WestJet #19 safest airline in world, Air Canada 25th ... Jaunt.ca deal of the day

The folks at JACDEC, the Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre, based in Germany, have issued their 2012 safety report for the world's airlines.

As reported in this space the other day, the centre said flying was safer around the world last year than in some time, with 23 accidents and 475 fatalities in 2012. The 10-year average was 34 accidents and 773 fatalities a year.

More interesting for us in Canada, perhaps, are the safety numbers for our two biggest airlines. JACDEC's 2012 report put WestJet 19th in the world out of 60 airlines rated, which means they can boast of making the top third. (Which is a lot better than screaming, 'We're number 19,' I think.)

Air Canada came 25th, which allows them to say they were in the top half but, again, probably not something we'll see marketing campaign built around.

Still, there's some solace in the numbers for Canadian flyers. We could be doing a LOT worse.

Porter Airlines wasn't included in the JACDEC survey, just FYI.

As for the top five, they were, in order: Finnair, Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific, Emirates and Etihad. Worst five? Glad you asked: Korean Air, GOL (Brazil), Air India, TAM (Brazil) and China Airlines (Taiwan).

Not so great for Brazil. Maybe I should rent a car if I go someday ...

The only North American airline that finished ahead of WestJet was JetBlue, which was the continent's top-rated group at #14. Southwest was 21, between WestJet and Air Canada. Other North American notables: Delta 28; United 31, American 42 and US Air a not too pretty 44.

ENGLAND GETS SMALL BOOST FROM OLYMPICS

I covered the Olympics for the Star off and on for more than 20 years, and I've made this point many times. So forgive me while I make it again.

Time after time after time after time, tourism and business types backing Olympic bids from cities around the world stand up in front of banks of tv cameras and microphones and talk in dreamy tones about how staging the Games will bring in hordes of tourists.

It almost never happens. People get scared to death of the Olympics. They fear security hassles and nightmare traffic and, for the most part, the numbers never come close to what folks boast about in those fancy press conferences. Oh, they do fine. But they seldom if ever do as well as the boosters insist.

What you CAN do by staging the Olympics, if you do it right, is boost your long-term standing in the travel world. Barcelona was a relative backwater until they spent gazillions on public works and beaches and fancy art work and now it's a HUGE player in Europe. Sydney, on the other hand, didn't seem to do as well. Ditto for Vancouver and certainly for Atlanta.

A report on travelmole.com today says Britain suffered a three per cent drop in tourists during the third quarter of last year when London hosted the 2012 Olympic Games.

Despite expectations of a bookings bonanza for the capital during the Olympics, London received 200,000 fewer overnight visits from overseas residents over summer 2012 than a year earlier.  Visits to the rest of England and Scotland also fell, but not those to Wales. 

However, there were benefits overall, so perhaps the boosters had it somewhat correct. It turns out that while overall numbers were down, spending by overseas visitors rose eight per cent. You could make the argument that total spending is more important than actual bums on the planes, so good for them.

VisitBritain said November was the best for five years, with visitor numbers up nine per cent year on year, keeping the country on track for 31 million visits by the end of 2012. It said spending for the 11 months of the year reached a record 17.2 billion pounds.

However, spending associated with overnight visits to London increased by 13% from £2.8 billion to £3.1 billion. Spending on Olympics and Paralympics tickets will have accounted for a part of this increase, said the Office for National Statistics.

No doubt the Queen's Jubilee and the royal wedding helped, too.

The point here is that the Olympics aren't a short-term panacea for tourism. But if you do things right, you can expect reasonable long-term improvements. Not to mention a great party and a morale boost for your city or country. Whether that's worth the enormous, multi-billion dollar costs of these things is, of course, up for debate. I think Canadians don't mind at all that we spent a fortune on security for Vancouver. It was a coming out party and a huge source of pride for us to win so many medals and I doubt many of us regret the money spent. Ditto for London, I suspect.

