian visits to the States. That plus a Cuba tourism update and TPC Sawgrass PGA Tour golf in today’s travel report. FORBES HOTEL, SPA, RESTAURANT AND CRUISE RATINGS FOR 2026 Forbes has come out with its annual list of top hotels, restaurants, spas and cruise ships around the world. Totaling 2,422 properties, the winners include 343 Five-Star, 708 Four-Star and 679 Recommended hotels and 82 Five-Star, 138 Four-Star and 80 Recommended restaurants. They also Read more
Baseball spring training is officially underway, and that means even more reasons to visit the Tampa Bay/St. Pete region, where you’ll find the spring training homes of the New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies, as well as the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Yankees train in Tampa, the Phillies in Clearwater, the Pirates in Bradenton, and the Jays in Dunedin. I’ve been a regular visitor to the area since I began covering the Blue Jays for the Toronto Star in the early 1990s, and have probably been 15 times or more by now. Here’s a list of some of Read more
U.S. News has come out with its much=awaited list of the top hotels around the world, and Four Seasons is definitely in the driver’s seat. Four Seasons, which is based in Toronto, came out on top for the best hotel in the USA (Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on Hawaii’s Big Island), while Four Seasons Hotel Toronto was named best hotel in Canada. Four Seasons Lana’i was named second best USA hotel, while Four Seasons Firenze in Italy was tagged as number two in Europe. Four Seasons Whistler Resort was number three in Canada, and Four Seasons Hotel Montreal was fifth. Read more
Talk about a wild day for travel. Air Canada today (Feb. 9) said it’s suspending all flights into Cuba due to an aviation fuel shortage, and will operate flights to bring home some 3,000 Canadians currently visiting the island nation. WestJet followed suit later in the day, saying it was beginning an “orderly wind down” of winter flights to Cuba for WestJet, WestJet Vacations, Sunwing Vacations and Vacances WestJet Quebec. Around 8:30 p.m. ET, Air Transat posted a note on its website saying it would suspend operations to Cuba from now until April 30, 2026. “Due to a jet fuel Read more
Top places around the world to visit this year includes the Canadian Rockies, southern Ontario, Western Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Argentina. I also have news on new flights from Canada to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a report on Arizona tourism seeking Canadian visits, and a new kids’ zone at the Chelsea Hotel Toronto. TIME OUT TOP WORLD PLACES FOR 2026 Time Out magazine recently came out with its list of best places in the world to visit this year. It’s an interesting list with a nice mix of well-known and probably unheard of places for some travel fans. Here’s Read more
Fresh off a new record for visitors to the Bahamas, Porter Airlines has announced new, direct flights to the island nation from Montreal. The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments & Aviation recently announced the nation last year welcome a record 12.5 million visitors. Visitor arrivals grew 11.4% year-over-year, surpassing 2024’s record and exceeding pre-pandemic 2019 levels by more than 70%. This growth underscores the strength and resilience of demand across global markets. Canada continues to emerge as one of The Bahamas’ fastest-growing markets, with year-round arrivals now surpassing pre-pandemic levels, driven by strong demand from Ontario and Quebec and expanding Read more
