Canadians want Mexico, Florida! Also Hong Kong and Sunwing USA news ...

Really interesting study from Bank of Montreal this week shows that more than one-half of Canadians are planning a fall vacation, and almost three in ten of those folks intend to leave the country.

The BMO study says 54 per cent of Canadians plan to travel this fall and that 29 per cent of those will do so outside of Canada. It's a growing trend that may be good for the airlines but not so much for Canada's tourism industry. The study found that since January 2012, outbound travel from Canada has jumped 5.2 per cent; reaching almost 16 milliion overnight trips. Travel to the U.S. in June jumped 8.9 per cent, thanks in part, I suspect, to the strong Canadian dollar and the new, much-improved higher duty-free limits at the border.

So, where are we headed? The study found Florida is, to no surprise, our top American destination. Sixteen per cent of respondents in the poll, conducted by Leger Marketing, said they were headed to the Sunshine State this fall. Just behind, at 15 per cent, was New York state, followed by Nevada (Viva Las Vegas!) ar 14, and then Illinois (Chicago, no doubt), California and Massachusetts (mostly Boston, I assume) at five per cent each.

Probably no surprise, although I did read a story online in the Central Valley (California) Business Times that suggested officials were shocked and appalled that Illinois and Massachusetts were tied with their beloved state. They're forgetting, of course, the dominance of Toronto in the Canadian marketplace and the distance we sadly have to go to for a trip to California. I mean, San Francisco and LA and San Diego are great, but air fares these days are $600 ON SALE from Toronto, while we can get to New York, Boston or Chicago for maybe half that. Or we can drive and buy cheaper U.S. gas and bring back oodles of new stuff in the back seat thanks to the duty-free changes.

I later got a breakdown that shows where Ontario folks want to travel. It's not radically different, but there are some interesting findings. The number one destination for the U.S. for Ontario folks was Florida, way up at 24 per cent. That's much higher than for Canadians as a whole (16). Next was New York at 14, then Nevada (10), Illinois (8), Pennsylvania (6), South Carolina and Michigan at 5 and California at 4.

For destinations outside the U.S. and Canada, Ontarians favoured Mexico (12), then Cuba and the Caribbean Islands at 10, unspecified Europe or East Europe (8), France (6), the Dominican Republic (5), England, Italy and Holland at 4 each and China and Australia at 3. Among the destinations getting a 2 per cent notice were Turkey, Germany, Hong Kong, Thailand and Costa Rica. Spain only got 1 per cent, as did Japan, Indonesia and The Bahamas.

As for international destinations, Mexico took the grand prize with a whopping 18 per cent support. Next was France, which obviously has a ton to offer for foodies, wine fans, history and culture afficionados and just about everybody else, at 10 per cent. Next was Cuba at 8 per cent, tied with unspecified European countries. The Caribbean in general was at 7 per cent.

Those numbers surprise me a bit, although it's certainly good for Mexico. I would've thought the attraction of cheap spots in the Dominican Republic, plus other faves such as Barbados, St. Lucia and the Bahamas, would put the Caribbean (I know, I know, the Bahamas technically aren't in the Caribbean) a touch higher. And where's the UK in this study? They just spent all that money on the Olympics and more Canadians want to go to France? Ai-yai-yai.

While we're travelling more, it looks like we're more focussed on value. Asked about their travel plans prior to summer, 35 per cent of Canadians said they'd spend less than $1,000 on their holiday. Asked about plans for this fall, a full 42 per cent said thyey'd be spending less than $1,000.

On a more ominous note, the study found that Canada's international travel account deficit - payments by Canadian travellers abroad vs. receipts from foreign travellers in Canada - reached $16.25 billion at the end of 2011. Which is not so good.

"If the growing trend in outbound travel continues, it will certainly put pressure on Canada's domestic tourism industry," said Robert Kavcic, Economist, BMO Capital Markets.

SUNWING ADDS USA COLLECTION

Speaking of increased travel to the U.S. by Canadians, Sunwing recently announced an expansion of its USA program with the debut of its new "USA Collection" brochure.

Sunwing continues to offer flights, hotels and vacation packages to spots like Florida and Vegas (see above). What's new this year are "USA City Escapes" to places like Boston, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Oahu and Maui in Hawaii.

"With the increasing demand for flights, hotels and vacation packages in the USA, we are certain our new 'USA Collection' brochure will be well received by travellers," said Reg Mendes, vice president, USA and Cruise Division at Sunwing.

All Sunwing flights are on Sunwing AIrlines, with free 20 kg of checcked baggage, hot towel service and a choice of hotel meals with wine or a hot snack, soft drink and free in-flight entertainment. They also have Elite Plus for $40, with extra leg room, advance seat selection, a 30 kg bag allowance and more.

For more information, visit www.sunwing.ca.

HONG KONG GOES WILD IN THE FALL

Tons going on in Hong Kong this fall, with festivals galore. Tourism officials say the season gets underway with the Hong Kong Mid-Autumn Festival – one of the world’s great celebrations marking the ancient Chinese Harvest Festival, due to take place Sept. 27 to Oct. 2. Hong Kong puts a modern twist on the celebrations, with traditional lanterns merging with the city’s trademark neon beneath which fiery dragons dance through the busy streets and a full moon shines down on the revelers.

This year, the Lee Kum Lee Lantern Wonderland, located in Victoria Park, will once again be at the heart of the celebrations. This year’s award-winning lantern bears the name “Golden Moon”. It is a dome-shaped sculpture of light, 21 metres in diameter and 18 metres in height. It will be situated in a vast pool, surrounded by dozens of floating Chinese lanterns, with a pathway link allowing spectactors to walk inside the structure.  The interior will be filled with even more lanterns, suspended to illuminate the scene with constantly varying brightness. “Golden Moon” was designed by two architects: Kristof Crolla from Belgium and Adam Fingrut from Canada.

