Canadians have a great, new way to learn about the Caribbean, one of the world’s top travel destinations. One Caribbean Canada is delighted to announce the launch of a new Caribbean tourism group in Canada, complete with a website promoting the Caribbean region. The launch of this website represents the collaboration of multiple Caribbean tourism offices wishing to promote their countries to the Canadian market and to be a Caribbean travel resource for consumers, travel advisors, journalists and meeting planners. “For consumers, this new website offers a place to start their research with information and links to multiple destinations in Read more
U.S. travel
If you’ve noticed air fares are more reasonable these days, you’re definitely onto something. The latest StatsCan report states that consumers paid less for air transportation (21.1%) in September on a year-over-year basis. That coincides with a gradual increase in flights offered by airlines over the previous 12 months, the agency said. Robert Kokonis, president and managing director at AirTrav Inc., told me that the StatsCan figures estimate the average change of airfares within Canada and between Canadian cities and international destinations. “I am not surprised given the growth of seat capacity recovery over the past 12 months, particularly in Read more
It’s not just Canada that’s taking it on the chin when it comes to tourism. According to WCJT, a group that operates a PBS television station and National Public Radio station in Jacksonville, the Sunshine State is looking at a rather cloudy tourism picture for the second quarter of this year. “Florida’s vital tourism industry suffered an estimated 60.5% drop in visitors as the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard during the year’s second quarter, with international travel off more than 90%,” they said. During the second quarter, an estimated 12.801 million people — almost all traveling from other states — came Read more
To somewhat borrow a phrase from the band Simple Minds, “Don’t You Forget About Us.” It has often seemed to me that Americans forget about the impact Canadians have on their economy when it comes to tourism and travel. We’re easily their biggest market, but the Americans often get all jazzed and doe-eyed thinking about markets like China and Russia and Brazil and forget about those of us up here in Canada. I understand how that can be. I mean, I’m often critical of Canadian tourism for falling in love with the same countries and getting all exotic and in Read more
WANDERING THE NAPA VALLEY IN CALIFORNIA – I often tell folks in Canada that I vastly prefer Sonoma Valley to Napa Valley when it comes to wine tasting and generally tooling around. But I think I have to them back on pretty even ground. I spent a lovely day in Sonoma a week or so ago. We then drove over to Napa for a night at the Napa Valley Marriott Hotel and Spa, which doesn’t look like a chain hotel. There are lovely flowers and a really nice-looking, free-form pool in a courtyard surrounded by large trees. They had an Read more