THIS AND THAT

Good item in today's Star Business section by reporter Vanessa Lu, charting recent problems with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The new planes should be coming to Air Canada in the next year or two, and they're supposed to allow AC to use its older planes on the new, discount Rouge carrier they just launched. It's possible that delays, if there are any, in delivering the Dreamliner would impact on Rouge. But it's pretty early to speculate. Besides, Boeing says everything's great with their new product. So it must be true. Right? Right? ... Aeroplan is again offering an exclusive invitation for CIBC Aeroplan Cardholders. They've 100 per cent of the seats for cardholders on two Air Canada flights from Toronto to Orlando for March break. Book now to take advantage ... StatsCan says tourism spending rose 1 per cent in the third quarter of 2012, up from 0.1 per cent in the previous quarter. The agency says higher tourism spending by Canadians at home more than made up for a decline in spending by international visitors. The Canadian Tourism Commission says its efforts to market last year's 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede lured thousands of visitors to Canada. It says more than 8,900 travellers booked trips to Canada in the six months leading to the centennial celebrations and that spending by those visitors injected more than $9.2 million into the Canadian economy. The Stampede received a record 1.4 million visitors, up 20 per cent from 2011.

JAUNT.CA DEAL OF THE DAY

Jaunt.ca, a division of Torstar, has a deal for a coach tour of fabulous and historic Turkey with Transat.

Priced at $2,049 plus $458 in taxes (for a total of $2,07), the tour includes many of the highlights of this fascinating and popular country. Here are the highlights:

Jaunt Highlights

• BONUS: $150 Future Travel Voucher per person
• BONUS: Extend your flight for up to 30 days at no additional cost (accommodations extra) and return from anywhere Transat flies in Europe
• 16-Day, 14-Night Tour of Turkey including visits to the Grand Bazaar, Ephesus, a walking tour of Antalya, sightseeing tour of Ankara along Salt Lake, and more!
• Includes return airfare from Toronto to Istanbul on board Air Transat, and airport/hotel transfers in Turkey
• 14 nights' accommodation in 4-Star hotels and a Special class Hotel with private facilities (double occupancy) 
• Includes transportation via an air conditioned coach, services of an English-speaking licensed tour guide, and all sightseeing and entrance fees as per itinerary
• Meals include 14 buffet breakfasts, 13 lunches and 12 dinners, including a farewell dinner with wine

• Hotels are in 4-star or special class hotels with private facilities
• The wide variety of sights include historic ruins, markets, natural wonders, battlegrounds and more
• Discover both the European and Asian sides of Istanbul

Offer Details

• Valid for travel on the following departure date: June 2, 2013
• Pricing (per person, plus tax):
  
  Single: $2559
  Double: $2049
  Triple: $2029
  Tax: $457.60
• Valid passport and visa (not included) required for travel from Canada
• Other Turkey packages available with Transat Holidays. Call 1-855-GO-JAUNT to book!
• This offer is refundable until 5PM EST on January 16, 2013. After that time, this offer is 100% non-refundable

 

Need a tourism boost? Invite Will/Kate or Harry ... Sing along at Abbey Road

From Alberta to Albania, tourism boards and governments around the world spend millions of dollars researching ways to boost the number of tourist visits.

They're all so stupid, really. I mean, the answer is right there in the morning drive-time TV shows and on the cover of the French tabloids. It's the three little magic words of modern tourism; Will, Kate and Harry.

When Prince Harry recently revealed his uh, great personality, in Las Vegas, bookings went through the roof. It was the best thing that had happened to Sin City since the Rat Pack breezed into town and settled in for a few billion martinis and steaks.

Now, we're apparently seeing something similar at play with Malaysia and Singapore. Travelmole.com reports bookings for both places "have jumped by more than a third due to publicity surrounding the recent visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge."

Prince William and Kate Middleton spent two recent nights in Singapore's Raffles hotel, a sumptuous spot that's the birthplace of the renowned Singapore Sling drink. They also visited the country's Botanical Gardens, the Kranji Memorial Cemetry and the Gardens by the Bay before travelling on to Malaysia.

There, they took in the sights of the capital Kuala Lumpur and then made their way to the jungles of Sabah. Travelmole says they stayed at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge, an exclusive retreat.

Lastminute.com said sales of flights and hotels in Singapore had gone up by 51% while bookings to Malaysia were up 34% compared with the same period last year.

So there you go. It's simple. Make friends with Joe, or whoever it is that does the schedule making for the royal family and get them to add you to the itinerary. Then stand back and watch the dollars roll in.