In Tai Hang (once a small village, now part of the city on Causeway Bay) the Festival is celebrated over three days with a fire dragon dance consisting of hundred of performers, tens of thousands of sticks of incense and a 67-metre dragon that will "wend its way through the crowded city streets in a spectacle of fire and fury."

Food always takes the limelight through the fall, and this year will be extra-special due to the 10^th staging of The Best of the Best Culinary Awards, co-organized by the HKTB and The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Ltd. This event showcases the cooking talent of local Chinese chefs and in the years since its inception has grown into Hong Kong’s largest culinary event. Ten finalists from September’s preliminary competition will be competing for the awards in the final competitions to be held on 4 and 5 October. The winning restaurants and their dishes are a great guide to the best in Chinese cuisine in Hong Kong.

When October arrives, thoughts turn towards Halloween as parties are planned and costumes created. Hong Kong is the perfect place to mark this occasion as this is a region with thousands of years of folklore populated with ghosts, ghouls and demons. Disneyland, Madame Tussauds, Discovery Harbour, the Avenue of Stars and spooky Ocean Park will all be getting into the mood. After that comes Hong Kong’s Wine & Dine Festival, due to take place Nov. 1-4. In fact, this festival will extend throughout the Hong Kong Wine & Dine month of November with street carnivals, the Festival of Restaurants and wine-and-dine promotions. The city’s top restaurants will share their finest offerings, while for those still in a party mood, the Lan Kwai Fong Carnival (Nov. 17-18) will bring together not only  and beer stalls but also arts and crafts, dancers and musicians and other live performers from around the world. And for visitors who miss those dates, a World of Food and Music festival will take place Nov. 24 and 25 in beach-side Stanley.

For more information, visit www.discoverhongkong.com/ca.

 

 

 

 

Britain tourism aims for Olympic boost and an Olympic-sized Vegas buffet

The Games are over. Canada still has only one gold medal from the London Olympics. Michael Phelps is still a great swimmer but incredibly boring to watch in an interview. And Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen are still awaiting a reunion where someone won't pull the plug.

So, what's next for Britain? Why a marketing/advertising campaign to capitalize on the Games in the capital, of course.

Travelmole.com says VisitBritain has launched a new campaign following the release of disappointing tourism figures.

The British Airport Authority said traffic through its five UK airports in August was down 2 per cent from last year, including a fall of 1.9 per cent at Heathrow to 6.5 million passengers. The reduction was more pronounced in the first two weeks of August, when traffic was down 4.6 per cent. In the rest of the month traffic was up 0.3 per cent.

It's quite common for tourism to drop during an Olympics as folks naturally think the host city will be too busy and too expensive. The secret to making the Games work in the long run from a tourism standpoint is to capitalize on the feeling and to give folks places to tour about.

I wasn't in London for the Olympics this summer, but I suspect this could be a little tricky. Games organizers rightly tried to keep costs down, which means they didn't go crazy building monuments and didn't spend gazillions to give London new parks and such, the way Barcelona did.

I think folks will continue to want to visit London, of course. It's a great, great city. And some likely will wander to East London to see the Olympic village and check out emerging neighourhoods. But I have a feeling they won't get an enormous tourism boost from the Games. A moderate increase, perhaps, but I suspect it won't be much more than that. And given the economy in much of the world, a moderate jump would be pretty sensational.

According to today's travelmole report, VisitBritain said the UK's image around the world was "riding high" and the tourism body  is aiming to convert worldwide interest in the the UK into visitor numbers. A new 'Memories are GREAT' TV ad will include footage from the Olympics opening ceremony.

NEW BACCHANAL BUFFET IN VEGAS

This sounds truly awful to me, but here we go. USA Today today (I love writing that) has a good piece on the truly massive Bacchanal buffet at Caesar's, which apparently will serve up 500 dishes a day.

The USA Today story says Bacchanal's executive chef, Scott Green, "has worked on high-end cruise ships as well as in top restaurants." He gave the newspaper a tasting tour on Monday, showing off the "traditional Vegas buffet staples: prime rib (fine, not great Monday), shrimp (firm and tasty), bread pudding (scrumptious)" and more.

"But what sets this spread apart," the newspaper said, "are the sheer number of quality dishes and the half-dozen chefs presiding over their areas, with staffers doing much of the preparation in front of customers and trained to interact with guests." There are guacamole experts and tortillas being made in front of the guests, plus sushi cones and 22 types of gelato. And here you thought Vegas was going to do something to excess again.

FREE BOOZE PROGRAM EXPANDS ON CARNIVAL

Speaking of excess, USA Today also reports on how new Carnival Cruise lines is expanding its "all you can drink" alcohol package to a second ship.

"The Long Beach, Calif.-based Carnival Splendor has joined the Carnival Victory in offering the nearly $50 per day package, which gives buyers access to unlimited wine, beer and spirits as well as sodas and non-alcoholic frozen cocktails."

The package only includes spirits under $10, so you're probably getting Absolut instead of Grey Goose. Full bottles of wine and champagne, as well as wines by the glass, beers and individual cocktails priced above $10, are available at a 25% discount.

Celebrity and Royal Caribbean have similar packages, USA Today reports.

 

 

 

 



Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver gets 5-Diamond status, plus Maui & Legoland news

A bevy of new Toronto hotels are gunning for five-star status. But the latest Canadian property to join the club is in Vancouver.

The Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver announced Wednesday that it has received the coveted Five-Diamond Award designation from the American Automobile Association, which reviews some 59,000 lodgings and restaurants in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

It marks the first such award for a Vancouver hotel, so congrats go out to the west coast.

