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
Toronto
Two travel groups have come up with different lists of the most romantic cities in Europe for Valentine’s Day. Research by Catamaran Charter Croatia ranked Europe’s capital cities based on their number of romantic restaurants (as described on TripAdvisor) and hotels per million residents. A Canadian travel company, redtag.ca, also listed five top romantic cities in Europe and came up with somewhat different results. Here’s the top 10 from Catamaran Charter Croatia: Lisbon Monaco Paris San Marino Rome Andorra La Vella, Andorra Amsterdam Athens Prague Reykjavik, Iceland I’m not so sure about San Marino or Andorra as I’ve never been. Read more
A major snowstorm in southern British Columbia is having “an uprecedented impact” on flights at Vancouver International Airport, officials said today. “The winter storm and severe snowfall has had an unprecedented impact on flights and operations at YVR, with mass cancellations. Travel continues to be significantly impacted this morning & we anticipate cancellations to continue through the day and the week ahead,” airport officials said on their @flyyvr Twitter feed. FlightAware.com reports 146 cancelled flights as of 1:45 p.m. Pacific Standard Time today, or roughly 33% of all daily flights. “We recognize the affect these cancellations have on our community. Read more
Canadians have another day or so to enter a contest for a free trip to Taiwan. To celebrate Taiwan lifting all COVID entry and quarantine requirements in mid-October, Taiwan Tourism Bureau erected a life-sized replica of a traditional Taiwanese house in Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. By stepping inside the Taiwanese house, consumers had the opportunity to experience Taiwan’s diverse and rich offerings through a fully-immersive audiovisual experience! Prior to entering, consumers were directed to ItsTimeForTaiwan.com, where they filled out a quick quiz to determine what their ideal Taiwanese vacation is, out of three options: ACTIVE vacation, CULTURAL vacation and LOCAL Read more
At the World Travel Market in London this week ForwardKeys has announced the performance of the top global destinations of 2022 by publishing an annual Most Visited Destinations report that is available in hard copy at the event and to download at the bottom of this page. The top country list is headed by the Dominican Republic, and the top city list by Antalya in Turkey. Between 1st January and 18th October (the latest available air ticketing data), the Dominican Republic welcomed 5% more visitors than it did in 2019. It is followed by Turkey and Costa Rica and Mexico, Read more