Here are some new travel bits from today’s news, as well as a recap of some items from earlier this week that you might have missed. Canada’s Travel Guy, at your service. PORTER AIRLINES TRIMS SCHEDULE The Globe and Mail today reports that Toronto-based Porter Airlines has made “extensive” cuts to its flight schedule. The airline in the last couple months has with great fanfare announced a series of new routes on its new Embraer jets, including Toronto-Calgary and Toronto-Vancouver. I spotted airline founder Bob Deluce at Toronto Pearson a few weeks ago and he said more big announcements Read more
business travel
Canada’s passport application backlog has been ‘completely eliminated,’ one of the top ministers in the Trudeau government says. CTV News reports tat Families, Children and Social Development Minister Karina Gould this week said that service times for passport applications are back to pre-pandemic standards, after the backlog ballooned last summer. Canadians looking to renew their passports last summer found long wait lines and lengthy delays, an issue that passport officials said was due to a huge spike in demand for travel as COVID travel restrictions began to ease. The CBC reports that Canadians waiting anxiously for their passports to arrive before Read more
Business travel is back in a big way. American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT), the world’s leading BTB travel platform, told company investors on a recent fourth-quarter 2022 earnings call that they expect total business travel spending to grow by 24% in 2023 to reach over a trillion dollars. Expectations for a strong year are supported by data from the company’s vast customer portfolio and studies from across the industry. According to the Global Business Travel Association’s Q1 2023 Business Travel Outlook Poll published at the end of January, domestic and international bookings are currently at 67% and 54% 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
Air Canada today announced a comprehensive range of new product improvements to elevate the customer experience. The changes will have something for everyone, including upgraded Economy dining, more in-flight entertainment and connectivity options, and enriched Premium offerings. Beginning in November, customers will see new and restored services in Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and in Premium cabins onboard, a new Economy Class dining service with a celebrity chef entree internationally plus fresh, new Bistro choices in North America, and in a first for a Canadian airline, complimentary, high-speed Wi-Fi when travelling Premium Rouge. Starting in 2023 (perhaps in time for Read more