Last time I checked (good luck trying to find it on the AAA website), there were only two Five-Diamond Award winners in Canada. The Four Seasons Whistler has held that designation for several years, while the relatively new Ritz-Carlton Toronto got the nod last year.

There are only 126 lodgings and 53 restaurants with the Five-Diamond rating, Shangri-La officials pointed out.

I did a story in Star Travel a year or so ago that outlines the rigorous testing that goes into the ratings. I tailed a Canadian Automobile Association representative as he inspected a hotel in Montreal and had quite a good time watching him roll back bedside tables to look for dust and peering inside microwaves to see if cleaners had wiped out the spaghetti sauce stains.

They have remarkably detailed criteria for awarding various categories of hotel ratings, including the number of coat hangers in a closet and the style of them and whether hair dryers are wrapped in a nice bag and stored in the closet or bolted to the bathroom wall so you won’t be tempted to steal it. The latter, apparently, is a definite no-no if you want to join the ranks of the Ritz (see photo), Shangri-La and Four Seasons.

“The Five Diamond recognition is one we accept with humility and pride,” said Vito Romeo, general manager of Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver. “It is tremendous recognition of our hotel facilities and amenities, but more importantly of our staff, who are dedicated and passionate ambassadors for the Shangri-La brand, the city of Vancouver and our hospitality profession.”

The new Shangri-La opened for Toronto Film Festival purposes on Friday of last week and I got a sneak peek at Bosk, the signature restaurant, and at the lobby. It’s quite beautiful and I’d think there’s a pretty decent chance they’ll join the five-diamond ranks in a year or two.

If you're looking for something romantic on the weekend, I looked online and the Shangri-La Vancouver had rooms for Friday night Sept. 7 starting at $375.

RECORD MONTH FOR CANADIAN AIRLINES

Both WestJet and Porter Airlines today announced record numbers for August in terms of load factors. As in their best months EVER. Which says a lot about the state of the industry these days and our willingness to pay through the nose. But that's another story.

WestJet was first off the mark, announcing it had an August load factor of 88.9 per cent; best in its 16-year history. The airline flew nearly 172,000 more guests this August compared to August of last year.

"We are extremely pleased to report the highest single-month load factor in WestJet history and I thank our caring WestJetters for their added energy in this record-breaking month," commented WestJet President and CEO Gregg Saretsky. "The demand environment remains strong and we are seeing a growing contribution from our airline code-shares and interline partnerships."

A few minutes later, Porter weighed in with news that it carried more than 260,000 passengers with a load factor of 74.5 per cent in August; both record numbers. Passenger numbers increased 23.8 per cent from the previous year.

“This is the best month we’ve had in nearly six years of operating,” said Robert Deluce, president and CEO of Porter Airlines. “It’s a reflection of the strong passenger experience, brand and customer service that Porter is known for.”

Air Canada reported late in the day today that they, too, had a record load factor. AC reported a record system load factor of 87.9 per cent, versus 87.8 per cent in August 2011.

"This record load factor result for the month underscores our disciplined capacity management and our industry-leading product that continues to earn our customers' loyalty," said Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Led by increases in traffic in the Australia, Caribbean, Mexico and Central and South America markets of 7.9 per cent overall, and the domestic Canada market of 3 per cent, we generated system wide traffic growth of 0.7 per cent on a capacity increase of 0.6 per cent."

HEAVENLY HANA THAT MUCH CLOSER

Here’s a welcome treat for folks in a hurry. Mokulele Airlines is partnering with the fabulous Travaasa hotel in Hana, Maui to provide twice-daily flights from Kahului to the Hana airport. The price? Just $59.

Travaasa, which I have to say upfront is my favourite hotel in the world for its blending in with the coast (see photo at left), simple luxury and the way it reflects its local environment, is offering free flights to any guests booking an all-inclusive or “Total Travaasa” package for three nights or more.

Personally, I think anyone who flies to Hana is a little nuts. The drive isn’t remotely difficult anymore. Sure, there are a million twists and turns but it’s one of the most beautiful drives you’ll find anywhere; past the cute town of Paia, then along the surging surf and windsurfing crazies at Hookipa Beach, then down to the stunning Keanae peninsula, with its taro fields and banana bread snack shack and jagged lava formations that are furiously slapped day and night by pure blue waves. There are beautiful gardens and rest stops along the way with fabulous views of the coast, plus waterfalls and blooming African tulip trees with bright orange-red flowers and the smell of growth and green and sea air. Not to mention a wonderful black sand beach and the fun shops/food stands at Nihiku marketplace, near George Harrison’s former Hana home.

It takes a few hours driving to get there; more if you slow down to enjoy the ride. But it’s one of the great treats of Hawaii. Mind you, the flight would probably be awfully beautiful on a nice day, too! 

THIS AND THAT

Legoland  Florida is expanding. Less than a year after opening, the theme park has called a press conference for today to announce plans. Associated Press reports that a video file sent to journalists suggests the expanded park will have a Star Wars theme. Legoland is built on the 150-acre site of the former Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven … British Premier David Cameron says the government will hold an inquiry into improving capacity at its over-bulging airports. There’s been a fierce debate in the community about expanding Heathrow, with environmentalists on one side and biz folks on the other (surprise!). Heathrow is operating at full capacity with 1,300 landings and takeoffs every day. Lots of folks want more but Cameron apparently says he won’t let that happen before the 2015 British election.

 

 

 

 

 

Diseases, drunk flight attendants and rude bosses ... maybe we stay home?

Yesterday I was touting travel to lots of great places in the world for "shoulder season."

I take it all back.

Why? Because perusing (or even reading) this morning's headlines makes me think we should all stay home, at least for a while. Folks seem to be getting sick all over the place, flight attendants are showing up dead drunk and the head of RyanAir in Britain is accusing passengers of being idiots for not printing their boarding passes in advance. More on that at the bottom of this posting, including some hilarious quotes from RyanAir chief Michael O'Leary from over the years.

