Europe and the world are poised for a travel rebound, plus tourism optimism in the Canadian Maritimes and news about rules for visiting Hawai’i and Belize. Today’s Jim Byers Travel news update. EUROPE POISED FOR TRAVEL REBOUND THIS YEAR The European Travel Commission (ETC) predicts tourist arrivals to be just 20% below pre-pandemic levels in 2022, according to Hotel News Resource. The International Air Transport Association says that, worldwide, there was an 11-percentage point improvement between the January and February periods for air travel, which it said was the fastest such increase for any two-week period since the pandemic began. Read more
Moncton
Porter Airlines is boosting its presence in the Maritimes in a big way with three new non-stop routes connecting downtown Toronto’s Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to Halifax, Fredericton and Moncton. Non-stop Halifax service begins April 7, featuring up to three daily roundtrips in summer, while Fredericton and Moncton both start May 5, with one daily year-round non-stop flight each. This new service is in addition to existing flights for each market that stop in Montreal or Ottawa, and don’t require passengers to change aircraft. “These three established Porter markets in Atlantic Canada will see significant service improvements with new Read more
WestJet Encore began two years ago as a regional division of WestJet with two aircraft serving five cities. With today’s announcement that they’re adding a whack of new flights in the Maritimes and Newfoundland (as well as new options in Toronto, Calgary and Ottawa), WestJet’s Encore division is up to 16 planes serving more than 20 destinations, officials said. WestJet executives took to the tarmac at Stansfield International in Halifax today to unveil several new flights, including Halifax-Glasgow (May 29 on regular WestJet, not Encore), Halifax-Gander (July 15 on Encore), Halifax-Deer Lake/Corner Brook (July 15, Encore) and Halifax-Sydney (July 15, Read more
We all know that it’s generally cheaper to fly to our favourite destinations from nearby American airports. A new study shows us just how much cheaper. The folks at cheapflights.ca looked at flights in August of this year to some of our favourite places, such as Los Angeles, Montreal, Miami, London and Bangkok, and compared prices from Canadian airports versus ones near the Canada-U.S. border. It’s a big area to cover but it’s fascinating – and surprising – stuff. Topping the affordability index was Bellingham, Washington, with an average ticket price of $316. Next was Kelowna (surprised a Canadian airport Read more
