The economy is a bit of a mess, but young Canadians remain eager to travel. A new Scotiabank study says 61% of Canadian Gen Z’ers and a third of Canadian Millennials (32%) plan to travel this spring. Overall, nearly one-in-four Canadians (23%) say they’re planning to vacation this spring, with another 17% considering travel. Among those officially planning a trip, the majority want to venture internationally (53%), while 42% plan to stay within Canada’s borders. What’s more, younger Canadians (aged 18-34) are mostly looking to travel domestically (53%), while Canadians aged 35-54 (58%) and 55+ (70%) are looking at an international destination. Read more
technology
Air Canada has launched a limited digital identification trial, becoming the first airline in Canada to offer customers facial recognition technology to confirm identification. In a pilot project currently underway, Air Canada’s digital identification is now available for customers departing from Vancouver International Airport (YVR) when boarding select flights to Winnipeg, and for eligible customers entering the Air Canada Café at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Air Canada plans to expand digital identification options to select Canadian airports and Maple Leaf Lounges as part of its pilot project phase. “Many of our customers already utilize digital credentials to simplify their daily Read more
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is asking Canada’s top bureaucrat to look into the controversial ArriveCAN app. Trudeau this week said it was “illogical and inefficient” for the public service to give millions of dollars in contracts to a two-person firm that subcontracted out its work on the app, which was used to keep track of Canadians and visitors coming over the border during the COVID-19 pandemic. Published reports say the app could end up costing taxpayers $54 million. Critics have said the app could’ve been developed for a tiny fraction of that amount. The CBC reports that “GCstrategies subcontracted out Read more
Gun violence in Mexico forced the temporary closure of two airports, stranding more Canadians. CP24 says Canadian tourists were trapped inside a Mexican hotel Thursday as buses that were supposed to take them to an airport and safely home burned outside. “It’s just chaos,” said Tina Dahl of Edmonton, whose six family members stranded in the popular tourist city of Mazatlan were supposed to fly out Thursday night. The government of Canada travel advice Twitter feed states that “there is widespread violence in Sinaloa State since the arrest of a (drug) cartel leader. The Culiacán and Mazatlán airports are closed. Read more
WestJet is apologizing for a weekend outage that wreaked havoc with the company and its customers, while Sunwing says its operational issues should be resolved by tomorrow. WestJet officials say their issue is under control but that it could take a few days for things to return to normal. CTV reports more than 200 flights were cancelled on the weekend, causing major headaches for travellers. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Diederik Pen put out the following statement late Sunday. “On Saturday November 5, WestJet experienced a system-wide outage that impacted operations across our network due to a cooling Read more
