News that has caught Chris' eye in the Travel World

Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2017 (October 31, 2016)

Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2017 was released last week highlighting the top ten countries, cities, regions and best value destinations that Lonely Planet’s experts recommend travellers to experience in 2017.

Deciding what to include in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel annual selection is a considered process involving the whole of Lonely Planet’s community: from its writers and editors all the way to its online family of bloggers and tweeters. Each year, they come up with hundreds of places that are not to be missed. These are then whittled down by a panel of in-house travel experts who shortlist in line with criteria such as topicality, excitement and wow-factor.

So without more ado, here are the results of their Top Ten Countries to travel to in 2017.

1 The number one, must-visit country in 2017 is CANADA! 

2 South America’s ultimate comeback kid - Colombia

3 Finland – Scandinavia’s hidden gem

4 The Caribbean’s “Nature Island’ of Dominica

5 Nepal is fifth, on its road to recovery after a horrendous earthquake

6 Bermuda is sixth, an Atlantic island on our doorstep

7 Seventh is Mongolia, a land and people I fell in love with when I visited almost forty years ago.

8 Eight is Oman – little known but with epic sights.

9 Ninth is Myanmar, which continues to open up to the outside world with political change

10 At number ten is Ethiopia, a land of ancient mystery and dramatic mountains…and direct flights from Toronto.

Vacation Deprivation Survey (October 31, 2016)

It’s that time of year again, when all the annual travel surveys hit the press. Expedia.ca’s annual Vacation Deprivation survey analyzes Canadian vacation habits and provides a comprehensive look at whether Canadians take enough vacation time.

Their findings indicate that more than half of Canadians consider themselves vacation deprived, with 62 per cent stating they deserve more vacation days. We want eleven more days to be exact.   

This year Canadians are leaving three full days of unused vacation time on the table, which is double last year’s unused days. This is a total of nearly 31 million unused vacation days among all Canadians – which equates to more than five and a half billion dollars in wages handed back to employers.

Other highlights from the Vacation Deprivation Study include:

On average this year, Canadians received 17.3 vacation days from employers, but take only 14 of them. This compares to 25 to 30 vacation days for most Europeans.

More than a quarter of Canadians go a year or more without taking a vacation at all.

Over a third of us would prefer to go on a relaxing beach vacation if we could only take a single vacation in the year.

Nearly sixty percent of Canadians vacation with their spouse or partner.

Millennials say they rarely take all of their vacation days because they are too busy at work, but when they do travel they prefer unique locations that will produce stunning and shareable photos for social media. And one in five Canadians said they would go so far as to “risk their personal safety” to get that perfect Facebook or Instagram photo.

New rules in Ontario for Travel Advertising (October 27, 2016)
 

The Travel Industry Council of Ontario, known as TICO, is Ontario’s watchdog for the travelling consumer. It is signaling an important and welcome change with respect to all-in-pricing which comes into force at the end of the year.

From then, any price for vacations being promoted in the newspapers, websites, brochures and social media that refer to a price must show the total amount that the customer will be required to pay for the travel services, including all fees, levies, service charges, surcharges, taxes and other charges. In other words, “all-in” pricing will be required. Travel Agents that charge counselling fees or service charges must also include those amounts in the total price.

The goal of this change is to ensure that consumers know exactly what they will be required to pay for travel services and to make it easier for consumers to compare prices. The change will also help to ensure that there is fair competition and a level playing field when travel companies advertise the price of travel services in Ontario. This change has been a very long time coming but at last Ontarian vacationers will know exactly how much a trip is going to cost them – before they pay and while they can still comparison shop.