You won't need a fancy campaign with little hearts above the name of your city. You won't even need a Facebook page or a video contest where folks send in moving images of why they want to drop EVERYTHING IN THEIR ENTIRE LIVES to spend a week in Sarnia. You just need Will or Kate (preferably Kate) or Harry (along with a case or two of Budweiser if you want to get him going).

Of course, it helps if you can convince one of them to shed some clothing. This, to my knowledge, did not happen in public when Will and Kate were in Canada's far north last year. Consequently, there have been no plans announced as yet for a Trump Tower and golf course and spa with diamond-encrusted lockers in downtown Yellowknife.

Another point to make here: try for the younger royals. For some reason, having Prince Philip drop by doesn't seem to generate the same frisson of excitement as the tween idols. Ditto for Prince Edward and Princess Sophie, who've been on a tour of Canada of late and have stopped just short of dominating the nightly news cycle.

Food for thought.

ABBEY ROAD/SAVOY DEAL IN LONDON - WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!

It's not every day I get blown away by a promotion. I get, literally, dozens and dozens of emails a day to promote this hotel deal in St. Bart's or this restaurant opening in St. Tropez. Often there are invitations sent along, as if I can just drop what I'm doing and take the next flight to France and go to this cool restaurant and that, of course, I'd mention it on the front page of that week's Travel section.

Anyway, I get them all the time and it's easy to get jaded by it. But the other day came one that had me in near tears, owing to the fact that there's simply no way I can spend the Star's money on something like this.

Here's the deal: Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Abbey Road studios and The Savoy, a Fairmont managed hotel, "are joining forces to offer guests the opportunity of a lifetime with a new Record a Song Experience."

The press release says the offer "invites guests behind the velvet ropes (bestill my beating heart) for a behind-the-scenes look at one of the world's most iconic recording studios, which is not accessible to the public, where legends like The Beatles and Pink Floyd have recorded."

Once inside, "guests will get the ultimate rock star treatment when they record a group song from the Abbey Road catalogue."

OH MY LORD. Or should I say MY SWEET LORD (technically a George Harrison solo effort but you get the point).

As a memento, guests will hear their record in a playback session at the studio (do I really have to hear myself sing?) and receive a copy of their recording, professionally mixed and mastered (and hopefully overdubbed with Ringo's voice) by Abbey Road Studios engineers, which they can take home and hopefully never play at a party.

Guests also get a two-night stay at the Savoy with a welcome reception, a cocktail master class and a Sunday jazz lunch. Jazz? The experience is available Oct. 12-14 and Nov. 16-18 with 10 packages per weekend. Rates start at 780 British pounds per person, based on double occupancy, but that's still a bargain in my book.

PORTER HEADS BACK TO VERMONT

Porter Airlines says it's preparing for another year of service between Toronto's island airport and Burlington, Vermont. There will be four weekly roundtrip options this year, compared to just two last year.

The flights are great for folks heading to the ski hills of Vermont, and the Porter flights run from Dec. 15 to April 8. There are special Porter ski packages and shuttle bus service for Jay Peak, Smugglers' Notch Resort, Stowe Mountain Resort and Sugarbush Resort at www.skivermont.com/flyporter.

 

Great Places in Canada: vote now ... Caribou antler snow goggles for Will & Kate

There's only a month to go in the "Great Places in Canada" contest, and communities across the land are vying for attention.

Among the categories up for grabs are favourite street, favourite neighbourhood and top public space. And there's competition from all over Canada.

Folks down in Niagara-on-the-Lake, usually a tad reserved you know, are pushing for Queen Street to be named Canada's top street. I think it's ridiculous to suggest a highway should be known as a great street, but Alberta folks are suggesting Icefields Parkway should get some votes. Come on guys. Even in Alberta you understand what an urban street is, right?

Other streets making a mark in the voting, I'm told, are High Street in Grand Falls-Windsor Newfoundland, Yonge St. here in Toronto (too easy), Main Street in Summerland, B.C. and the Niagara River Parkway, which falls under the same, if less spectactular, category as the Icefields Parkway in that it's not really an urban street.

I'm surprised not to see Main Street Vancouver or Fourth Ave. in the Kitsilano area of Vancouver in the running. But perhaps folks out there are too busy weeding their tulip patches, or gunning to stop the Kitimat pipeline, which sounds increasingly like a worthy environmental cause the more I read about it.