Travelmole.com reports that "British holidaymakers who visited the US over the summer are being contacted by the Health Protection Agency following the outbreak of a deadly virus in Yosemite National Park (in California, see photo) which has killed two people and infected six.

The agency said it was not aware of any cases of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) - which is carried by rodents - in Britons who had been there on holiday. But it sounds a little scary.

In case you missed it, three folks who visited a downtown Chicago Marriott hotel died of Legionnaires' disease, city officials announced the other day.

The Chicago Department of Public Health released test results that showed that the primary source of the outbreak at the Marriott, located at 151 W. Adams St., was likely the spa and a decorative fountain in the main lobby. Samples taken from the fountain, the men's and women's locker rooms, and the spa's whirlpool all tested positive for the same type of Legionella bacteria found in the sick patients.

Marriott said it has removed the fountain and also closed parts of its luxury spa. The hotel said it is working with a water safety consulting company to install cleaner water systems and, according to Dr. Kathleen Ritger, medical director of communicable disease at the Chicago Department of Public Health, the hotel is now safe.

It's a little better in the air, but not much. Travelmole reports an air stewardess who was drunk on a UK-bound flight from Dubai has been fired "after she was found to be eight times over the drink flying limit."

The 24-year-old (no doubt a freshman at a Canadian university?) as arrested when her Emirates plane touched down in Birmingham after fellow cabin crew members raised the alarm over her behaviour.

Yeah, I guess so.

Folks in airline management don't appear to be a whole lot better. Michael O'Leary, the oft-quoted, often silly chief of RyanAir, has been quoted as calling passengers "idiots" if they fail to print their boarding passes in advance.

According to the Mirror in London, his launch-code attack "came after mother-of-two Suzy McLeod complained about being hit with $370 worth of fees when she arrived for a return flight home without printed boarding cards."

Ryanair users are supposed to print their boarding passes up to two weeks in advance. McLeod said she was at a rural villa in Spain without internet access for 15 days and couldn't print the passes. So she was hit with the (in my opinion, inordinately high and ridiculous) fees for printing out boarding passes for her family.

She launched a Facebook complaint that got the attention of thousands of folks. Including, apparently, O'Leary.

O’Leary (see photo) was taking no prisoners Monday, issuing a statement that said “Mother pays £200 for being an idiot and failing to comply with her agreement at the time of booking.”

He went on: “We think Mrs McLeod should pay 60 euros for being so stupid."

“She wasn’t able to print her boarding card because, as you know, there are no internet cafes in Alicante, no hotels where they could print them out for you, and you couldn’t get to a fax machine so some friend at home can print them and fax them to you.

“She then comes home and gets on Twitter, God help us all, and somehow we are going to change our policies. No we’re not.

“She wrote to me last week asking for compensation and a gesture of goodwill.

“To which we have replied, politely but firmly, thank you Mrs McLeod but it was your f***-up and if you screw up, you compensate us and you send us a gesture of goodwill.”

Asked if Mrs McLeod was its only passenger to behave in this way, Mr O’Leary replied: “No, there are 0.02% of passengers who are equally stupid.

"We say quite politely to those passengers, bu**er off.”

Unbelievable, eh?

The Telegraph listed a few of O'Leary's top quotes. Here are a few:

O'Leary on his idea of charging folks to use washrooms on board his planes: "One thing we have looked at is maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in the future. If someone wanted to pay £5 to go to the toilet I would carry them myself. I would wipe their bums for a fiver."

On overweight passengers: "Nobody wants to sit beside a really fat ****** on board. We have been frankly astonished at the number of customers who don't only want to tax fat people but torture them."

On environmentalists: “We want to annoy the ******* whenever we can. The best thing you can do with environmentalists is shoot them. These headbangers want to make air travel the preserve of the rich. They are luddites marching us back to the 18th century. If preserving the environment means stopping poor people flying so the rich can fly, then screw it.”

On turbulence: "If drink sales are falling off we get the pilots to engineer a bit of turbulence. That usually spikes up the drink sales."

On travel agents: "Screw the travel agents. Take the ******* out and shoot them. They are a waste of bloody time. What have they done for passengers over the years?"

On ordering aircraft from Boeing: “The message to Boeing today is: ‘You keep building them, we’ll keep buying them’, and together both of us will kick the crap out of Airbus in Europe. We love Boeing. **** the French.”

On not ordering more aircraft from Boeing: “Boeing had their chance. Eventually you lose interest, dealing with a bunch of idiots who can’t make a decision. They are a bunch of numpties out in Seattle.”

Personally, I'd love it if one of our top Canadian airline officials were half this colourful. Then again, we here in Toronto have Rob Ford so we can't be greedy.

IKEA hotels in Europe ... Toronto #4 in livability ... T.O. Shangri-LA opens soon

Big news days out there in the travel world, folks.

First item du jour is a note from over the pond that IKEA is building, wait for it, a chain of budget hotels. Isn't it enough they've filled the rooms of the world with Billy bookcases? (I must own four or five of the damned things, and I could probably melt down all the Allen keys I have and make a tank for the Canadian military). Isn't it enough they're developing property near the Olympic stadium in London, where they want to build houses - and no doubt fill them with IKEA furniture?

No, it's not enough. And, actually, I say good for them. For a lot of North American folks, it's expensive to get a place to stay in Europe. So the trend towards more budget-oriented motels and small hotels in Europe (similar to what we have here in terms of Comfort Inn's and such) is probably welcome.

