This has simply got to stop. U.S. airlines last year are said to have raked in $3.5 billion (that’s BILLION, folks) in bag fees. They’re bleeding us dry to the tune of $25 a bag, and they’re getting rich doing it. Things aren’t much better here in Canada, where Air Canada and WestJet and Porter bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in bag fees and other ancillary revenues. As if flying wasn’t painful enough, now comes a report at hotelnewsnow that says HOTEL fees in the U.S. could reach almost $2.5 billion this year. Here’s what their report said Read more
government
David Whitaker was hired in May of this year as chief marketing officer for Brand USA, which was set up in 2010 to market the U.S. to the world. He served as head of Tourism Toronto from 2007 until taking the Brand USA job. Prior to his Toronto job the Georgia native spent 17 years with the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. I sat down with him this week in Orlando at IPW, the massive, annual U.S. tourism session that attracts thousands of travel, trade and media types to talk business and book U.S. travel. Whitaker was in constant Read more
I’ve been saying for years now that the federal government in Ottawa doesn’t understand tourism and doesn’t give it the support it should. Now I see that MP Elizabeth May and TV comedian/pundit Rick Mercer are saying the same thing. Here’s my Globe and Mail blog from Friday, Feb. 20…. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/travel-news/when-will-the-government-give-tourism-the-respect-it-deserves/article23115880/