Toronto's Parkdale is currently in first place for top neighbourhood.

"Parkdale is the dynamic and inclusive community I am proud to represent," said city councillor Gord Perks, who's a very earnest and decent chap as I recall from my days at City Hall. "The secret is out ... it's one of the best places in Canada."

Victoria Park in Kitchener currently is one of the top ranked nominations for Canada's Great Neighbourhood, as is Plateau Mont-Royal in Montreal; a very worthy nominee. Roncesvalles Village is getting some votes, too, which makes sense. I just spotted a story in the paper this morning on The Ace bar on Roncesvalles, and it looks like a spot worth trying.

Mayor Gregor Robertson of Vancouver is pushing the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese garden as the top public space. Also gunning for that honour is Botanical Beach in Juan de Fuca Provincial Park near Renfrew, B.C. Oooh - a B.C. bun fight!!

There are 33 nominations so far, and they've collectively received some 3,400 votes. Nominations can be made until Jan. 31, and voting takes place until Feb. 29. Judges will decide on semi-finalists in early April and announce the winners in late April of this year. People's Choice awards also will be made in each of the three categories.

Go to www.greatplacesincanada.com to make a nomination or vote, or simply to follow along.

WEIRD GIFTS FOR ROYAL COUPLE

I love these stories about strange gifts that people give to visitors. None are better than what Will and Kate got when they made their trips to Canada, Australia and New Zealand after their marriage in 2011.

Someone in Australia (I presume with a sense of humour) gave Prince William a jar of vegemite, and how awesome is that? In Canada, the prince and the Duchess of Cambridge were given a pair of "caribou antler snow goggles," surely perfect for a night on the town in London. Someone gave Kate a tartan fascinator, which I think Don Cherry might want to wear some night on Coach's Corner. The Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also gave Kate three pairs of shoes, although I can't imagine why. The governor-general gave her a quilt, which seems a little more practical.

In a touching note, folks in Christchurch gave Prince William some rubble from the Christchurch earthquake, as he visited following the earthquake last February.

Prince Charles went to Portugal last year and got a bottle of port (I'm sure he used it quickly), and four bottles of olive oil. The Spanish government gave him a cured ham, which he undoubtedly had trouble getting past British Customs owing to the UK Ham Protection Act, which designates that "only hams made in Berkshire by Englishmen of certain heritage who swear the European Union is the sworn enemy of mankind may be allowed to be consumed within the borders of glorious Britain. Said Englishmen also must agree that it's remarkably improper for the Americans to have let Meryl Streep make a movie in which she dares to play the role of the Most Dearly Beloved Margaret Thatcher, and by the way any self-respecting Brit could tell the accent's dead wrong."

PORTER GOES TO WASHINGTON

Good for Porter Airlines for announcing a sixth U.S. destination on Wednesday. The aggressive, Toronto-based airline says it will begin flying from Toronto's Billy Bishop Island airport to Washington Dulles International on April 16.

"Greater Washington is a region that our passengers have told us is their number one priority for new Porter service," Porter president and CEO Robert Deluce said in a press release. "We expect great interest for both business and leisure trips and look forward to bringing competition to the route."

Amen to that.

JAUNT.CA DEAL

Jaunt.ca is offering a great deal for an overnight getaway to the lovely Fairmont Chateau Montebello in Quebec. For $119 you get a night's stay, plus a $25 spa credit.For $238 enjoy two nights, a $25 spa credit, a $25 Food and beverage credit and a $25 activities credit (good for snowmobile, ATV (All-terrain vehicle) and curling).

The deal is valid Jan. 15 to April 30 but some blackout dates apply. See www.jaunt.ca for details on this and other getaways, including downtown Toronto and Niagara, where you can go check out what the fuss is all about with Queen Street.

 

 

 

 

Prince Harry's favourite Vegas spots unveiled ... Europe travel holding up well

Okay, let's get to the juicy stuff first. Reports suggest Prince Harry, the younger, irascible brother of the wife of the Duchess of Cambridge, has been partying quite solidly in Las Vegas.