The story I saw in the Daily Mail of London said the IKEA folks want to create "budget design" properties (isn't that an oxymoron?) with a "boutique feel" at affordable prices. They apparently aim to announce a hotel soon for Germany and are looking at perhaps 100 hotels in all on the continent. The UK, Holland and Poland were mentioned in the Daily Mail story.

They won't be called IKEA hotels though, which I don't quite understand. It's a hugely recognized brand, why not capitalize on it?

There's a big trend toward this type of thing already in Europe. Motel One has 39 hotels in Germany, the Daily Mail said, and they're looking at Edinburgh. There's also the Chic and Basic brand in Barcelona and Madrid.

Anyway, for now I see no word of any properties in Canada or the U.S. But I suspect it's only a matter of time before we can stop along I-75 in Cincinnati and rest up at a hotel filled with Vittsjo shelving units and Nordli bed frames and Micke desks. I wonder if we'll get Swedish meatballs from room service, or  lingonberries. Or those cheap hot dogs.

And will we have to assemble the beds and dressers ourselves? I can just see it - each guest is given an Allen key and some of those horrible instruction pamphlets and sent upstairs with a big box. Wouldn't that be a great way to get a discount?

MELBOURNE MOST LIVEABLE CITY ON THE PLANET

A study by The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Melbourne as the most liveable city on the planet. Second was Vienna, Austria, followed by Vancouver. Toronto was just a smidge behind those smug westerners, finishing just off the podium in the number four spot. Calgary (HA!) was fifth.

Rounding out the top ten were Adelaide, Sydney, Helsinki, Perth Australia and Auckland, New Zealand. That makes a pretty tremendous showing for the Aussies and Canucks, doncha know.

Oh, Montreal was 16, lest I forget. But that was it for Canadian cities in the ranking, as they apparently only stuck to the big boys.

Notice, ahem, the absence of any U.S. cities from the top ten. Interesting. The top American city in the survey might be a bit of a surprise: Honolulu at #26. I actually quite like Honolulu; there's great weather and beaches but also tremendous culture and fabulous food.

Other notable U.S. cities were Washington D.c. at #34, Chicago at 36, Los Angeles at 43, San Francisco at 52 (behind LA? OMG)  and New York at 56. Jon Copestake the survey editor comments: "The tiny increment between the top ten cities shows just how tight the ranking can be. Canadian cities, like Australia, benefit from good infrastructure and low crime rates. For big US cities a high score for cultural activities can come at the expense of higher congestion and crime rates." 

Elsewhere in the world, the impact of the Arab Spring and fallout from the Eurozone crisis is still being felt. Many cities in the Middle East and North Africa have seen downward revisions to their scores thanks to civil unrest.

Every city is assigned a rating of relative comfort for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure. Each factor in a city is rated as acceptable, tolerable, uncomfortable, undesirable or intolerable. For qualitative indicators, a rating is awarded based on the judgment of in-house analysts and in-city contributors.

Want to know what cities to avoid? Worst on the list was Dhaka, Bangladesh. Just ahead, at 139, was Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. And in the 138th spot was Lagos, Nigeria.

SHANGRI-LA TORONTO TWO WEEKS AWAY

It's a tad confusing, but it sounds like the Shangri-La hotel in downtown Toronto will unofficially open Aug. 31. It won't be fully open by that date, as apparently the TIFF movie folks will be using it for the most part for the first couple weeks.

Still, that's the unofficial date. And it sounds like they'll be in full operation for the general public by Sept. 17.

There will be plenty of Asian touches of course. But the developer is a big music fan so I'm told there's a handcrafted Italian piano in the lobby. The piano also apparently has the words to Joni Mitchell's "Old Man" under the lid.

There will be a branch of the legendary restaurant Momofuku, but it's run separately and not really a Shangri-La property. The main restaurant for the hotel proper is called Bosk, where they will offer up everything from John Dory to New Zealand lamb (the executive chef was born in New Zealand but grew up in Japan) and other items with an Asian flavour. They say the dim sum that will be served in the lobby is to die for, and they'll have afternoon tea and a tea library with 68 varieties.

As with many projects these days, such as the Trump, it's part condo and part hotel. the lower 17 floors are for the hotel, with 202 rooms and suites at Adelaide and University. They'll have a Hammam spa with Parisian influences, plus a 20-meter pool with a chandelier over the top and an outdoor place on the fifth floor that looks up University Ave.

Service will be the key to the hotel getting the five-star rating it craves. An official told me staff under a very extensive training program and that service is based on the theme of "hospitality from the heart."

It's supposed to be "gracious and unobtrusive" service with a substantial "humility" factor.

It's certainly going to be fun to see how they do, what with the TRUMP Tower just down the road, the Ritz-Carlton around the corner (the only Toronto property right now with a five-diamond rating from the Canadian Automobile Association) and the new Four Seasons Yorkville opening up in October.

London Calling ... But is anybody answering? Olympics empty most of the city

Want a hint on how to enjoy a great world city?

Go during the Olympics.

A myriad of sources are using one word to describe the tourism situation in London today, and that's "disastrous."

Hotel prices in London have been slashed. Museums and theatre attendance has plunged by up a third. Traditional London sites popular with visitors, such as Covent Garden, are comparative ghost towns.

The Daily Telegraphi in England quoted Lastminute.com as saying the average room in London booked on a last-minute deal was available for 112 pounds ($175) a night compared with 133 pounds ($208) last year.  Hotels.com says London prices this summer are about 25 per cent lower than average.

West End traders said business had slumped by as much as 70 per cent, with tourists and Londoners steering clear because of fears about overcrowding.

The Earl of Bradford, the owner of Porters restaurant in Covent Garden, told the Telegraph that  business was "disastrous".

Nica Burns, the chief executive of Nimax Theatres, which owns half a dozen London venues, forecast that ticket sales would be down by 30 per cent over the summer.

