BOB MOWAT
In the second part of CTP’s three-part series on the Merit Travel Group, the conversation turns to the company’s growth and acquisition strategy, shared values and product.
With all of the pieces seemingly falling into place following its deal with Japanese-based H.I.S. Co., the obvious question for Merit Travel is a pretty simple one: What’s the next step?
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BOB MOWAT
In the last of CTP’s three-part series on Merit Travel, Michael and Jason Merrithew (pictured above) talk about the future of travel consultants and their part in the ‘Next Big Thing.’
If you ask Jason Merrithew what travel consultants need to do to be successful going forward, he’ll tell you the following:
“The travel consultants of tomorrow need to understand that...
BOB MOWAT
In late March of this year, San Francisco start-up, FlyEx rolled out a personalized, on-demand, peer-to-peer travel booking and messaging platform (called Travel Chat) at SXSW (South By Southwest) in Austin, Texas.
It allows any traveller with a smartphone (once they download the free App) to connect to a global network of FlyEx Aviators who will help those travellers book flights...
BOB MOWAT
One of the things that Jane Clementino (pictured above far left, with (left to right): Kim Barbisan, Melissa Wallace, Matthew Djorsev, Christian Roussin, Joshua Knox, Shannon Cunningham,
Emily Spadafora, Denise Saunders ) is telling travel agents these days is that as WestJet follows its Vision 2022 plan to become a global airline in the next five years, its “culture of caring”...
BOB MOWAT
Pictured above: from l to r, are Jacinthe Pare from Virginia Beach; Amanda Livingston from Abingdon, Virginia; Sana Keller, Canadian representative for Virginia; Virginia Tourism Corporation’s Jane Lammay; Alexandria, Virginia’s Jennifer De Luca; Loudoun, Virginia’s Jennifer Ritter; and Charlottesville, Virginia’s Brigitte Belanger-Warner.
Virginia has always been for...
BOB MOWAT
If you’re wondering why the people at Tourism Ireland are all smiles these days, stop wondering, the answer is simple: Ireland’s tourism industry has just turned in its fourth consecutive record year in terms of both visitors and revenues.
“We welcomed 10.5 million visitors in 2016,” Siobhan McManamy, director of markets for Tourism Ireland, told Canadian Travel Press during...
BOB MOWAT
Pictured above: Michael Lim, HKTB director, Canada, Central & South America (l) with HKTB’s
executive director, Anthony Lau.
If there’s a secret to success, it’s probably to be found in the way that Hong Kong is continually coming to market with something new.
Consider, for example, the fact that for many years now, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) – along with...
BOB MOWAT
Pictured above: Huntington Beach. Photo: Visit-California
In unsettled times, whether it’s in business or on a personal level, sometimes the best way to calm things down is to reach out to your colleagues and friends for some reassurance.
And that’s exactly what a late spring visit to Toronto by a staggeringly large and impressively high-powered group of senior California...
BOB MOWAT
Pictured above: TAP Portugal arrives in YYZ. Photo: Laird-Kay
David Neeleman agrees that his involvement with TAP Portugal is something a little different for him. Neeleman has a track record of founding or being part of group’s launching low-cost carriers like WestJet, JetBlue (which he founded), Morris Air (which was sold to Southwest) and today, is the CEO of Brazil’s Azul...
BOB MOWAT
Ken Lawson (pictured above) isn’t shy about telling you that Canada is Florida’s No. 1 international market and that the Sunshine State is about to double-down on its activities here.
Lawson, who took over as president & CEO of Visit Florida in January of this year, was in Toronto this month to meet with key suppliers and let them know exactly how committed Florida is to the...
