Visit Scotland held a fine event in Toronto on Tuesday night, with tons of great information about a destination Canadians love to visit. I’ve somehow never been to Scotland as a travel writer, but I was there after I graduated from college and had a marvellous time in Edinburgh and up around Loch Ness. There are a remarkable 13 UNESCO sites in Scotland, and they’ve created a UNESCO trail so you can enjoy all of them, or sample from the ones you think look best. Of course, there’s also amazing history, increasingly fabulous food, Scotch whisky and gin, the Edinburgh Read more
Halifax
Toronto holds down most of the top spots in the latest list of the top 100 restaurants in Canada, but Vancouver fared quite well, and Calgary made a big splash. Ten of the top 20 restaurants on the latest Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants List are in Ontario, with eight in Toronto. Vancouver had three in the top 20, all of them in the top 10, including number one and number three. Calgary had three in the top 20, coming in at positions 10, 12 and 18. Major Tom in Calgary, which was ranked 12th overall in Canada, was named best Read more
Air Transat is diversifying and expanding its international offering for winter 2022–2023, with more flights to Europe, South America, Florida, and other U.S. destinations. The airline will offer more than 50 destinations, as well as a few more through its code-sharing agreements. “Our customers want and need to travel,” says Michèle Barre, Vice President, Network, Revenue Management and Pricing of Air Transat. “Our response to their expectations is unique, of high quality and rich in options. We are offering an unprecedented range of destinations on four continents for this coming winter as we continue to develop and strengthen our air Read more
Canadian searches for international flights are outweighing those for domestic trips, but flights within Canada remain very popular, a new study says. Kayak.com looked at flight searches for the week of April 10 and compared them three years ago, prior to the pandemic, and then to a month ago. For three year comparisons, they found Dubai led the way, with searches up 105% since April of 2019. Next was Halifax at 97%, followed by Istanbul at 90%. For month-over-month comparisons, searches for flights to Frankfurt were on top, with a gain of 17% from March to April of this year. Read more
Canadian hotels are in the beginning of a “dramatic turnaround,” says Don Cleary, the president of Marriott Hotels Canada. I sat down with Cleary at the Ritz Carlton hotel in downtown Toronto today to talk about everything from the travel rebound to hotel renovations and labour shortages. We’re not back to early 2019 times just yet, but he says there’s definitely progress being made. “We’re beginning to see some encouraging signs,” Cleary said. “We are not out of the woods at all, but the last three to four weeks have been a dramatic turnaround. It’s like a light switch was Read more