"For my six theatres, last week was the worst this year. I think the Olympics are great, but I feel like I've been the bull's eye for the archery competition," she said.

The Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, which represents tourist attractions in London, said attendances over the past two weeks had fallen by about a third.

It's not unusual folks. People in Los Angeles in 1984 said they'd never seen traffic so light, for example.

It's entirely London's fault if this is happening. Hotels tried to gouge travelers by raising rates by huge amounts a year or so ago. Naturally, people rebelled and avoided bookings.

Now, the Games are here and a lot of rooms are empty. Which means it's a great time to visit London. You'll probably get a good (well, relatively good) hotel deal and the lineups at the British Museum should be much shorter than normal.

Plus you'll be able to wander down to Trafalgar Square or out to East London and get a feel for the Olympics, especially now that Britain has won its first gold medal, a first-place finish by the women's pairs in rowing that came Wednesday.

It's worth keeping in mind for future Games. Except the future Games aren't exactly in places of London's calibre. Yeah, the 2016 Summer Olympics will be in lovely Rio de Janeiro. But the 2014 Winter Games are in Sochi, Russia (not exactly on most folks' top 10 lists, although I hear it's a lovely spot on the Black Sea; see photo at right) and the 2018 Winter Games are in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Also pretty but not the sort of place most of us dream of visiting late at night when we can't get to sleep.

Still, it's a good lesson for future Olympic cities to keep in mind.

Also worth noting, while we're on the subject, is the long-term impact of hosting the Games. The modern-day Olympics cost billions and billions and billions of dollars. Yet they net almost no immediate tourism impact and often don't do anything for a city's long-term prospects.

Ask the folks in Athens how much they've benefitted from spending like drunken sailors on the 2004 Summer Games. Ask the people in Atlanta about the residual effects of the 1996 Games.

Vancouver has done pretty well since the 2010 Winter Olympics, but last I heard the waiters weren't exactly being run off their feet in Gastown.

No, the Olympics make very little sense from a travel standpoint. Yet we constantly have developers and hotel people and folks who should know better touting the benefits that will accrue to a city that goes into hock up to its eyebrows.

This doesn't mean the Games are entirely a bad idea. They can be quite good for a city. Contrary to the above examples, Barcelona used the 1992 Summer Games to parachute the city WAY up the European travel charts. But they did that by using the Olympics as an excuse to build a great city. They cleaned up the waterfront and added promenades and new beaches. They built fancy parks and bridges and overpasses and gave the jobs to top architects.

They spent like crazy, but they were left with tangible assets that are of use to future tourists. A big, empty stadium doesn't do much for tourism. Just ask Beijing, which has the lovely Birds Nest stadium sitting empty most of the time. Heck, last I heard at least one of the Athens summer facilties had been invaded by grazing sheep or goats, and how embarrassing is that for the International Olympic Committee?

London has done, apparently, a great job in cleaning up the east end of the city. They're not leaving behind too many stadiums. I don't know how many folks long term will flock to London to see the new, eastern portion of the city in its new duds. But at least they get some city building out of it and got to compress decades of work into a forced deadline period.

That's why some Toronto folks wanted to stage the 1996 Games; so the waterfront could finally get fixed up. Some Olympic rah-rah types still think the city should bid for a future Summer Games, maybe 2024. Personally, I don't know if we should bother any more.

The waterfront is virtually developed to within a centimeter of its life. The city is about to get two new, major luxury properties in the Shangri-La (probably opening for the general public next month) and the new Four Seasons Yorkville (in the fall). That's on top of the Ritz Carlton and the Trump already being open.

The city was just given a glowing review in Travel + Leisure magazine and also had a nice spread in the New York Times travel section on Sunday.

We're on the world map, folks. And we don't need to spend billions of dollars on stadiums and certainly not on new housing downtown.

One thing I think the Olympics COULD do for Toronto, however, is spur some desperately needed transit improvements. If the Games were to come, the mayor and the province and the feds and Karen Stintz would have to get together and formulate some speeded-up plans for transit to and from the airport and throughout the city so athletes and media types and Olympic sponsors could get around, not that sponsors actually, you know, go to the events that they get free tickets for.

Maybe it would be good for Toronto. Maybe it wouldn't. But the Olympics probably wouldn't bring us any huge influx of tourists. It certainly hasn't happened in London.

 

 

 

London looks pretty good on TV ... except for all those empty seats. Shame!

Back in the old days, cities awarded the Olympic Games would pretty much have to start from scratch. The smart ones would make a few calls and study things in other cities, but they had to do a lot on their own.

These days, however, the International Olympic Committee has a knowledge sharing service so cities taking on the massive job of staging a multi-billion dollar enterprise can rely on experts who've made all these decisions before and lived to tell the tales of too few bathrooms or too little practice space or what have you.

So why in the name of Queen Elizabeth II do we have so many empty seats at the Olympic arenas? I turned on some events on the weekend and it looked like the 500 level of the Rogers Centre during a Buffalo Bills exhibition game. Awful. We had this problem - big time - in Beijing. And they managed to fill the seats. So what's wrong in London?

Part of the problem is so many tickets are gobbled up by sponsors; about eight per cent.  Sponsors are pretty high falutin' people so they probably turn up their noses at rhythmic gymnastic preliminaries. But there are tons of Londoners who would PAY for those seats.

So why do sponsors get that many? And why aren't these brilliantly run companies who are able to invest millions and millions of dollars in sponsorships able to figure out how to get some bums in the seats? Are volunteers really that hard to find? It's the age of social media, people. Can't Company X put something out on Twitter or something? Or at least line up some folks in advance and say we MIGHT have 400 seats available, put your names on this list and give us your email/instant message address and we''ll get back to you? Is it that hard, people?