For those who've been watching the Parliamentary Channel to see what colour tie the Prime Minister might be wearing during Question Period, let me explain that Harry is temporarily stationed in the southern California-Arizona border region as he undergoes military helicopter training. Why they couldn't have found him a safe place in, I don't know, Oklahoma or Arkansas I can't quite explain. I mean, his base isn't anywhere near Hollywood or anything but he's obviously close enough to LA and to Vegas that he can get away. And the guy IS a chopper pilot, so I assume he can bypass highway traffic easily enough.

Prince William found a military station in the quiet of north Wales. Harry? He goes on military assignment within spitting distance of Las Vegas and L.A.. Hmm.....a coincidence?

Anyway, it seems Harry was doing his best on the weekend to invigorate the Vegas economy. Writing in USA Today, Kitty Bean Yancey (isn't that a great name for a reporter?) quotes People magazine as saing the prince "took in Cirque du Soleil's O aquatic extravaganza at the Bellagio resort" before "partying at the hot XS nightclub at Steve Wynn's Encore resort."

People claims he lost $300 gaming and was amazed that he got free drinks while at the tables. I remember being 21 in Reno once and I went into a casino with my Mom and Dad for a few minutes. After a half hour or so, my Dad came over and asked how I was doing at the slots. "Pretty good," I said. "Some lady came by with drinks but I didn't want to get ripped off so I didn't get one." I was feeling pretty proud of myself until my Dad replied, "Uh, Jim, the drinks are FREE if you're gambling." Doh.

As for Harry, apparently he also twisted the night away at Tryst nightclub, drinking Grey Goose vodka with tonic and dancing with, wait for it, "a young mystery woman." Of course.

EUROPE HOLDING UP WELL?

A report from Germany suggests European tourism is holding up well under the economic strains of the Euro these days.

The ITB World Travel Trends Report says international trips to Europe rose to 671 million from January to August of this year, a 4.5 per cent increasefrom the previous year. That's pretty impressive given the European troubles and the general health (or lack thereof) of the world economy.

It also appears European residents aren't afraid to come out of the house. A September survey of travellers from 13 European countries found that 43 per cent of folks plan to travel as much in 2012 as they did this year. 27 per cent said they would travel more, and only 20 per cent said they'd be on the road less.

That's excellent news for the European economy, and most certainly for airlines and hotels. I keep reading about growth in Asia, and there's no doubt it's a huge market. But one should never discount the enduring appeal of Europe.

I remember a couple years ago my oldest son was chatting with my daughter about her plans to travel to Europe after graduating from university. He'd been to Europe twice and also had recently travelled throughout Southeast Asia. He was telling his sister about how wonderful it was in Thailand and Laos and how cheap it was and that she consider that instead of Europe.

Nothing wrong with Asia, she felt, but she'd grown up reading books about London and Paris and seeing photos of Greece and Rome, and there was no way she was going to miss it. And that's pretty common for most North Americans who are lucky enough to travel. We don't care how many people have done it before, almost all of us want to see the Eiffel Tower for ourselves and sit on the Spanish Steps and gaze up at Big Ben or the Swiss Alps.

As long as that's the case, Europe should do just fine.

Global brand index says Canada world #1. But there's no Canadian love for T.O.

They love us. They hate us.

It's a week of decidedly mixed news for those of us who live in The Big Smoke. First off, and on a somewhat serious note, there was news on Thursday that a group called Future Brands has, for the second year in a row, named Canada as number one in their Country Brand Index.

The index, which featured on-line interviews with travellers from all over the globe, takes into account a number of factors, including the qualities that people think of when they hear a country’s name, read or see images of a location, or plan a business or leisure trip.

FutureBrand praised Canada for being a country that "actively manages its country brand to constantly improve performance." It noted use of natural landscape imagery and the "iconic maple leaf" to promote the country.

"As the United Kingdom prepares to leverage the power of the London 2012 Olympic Games, it would do well to emulate Canada's treatment of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, where the event was used as a platform to build sustainable brand strength across every dimension," FutureBrand said in a statement.

For those who missed it yesterday, here's the 1-10 ranking: 1. Canada. 2. Switzerland. 3. New Zealand. 4. Japan. 5. Australia. 6. USA. 7. Sweden. 8. Finland. 9. France 10. Italy.

