The Turks and Caicos say they’ll open for visitors on July 22. Meanwhile, Canada has extended its cruise ban on large ships, which will now be prohibited from docking in the country until October 31. I also have a report on Universal Orlando hotels re-opening June 2 and an item about a new Canadian Tourism Roundtable that aims to help the country recover from the COVID-19 crisis. Here’s today’s Future of Travel blog. UNIVERSAL ORLANDO HOTELS TO REOPEN SOON Beginning June 2, 2020, select Universal Orlando Resort hotels will reopen to guests. The reopening of the hotels will be carefully Read more
Canadian travel
This is the second in an ongoing series of posts on the FUTURE OF TRAVEL. I listened in on a couple of very good webinars, but I want to instead today talk about a great study that really hits the Canadian market. Abacus Data, which has offices in Toronto and Ottawa, did a survey of more than 1,000 Canadians the other day and came away with some very interesting stats that should be encouraging for folks in Canadian tourism. The study, conducted April 2 to 7, posited the following question: “Assuming travel restrictions are lifted at the end of June, Read more
ON THE ROAD AGAIN – I’m rattling down the Garden State Parkway out of busy Newark Airport for a trip to New Jersey and New York City. It’s a confusing roadway with tolls and overlapping lanes and changes in direction, so I open the Google Maps app on my iPhone and head on down the road, feeling a bit of Bruce Springsteen in me. A couple days later I need to find the address for the Circle Line boat tour group that takes you out on the Hudson and East Rivers for great views of New York City. No problem. Read more
VICTORIA – I’m shocked it took this long. But at least it’s here now. On my recent trip to Victoria, which is far more hip than you might think, I wandered into the Victoria Public Market on Douglas Ave., one of the main streets. It’s located in the old Hudson’s Bay building, just a few blocks north of the main part of downtown. And it’s a magnificent addition to the city, a fun and giant and sunny space with ceilings high enough for a giraffe and immense concrete pillars. They’ve added splashy, colourful paper umbrellas to give the place Read more
FLAGLER BEACH, FLORIDA – The weather didn’t cooperate so much, but I found a great spot in Florida this past weekend. Flagler Beach is only a half hour or so north of Daytona, home to roaring race cars and motorcycles. But it’s honestly a world away. Where Daytona and other Florida cities have high-rises lining the beach, Flagler has a law that forbids buildings on the beach. Instead, almost all the buildings (one or two stragglers got in but that’s it) are across the small, two-lane highway, A1A. It makes for a marvellous drive up from Daytona, with nothing between Read more
