VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) marked a historic milestone today with the unveiling of the first trainset of its state-of-the-art new fleet that will serve the Québec City – Windsor corridor. With the new test train parked on the platform of the LEED certified Ottawa station behind them, VIA Rail President and Chief Executive Officer, Cynthia Garneau and Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Françoise Bertrand, introduced Canadians to the first of 32 new trains in VIA Rail’s new Corridor fleet – a building block of VIA Rail’s modernization program which will help to create the VIA Rail of tomorrow. “This new fleet marks Read more
business travel
Aeroplan is giving customers a nice break just before Christmas. Aeroplan, the loyalty program run by air Canada, placed its expiration policy on hold during the pandemic. They also made our inactivity policy more flexible, as members have 18 months before their Aeroplan points expire if there has been no activity in their account; meaning they haven’t earned, redeemed, donated, transferred, or converted any points. In order to further support members as travel resumes, Aeroplan has further extended their pause on expiry of points until September 30, 2022. That means that between now and September 29, 2022, any Aeroplan points Read more
The Conference Board of Canada and Expedia Group say travel and tourism are definitely on the upswing. In their latest report, the Conference Board found that 86% of Canadians say they miss travelling. Better yet, the numbers who report that COVID-19 is slowing their travel plans is down sharply. Speaking during a zoom session put on by the Discover America Canada Committee, Jennifer Hendry, the conference board’s Senior Research Associate, said that in October of 2020, 62% of Canadians had no travel plans. In their October, 2021 report, that number was down to 47%. Hendry says that shows that “the Read more
The food is terrific. The renovated rooms are clean and bright. And the new design gives the feel of a boutique, downtown hotel. The 30-year-old Sheraton Gateway Hotel at Toronto Pearson Airport is undergoing a $30 million renovation, and it’s quite special. There was nothing wrong with the old hotel, which is a mere 40 or 50 steps from Terminal 3. But it was time for a change from sturdy, wooden headboards and black leather chairs and clunky wooden desks, and they’ve pretty much gutted the entire property. What’s here now is a sparkling, beautifully designed hotel that feels to Read more
Days after the U.S. reopened its land and air borders to vaccinated international visitors, including Canadians coming over the land border, the U.S. Travel Association released a study that shows that domestic leisure travel has returned to near pre-pandemic levels. But they’re forecasting an uneven recovery for the international inbound and business travel segments. The forecast, based on analysis from Tourism Economics, projects that domestic leisure travel will continue to drive the U.S. travel industry’s recovery in the near term. This segment is projected to surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2022 and beyond. U.S. domestic business travel spending is expected to reach Read more
