The World Economic Forum has come out with its biannual list of the world’s best countries for tourism and travel. And the news isn’t great for Canada. The highly respected group looks at factors and policies that enable sustainable and resilient development in the travel and tourism space, under broad pillars like air transport structure, price competitiveness and safety and security and then comes up with a Travel and Tourism Development Index. Japan, which is seemingly near the top of everyone’s travel list these days, came out on top, rising from number three last year. The U.S. was second (the Read more
Japan
I had the good fortune of spending some time on a call this week with Shin Kawai from Japan Communications. Kawai represents the Japanese island of Kyushu, and also works with Tokyo. Our chat was focused on Kyushu, which is in the far southwest of Japan, just southeast (maybe 135 miles or 215 km’s) of South Korea and has a subtropical climate. The island is home to Nagasaki and several other major cities, including Fukuoka, which is home to Kushida-jinja, a beautiful 8th-century Shinto shrine. I was also quite interested to hear about Yanagawa, which has a series of canals Read more
It’s that time of year again. No, not autumn leaves tumbling to the ground or skeletons hanging from the neighbours tree, but travel list time! Lonely Planet got things started this week with their look at 50 top places in th world to visit in 2027. It’s a nice list that includes some of my fave spots. Here’s a look at a few of their options, followed by the full top 50. FRENCH POLYNESIA – One of my fave places in the world, with dreamy, tropical landscapes, amazing food and welcoming locals with great stories to tell. The main island Read more
More than nine in 10 visitors to the FIFA World Cup 2026 Toronto said they are likely to return to Ontario for a leisure trip within the next two years, according to a visitor intercept study released today (Sept. 2) by Destination Ontario. Conducted in partnership with Destination Toronto and Context Research Group Inc., the study surveyed visitors during the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Toronto and found high visitor satisfaction, positive perceptions of Ontario and strong intent to return. It remains to be seen if those opinions translate into actual visits, but it’s quite encouraging to see numbers like Read more
MSN Travel has come up with a list of the world’s safest cities. Each city was looked at for a variety of factors and given a numerical ranking. The United Arab Emirates cleaned up, notching the top three spots and five of the top six. The Netherlands had four cities in the top 20, while Switzerland, Norway and Croatia each had two in the top 30. The only North American cities in the top 30 were Merida, Mexico and Quebec City, Canada. No U.S. cities made the cut. Here’s the full top 30. Abu Dhabi, UAE, 88.9 Ras-al-Khaimah, UAE, 86.6 Read more
