Great to see that a number of top Alberta attractions will re-open for visitors soon, including the Banff Gondola. It’s also encouraging to see that both Tourism New Zealand and the Accor Hotels Group are resuming their marketing and advertising campaigns. I’ve also got great news about a hotel re-opening in New York City and a great program to give hotel nights to frontline heroes. All in today’s Future of Travel blog. TOURISM NEW ZEALAND LAUNCHES NEW CAMPAIGN I got this note today from the folks at the New Zealand tourism office. “100% Pure New Zealand is reconnecting with friends Read more
sports
DUNEDIN, FLORIDA – Workers with neon yellow and Florida orange vests scurry past the dark blue seats before stopping to consult blueprints. Hammers clang off hard metal under the sun of a warm February day, and the beeps from the trucks and construction vehicles is a constant din. If you walked past the Blue Jays spring training stadium in this Instagram-worthy seaside town west of Tampa, you’d be forgiven if you thought the facility was some time away from completion. Outside the stadium, which has been given a $102 million US renovation/expansion and re-christened as TD Ballpark, a visitor early Read more
Things are looking up in Winnipeg, with NHL hockey back in town and new hotels springing up around downtown. With the Canadian dollar still down, this year is a great time to visit the city and explore Manitoba while you’re at it. I also read just today (April 7) that Porter Airlines is planning flights from southern Ontario to Winnipeg to test demand; a very positive step for the city. THIS STORY ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN Postmedia and Sun Media newspapers and websites on March 30… MUSEUMS The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is the only national museum of Canada that’s Read more
Tokyo’s 2020 Olympic win could be good news for Toronto after all. My first thought, having watched and covered the Olympics and Olympic bidding since back in 1988, was that supporters of a Toronto 2024 bid would’ve preferred to get Europe out of the way and were pulling for Madrid or Istanbul, which is in Europe but on the cusp of Asia. But the more I think about it, and that’s a dangerous game when you talk about the International Olympic Committee, the more I think this could play out nicely for North America. The 2022 Winter Olympics appear destined Read more
This is from a golf trip I took with some friends to the golfing mecca of America a couple years ago… PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA — My buddies and I had been back home for a week or so when I got an email from one of them talking about our early September trip to famed Pebble Beach. “Thanks for the trip to paradise,” he said. I couldn’t say it any better myself. I’m not one for getting nervous talking to athletes or celebrities or politicians, but I had a serious case of the knee-knocks on the first few holes at Read more