It's obviously, or seemingly, a little biased to western countries, which makes me wonder about the sample base. Future Brands said they consulted some 3,500 folks, but it still seems pretty Euro-white-centric, notwithstanding Japan's presence in the number four slot.

Quoted in the Vancouver Sun, Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies, said it's not surprising Canada's brand has such appeal.

"(People in other countries) think we're a very open, diverse, welcoming country," he said. "That's a widely held view when you travel abroad."

It's certainly great news for our tourism industry to see us at the top of the Future Brand chart. There IS something kinda special about this country of ours, and there's nothing wrong with a bit (just a bit) of chest-thumping, especially when you look at how the U.S. fell from fourth in 2010 to sixth this year, and how the UK dropped from #9 in 2010 to a relatively woeful 13th spot in 2011, the Royal Wedding notwithstanding.

It's interesting that the Future Brands report came at the World Travel Mart in London, where a lot of the talk is about the London Summer Olympics next year. As well, it's notable that U.S. tourism folks used the Travel Mart meetings this week to unveil their new global approach to tourism and show off a new logo.

Oddly enough, the U.S. has never had a nation-wide approach to boosting tourism, relying instead on individual states or cities to get their message out in Germany and Ghana and elsewhere around the globe. I don't much care for the logo, although at least it doesn't have Uncle Sam. I believe they intentionally shied away from the red, white and blue as polling showed too many folks around the world think of the U.S. (shockingly) as brash and arrogant.

So maybe they're taking a page from the Canadian songbook, eh?

As good as the Future Brands news was for Canada, we here in Toronto had to know it was too much of a good thing. Sure enough, there was news this week that a new poll had found the most hated city in Canada (by Canadians, not the good folks in Japan or Finland) is ... Toronto. The most loved? Surprisingly, I think, it was Ottawa.

A story on CTV's website says Leger Marketing surveyed 2,345 Canadians on behalf of the National Capital Commission and the Association of Canadian Studies, asking if they had a very positive, somewhat positive, somewhat negative or very negative perception of eight major cities.

The results showed that 19 per cent of respondents felt negatively toward Toronto, and the anti-love was highest in Western Canada. Thirty per cent of Albertans said they disliked Toronto, a sentiment shared by 27 per cent of respondents in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and 23 per cent in British Columbia.

Ontario's capital fared best among those inside the province, but 15 per cent of survey participants responded negatively. (Hey, all you folks in Thunder Bay and Windsor, thanks a lot.)

Montreal was right behind T.O. in the hate vote, with 18 per cent support (or lack thereof).

Ottawa was ranked highest (a nice nod to national unit) with 82 per cent positive support, closely followed by Victoria (81) and Vancouver (80).

 As someone who grew up on the west coast of the U.S. and always resented all the major baseball awards being won by eastern players (or so it seemed), I kinda understand how folks out west feel. A lot of times, when you ask someone from Alberta or B.C. why they hate Toronto, they talk about having to watch Leafs' games on Saturday night. Given the team's play the last, oh, four decades, you can hardly blame them for that.

Of course, there's more to it. As nice as we are to visitors, and we're tremendous with foreign tourists for the most part, I honestly think more Canadians hate Toronto than Americans hate New York, and I don't quite know why. Maybe we're arrogant. Lord knows, there are lots of people in downtown Toronto who make fun of me for living north of Eglinton, let alone the people who live in Brampton or Port Hope.

Some of that hatred probably is deserved. But this is a wonderful city, filled with great folks who go out of their way (a lot of the time) to help. Sure, we don't let each other into our lanes on the 401 at rush hour. But I also see plenty of neighbourly behaviour on a day-to-day basis all over this city; the sort of things you'd associate with Leave it to Beaver TV shows.

Anyway, it all makes for some pretty interesting discussions on a Friday morning. Have a great weekend. And, remember to send out nice thoughts to all those lovely folks in Calgary and Saskatoon and Prince George.

 

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Celine, Obama, The Queen: Who would YOU want to sit next to on a plane??

Oprah over Obama. Celine over Suzuki. And Kate over the Queen.

FlightNetwork.com recently asked some 780 Canadians who they’d most like to sit next to on a plane. They gave 10 choices for three categories; Canadian celebrity, U.S. celebrity and international celebrity, and came away with some surprises.