Some of these seats, alas, belong to the media. That's a tricky one. Not to be defensive, but I can see where that could be an issue. In all likelihood, the IOC is putting aside too many media seats for the less glamorous events. They know all of us media types are going to want to cover Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps (you remember, him, right?) and Usain Bolt and beach volleyball (and isn't it ridiculous that the women can't wear long sleeves unless the temperature drops to something like 16 degrees Celsius?). That's fine. But surely the IOC and the local organizers by now know that preliminary fencing isn't to bring in hordes of journos.

Too bad, because the city looks pretty good on TV. I think any network that invests as much money as CTV/TSN/etc... or NBC is going to want to make things look good for the folks back home. They could probably make Mimico look like Paris if they sent in their best video guys. Still, London looks fine and dandy and majestic and cool, even with the rain.

Let's hope they can get past the ticket issues and get back to business....

Problems galore for London Olympics? Hey, we've seen this movie before

With four days to go, the headlines were brutal.

“Olympic track in no condition for the big race,” read the headline in the Olympia Oracle, explaining how a freak rainstorm had turned the foot race course for the first-ever Olympics into a quagmire.

Elsewhere, a controversy was brewing over the olive oil to be used in the naked wrestling competition.

“Greek crop weak,” screamed the Oracle, going on to tell its readers that Olympic organizers might, gulp, be forced to import inferior oil from Italy.

Fast forward some 2,800 years. The media frenzy in advance of the Sydney Summer Olympics was slightly larger and just a bit more worldwide than it was for the first-ever Olympic Games. One of the big topics was how the beach volleyball stadium at Bondi Beach (see photo with Richard Branson and some, uh, friends) was going to ruin one of Sydney’s top attractions, which was lunacy.

Four years later in Athens, the alarm bells were ringing in regards to the late construction schedule. In Vancouver for 2010, there were concerns about Mother Nature.

It has ever been thus. For weeks – no, make that years – the focus is all about a city or a country getting ready for the Olympics. The euphoria of the winning city announcement is quickly replaced by a sense of concern about roads that need to be built or subways that need expanding or building the stadiums that everyone assures taxpayers will be put to “absolutely marvelous” uses once the five-ring circus has left town.

For years, the Olympics media has nothing really positive to write about. It’s all preparation and security costs and budget overruns. And it happens in every city for every Olympics, because the media abhors a vacuum (we also abhor high beer prices at Olympic venues but that’s another story). Plus, we just love to write woe is us or, even better, woe is you stories.

You could set your watch by the oh-so-predictable pattern of these things. On Friday, the day of the Opening Ceremonies at the London Games, British tabloids will be filled with more impending doom stories about rain and unprepared security workers and probably even a story that quotes a British betting house on the odds of a plague of locusts landing on the head of Queen Elizabeth during the torch lighting ceremony. By Sunday it will mostly be forgotten because the media will be out watching cyclists racing and kayakers paddling and badminton types shuttlecocking, which is possibly why the media always feels obliged to write about the free condoms they tend to give out at the athletes village.

There will be still be a good deal of self analysis and daily quotes on the weekend from angry cabbies who don’t like the fact that Olympic poo-bahs from all over the world and scruffy sports reporters from Toronto get preferential lanes on impossibly crowded London streets while they suffer through nightmare traffic jams. Not to mention stories about when it will finally feel like summer in London, the answer to which is why worry about something you’ve never had?

As many of us recall from the Vancouver Games, the Brits were horribly hard on Canadian organizers in the early days of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The tragic accident on the sliding track at Whistler and the lack of snow on the mountains in Vancouver and the bus breakdowns were highlighted with what seemed like an extra serving of cold-hearted glee. It probably was, but I always thought Vancouver folks took it too personally.

As Canadians we likely read a bit of “ah, these rubes in the colonies don’t quite know what they’re doing” angle to things. In fact, I suspect the British tabs are just as adept at poking holes in just about every organization that runs just about any high-profile event in the world, whether it's an Olympic Games, a Euro Cup or one of the four dozen G-20 summits that seem to be held every year to absolutely no effect.

Still, one does hope that they’ll be just as vicious and catty when it comes to critiquing the work of London organizer (and British sporting hero) Sebastian Coe as they were in flailing away at Vancouver chief bottle washer John Furlong, who looked positively sick with worry for a few days before B.C. - and Canada - hit the big rebound.

Either way, at least come the weekend we can dispense with most of the items about folks in suits and ties and dig into stories about the real stars of the show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faster, Higher, Soggier? Rain threatens London Olympics, as do Heathrow lines

A double English whammy this morning. One of them I can surely relate to.

I'll get to the rain in a minute but first comes a note from Travelmole that folks have been charging the  lineups at immigration at London's Heathrow airport.

Can you blame them? Last time I went through that hellhole airport's immigration lineup, it was something like an hour. Heck, you could fly from London to Barcelona in that amount of time. Or even get your bags after arriving at Pearson.

So I took great delight, in kind of a whoa, wouldn't you love to see that kind of way, when I read this morning that folks decided to take things into their own hands. According to a report on travelmole, extra police are going to be added at Heathrow "after passengers who had been held in long queues tried to push past immigration officers without having their passports checked."

Immigration officers also claimed they had been subjected to verbal and racist abuse from passengers and slow hand-clapping by those frustrated at the delays.

No, not slow hand-clapping! "Please, officer, make them stop!!!"

Okay, the racist abuse is definitely out of line. And so is verbal abuse.

The Immigration Services Union told the Daily Telegraph its members were seeing public disorder issues in queues at the airport, which have been up to half-a-mile long in recent days.

A half-mile long? No wonder folks get a little testy.

One would hope this would've been addressed by now. I mean, the Olympic Games start in a little more than two weeks.

