The travel rebound is surging to levels even experts didn’t expect. Global luxury travel network Virtuoso gathered data and insights from its network of travel advisors, preferred partners and high net worth/ultra-high net worth clientele based on its data warehouse of more than $49.5 billion in transactions and an ongoing series of surveys. The company found that, despite the challenges, travel sales in 2023 are pacing 47 percent higher than 2019. Virtuoso also reports strong interest in summer visits to the United States, Italy, France, Canada, and Greece. The results of the Virtuoso report were shared at luxury travel’s leading Read more
travel agents
A well-known travel agents group is asking the Trudeau government to fix Canada’s airport mess. “As has been reported across nationally, travellers are experiencing significant delays at airport security and customs & immigration check points– and Canadians renewing passports in-person are experiencing day-long wait times, sometimes having to return day after day,” the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies said in a statement today. “These delays are caused by several factors, including labour shortages and increased administrative burdens due to legacy COVID-19 policies, as well as absenteeism.” Lineups have been particularly long at Toronto Pearson the last week or so. “Canada’s Read more
Tourism Ireland is celebrating travel agents across Canada for their continued support and partnership in highlighting the Island of Ireland in honour of Travel Agent Appreciation Day. “Travel agents are undeniably important in our business, and we would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge and express our gratitude to all our partners and travel agents across the country. Their continued engagement and passion for Ireland and urging travelers to press the Green Button and book their trip to Ireland in 2022, is hugely important for us and we could not do it without them,” said Sandra Moffatt, Manager, Tourism Read more
A leading group of travel agents says it’s “imperative” that the Trudeau government extend aid to travel agents devastated by the coronavirus. The Tourism and Hospitality Recovery Program rent and wage subsidies are scheduled to be cut in half on Sunday, March 13 and end entirely May 7, 2022. “The fifth wave of Omicron has devasted Canada’s travel and tourism small businesses, nearly eliminating the winter holiday season,” said Wendy Paradis, President, ACTA. “While recovery is on the horizon, border restrictions remain and travel agencies and independent travel agents cannot recover until the summer season.” “It is imperative that the Read more
The Canadian travel surge is here, and Canadians are booking trips around the world. Canadian agents say they’ve definitely seen a bump in requests since the federal government announced last week that, as of February 28, it would no longer require expensive PCR-style/molecular tests for people coming into Canada. Instead, Canadians and visitors will be able to show negative rapid antigen test results taken within 72 hours of their scheduled departure, or their arrival at a Canadian land border. “For sure removing the PCR Test was the catalyst. It was not only costly; it was time consuming running around trying Read more
