Growing, growing, growing

Karisma set to double its portfolio with global expansion

ANN RUPPENSTEIN Karisma Hotels & Resorts’ Daniel Scheiman took the recent marketing forum at the 10th annual Gourmet Inclusive Vacation Consultants conference as a platform to let travel agents – the company’s No. 1 partner – know there’s plenty of developments in the works. “We truly understand you are the force behind the wheel. You run the factory,” said the senior...

 

Jordan is an Epicurean’s dream

IAN STALKER (Photo above: The Red Sea resort town of Aqaba is one of many Jordanian locales famed for its great dining opportunities.) Expect to dine well in Jordan. Food is very much part of Jordanian culture, with serving it often seen as a demonstration of hospitality in a country where hospitality is seen as all-important. When dining, visitors may first find themselves having varied...

 

Cloud forest lodge’s staff knows its feathered friends

IAN STALKER (Photo above: Mashpi Lodge’s Klever Merino (l) and Nestor Paladines stand before an area waterfall.) Anyone skeptical that the staff at Ecuador’s Mashpi Lodge don’t know their stuff need only look at tour guide Nestor Paladines. Paladines, a guide at the National Geographic-affiliated property, can identify some 1,068 bird species in his country by their English and...

 

‘We’re still here’

Florida Keys work to win back tourists

IAN STALKER (Photo above: Ashley Serrate (r), joined Jerry Grymek of LMA – which represents the Florida Keys in Canada – in providing an update on the tourism infrastructure in the Florida Keys. The two stand beside an image of a museum devoted to novelist Ernest Hemingway, who lived in the Florida Keys.) A publicist for The Florida Keys & Key West says the tourism infrastructure in...

 

New kid on the block

Interjet keen on new Canadian routes

IAN STALKER (Photo above: Among those on hand for a recent Interjet reception in Toronto were Interjet’s Sheilla Moonens and Francisco Javier Porragas Torres, Rudolph Nareen of Astor Travels and Toronto-based Mexican consul general Porfirio Thierry Munoz.) Mexican carrier Interjet is upbeat about its prospects in the Canadian market, despite being the new kid on the aviation block in this...

 

Absolutely awesome!

BSAP helps winners stand out from the crowd

This month, Baxter Travel Media launches its fourth season of the successful Baxter Student Ambassador Program. It’s the only travel and tourism student mentoring program of its kind in Canada, offering learning and networking opportunities for aspiring travel industry professionals. Every year, one winner from each participating school is chosen based on a combination of academic success,...

 

Waikiki

Waves of change

TED DAVIS (Photo above: The Kahala Hotel & Resort) It’s a far different Waikiki that surfing pioneer Duke Kahanamoku oversees now, and hopefully, he would be pleased. The famous spokesman of the surf, whose statue borders the beach, would see that the last remains of a rustic Waikiki are long gone. But he might also observe that the more gimmicky, down-market aspects of Hawaii’s top...

 

Enjoy the ride

Sandals kicks into Overdrive

ANN RUPPENSTEIN (Photo above: Pictured on stage (l-r) at the Sandals Overdrive event receiving the 2017 Agents’ Choice Awards for favourite All-inclusive and Responsible Travel Company from Baxter Travel Media’s David McClung are Gordon “Butch” Stewart, Maureen Barnes-Smith and Adam Stewart.) From approved plans to build simultaneous Sandals and Beaches branded resorts in Trinidad and...

 

Discovering Ireland

It’s wild, it’s ancient and so much more

ANN RUPPENSTEIN Between increased air access, the ease of getting around and visitor arrivals from Canada growing to 203,000 last year, there are many reasons for agents to sell Ireland, but Debbie Moran, trade engagement advisor for Failte Ireland can add to the list. As a means of attracting more travellers, she says the tourism development authority frequently reinvigorates Ireland’s...

 

The Right Recipe

Transat has a taste for growth in Europe

BOB MOWAT (Photo above: Ready to cook up something new for the 2018 Europe season, from (l-r|) are Transat Tours Canada Inc.’s Denise Heffron, vice-president, national sales and commercial; Dan Prior, sales manager, Ontario and Atlantic Canada; and Nicole Bursey, commercial director, who are seen at Cirillo’s Culinary Academy where the operator held its VIP Europe launch last week.) It...