On the meteorological front, it seems the rain has been hammering England as a whole and London specifically for quite some time. Apparently an entire month's worth of rain fell on parts of the country on one day this month. And forecasts aren't so great for the next 30 days.

Which means London might not come off looking as good on worldwide TV as it had hoped. That would be a shame given all the money they've spent. More importantly, one hopes adverse weather doesn't affect the athletes who've spent so much time and energy and money to get to the Games.

LOS ANGELES TOPS CONGESTION CHART, BUT TORONTO IMPROVING?

TomTom, which makes GPS systems, has a strange study out. Its first quarterly Congestion Index looks at 26 major cities in North America and finds that L.A. - quelle surprise - has the worst congestion.

The report looks at travel time during non-congested periods (2:19 a.m. to 3:47 a.m. Tuesdays in the case of L.A.) and compares them with travel times in peak hours and comes up with a difference that's expressed as a percentage increase in travel time. That''s called the congestion level.

The study gives L.A. a congestion level mark of 33. Next worst in North America is Vancouver at 30, followed by Miami (26), Seattle (25), Tampa (25), San Francisco (25), Washington (24), Houston (23), Toronto (22) and Ottawa (22). Montreal was in12th spot with a 20 mark, while Calgary was 16th (17) and Edmonton 23rd (13).

Interestingly, New York was only 15th, with a congestion level of 17. I guess folks have just given up on driving in the Big Apple.

The report says, and I find this hard to believe, that Toronto's congestion is actually down a little, although it didn't provide figures. It said the average delay per hour in Toronto during peak driving times is 31 minutes, which sounds about right. That means the average driver with a half-hour daily commute is delayed 78 hours per year, they said.

Also, the report said Toronto gets more congestion on non-highways than on highways. Which I can believe, having suffered on Highway 27 last week for 40 minutes going from the 427 to Major McKenzie. Ugh.

The report also said during the work week, the best peak times to travel are Friday morning and Friday evening. I don't know; have they ever seen Highway 400 on a Friday?

They also said the WORST times to travel in Toronto are Tuesday morning and Thursday evening.

Interesting.

 

 

Great Britain takes centre stage/top 10 hotels New York City/best beaches!

Nice bash at the Gardiner Museum last night to celebrate the year of Great Britain.

Well, it's not OFFICIALLY the year of GB, but it may as well be given the goings on with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics/Paralympics.

I kinda think of Brits as being a tad reserved, not unlike Canadians were before the Vancouver Olympics changed us into fire-breathing, chest-beating dragons. But just as the Olympics helped us move a little further out of our shells, so are the Olympics, it seems, pushing Britons.

I mean, have you seen the campaign and the stickers at Union Station and all that, the big signs that say things like MUSIC IS GREAT Britain? I mean, wow, that's not upper class British restraint talking.

Mind you, this is a country that deserves to be front and centre whenever the subject of greatness comes up. Faults? Sure. But a giant (sorry, GREAT) brochure they passed around at last night's soiree paints a pretty solid picture.

Innovation? British ideas and inventions have helped shape the world; everything from the telephone to the World Wide Web (I thought that came from the U.S. but who knows), from the jet engine to the space plane.

Creativity? The brochure talks about how the likes of Damien Hirst, Adele and Hogwarts "exist side by side" with Shakespeare, Elgar and Turner. Not to mention John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Learning? Cambridge University (beautiful campus by the way) has been voted the top university in the world, while Britain has spawned the likes of Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

I didn't know this, but a speaker at the Gardiner event said that both Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason are owned by Canadians or Canadian companies, as is the giant Westfield shopping centre that will be a huge focus at the Olympic Games.

So, yeah, it's a pretty good time to check out GREAT Britain...

TOP NEW YORK HOTELS

Interesting list in USA Today today; a top ten of the best hotels in New York City.

The study was undertaken by a company called ReviewPro, and they list the top hotels in this order:

The Setai Fifth Avenue (see photo), Hotel Casablanca, Crosby Street Hotel, Sherry-Netherland Hotel, Hotel Elysee, The Pearl Hotel, Trump SoHo New York, Distrikt Hotel New York City, Andaz Fifth Avenue and Andaz Wall Street.

I honestly don't know much about the company, but USA Today's Barb DeLollis says they use reviews from 90 online sources as well as a proprietary algorithm, which certainly sounds impressive.

DeLollis said the Distrikt is probably the most affordable of the bunch and that she went online and found there was just one room left for tonight, set at a modest $229.

If anyone has ever stayed at a Setai or the Setai Fifth Avenue in New York, I'd love to know what you think, so drop me a line at jbyers@thestar.ca. DeLollis says the hotel's house car is a Maserati. I think I should check in sometime and ask if I can take it for a spin around Manhattan. That'd be some kinda cool. But I think I'd rather have a convertible.

SAN DIEGO TOPS BEST BEACH LIST

Dr. Beach, the Florida-based scientist who rates beaches, has come up with his best in the USA for 2012. In order:

Coronado Beach (San Diego, see photo), Kahanamoku Beach (Oahu, Hawaii), Main Beach (East Hampton, New York), St. George Island State Park (St. George Island, Florida), Hamoa Beach (Maui, Hawaii), Coast Guard Beach (Eastham, Massachusetts), Waimanolo Bay Beach Park (Oahu, Hawaii), Cape Florida State Park (Key Biscayne, Florida), Beachwalker Park (Kiawah Island, South Carolina) and Cape Hatteras (Outer Banks, North Carolina).

I can certainly attest to Hamoa Beach being a great one one on Maui's south shore. If I recall, it was voted by a certain Mark Twain as one of the most beautiful in the world. 

TOMORROW: FInal thoughts on my recent trip to Nova Scotia, this time focussing on Wolfville....And starting Monday, my first-ever trip to the YUKON....