In the Canadian category, the runaway winner was Celine Dion, with 23.7 per cent of respondents naming her as their favourite seatmate. It makes sense: since she weighs approximately 48 pounds, it’d be like having an empty seat next to you the whole trip. And if she, God forbid, started to sing, you could always pretend you were watching the map channel onthe TV monitor.

“Oh, look, we’re over Bismarck, North Dakota.”

Second for Canuck celebs was David Suzuki at 19.5 per cent. This speaks well for our social conscience, but what is Suzuki doing on airplane that’s sucking carbon from the earth at supersonic speed?

Third in the Canadian content category was comedian Russell Peters, while Wayne Gretzky came a respectable fourth at 14.1 per cent. (How they didn't substitute Sidney Crosby for Gretzky I don't know. I suspect the pollsters were born in 1946 and are the kind of guys who get excited about re-mixes of Anne Murray Christmas tunes.)

Lower down were such luminaries as Steve Nash (6.5 per cent) and Pamela Anderson (supply your own jokes about protection during a crash landing) at 4.4 per cent. Poor Justin Bieber collected only 3.2 per cent of the votes, but at least he was ahead of Conrad Black, who notched just 1.7 per cent in a poll in which only 48 respondents were Florida prison inmates.

On the U. S. side of the ledger, it’s probably no surprise that the omnipresent Oprah Winfrey garnered 38.3 per cent of the votes. She trashed American president Barack Obama, who received only 19.5 per  cent of votes and immediately put out a press release blaming Republicans in Congress. Third was Tina Fey at 10.5 per cent, followed by, wait for it, Charlie Sheen at 8.7 per cent and Anderson Cooper of CNN at 8.3 per cent. BEHIND Charlie Sheen? Anderson, your star is slipping.

Youth trumped age in the international category, as sensation Kate Middleton came in at 22.6 per cent. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was second at 16.2 per cent, nudging out The Queen herself at 15.9 per cent. Who probably IS quite amused, being a good sport and all from what I’ve seen.

The FlightNetwork polling folksdidn’t even ask about sitting next to Prince William or Prince Charles (remember him?) or even Prince Philip, who no doubt was too busy being entranced about the idea of a map of North Dakota.

Somehow the worldwide supernova phrase "Lady Gaga" appears to have passed by the FlightNetwork polling group. Instead they used the international category to ask about British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay (13.5 per cent) and Virgin executive Richard Branson (11.8 per cent). It's interesting that Ramsay and Jaime Oliver combined for nearly 30 per cent. I mean, 20 years ago, who would've thought the words "British" and "celebrity chef" would ever meet in the same sentence?

And what's with the heavy duty British influence? British chefs, British royalty. I would think folks who represent something called FlightNetwork would realize that some planes go beyond Britain and visit places in such exotic places as France and Belgium. I mean, nobody ever gives Belgian celebrities a fair shake anymore.

Finally in the international category, we have TV guy and former newspaper hack Piers Morgan at 7.8 per cent and hockey star Alexander Ovechkin at 6.7 per cent. We wanted to get Morgan’s thoughts on his placement but couldn’t get him to come to the phone.

 

One royal couple, two nations to visit, two rather different approaches

Canada Day Fireworks. Pig-tailed girls at Anne of Green Gables. Canoes in the Northwest Territories. Cowboy hats and bucking broncos at the Calgary Stampede.

To be followed by a charity polo match in ultra-posh Santa Barbara, California with a three-course meal going for $4,000, and a star-studded Hollywood dinner for British filmmakers.

Yeah, I guess you could say California is taking a slightly different tack on the upcoming visit by the royal couple, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, aka Will and Kate.

The hype, of course, is already beginning. The Mirror in London today was running a huge headline with the startling news that, wait for it, Kate was wearing a ... gasp ... knee-length BLUE DRESS on the plane to Canada (see photo). Talk about a scoop.

The royals' visit starts in  Ottawa today. They'll celebrate Canada Day Friday, then head to Montreal (at least they get a bit of big-city glam), Quebec City, Prince Edward Island, Yellowknife and Calgary.

Kevin MacLeod, the Queen's Canadian secretary, told the Montreal Gazette that the idea is to showcase Canada.

"We have to be conscious of the fact that through the lens of a camera, yes, we'll have the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in the foreground, but what's in the background?" he said. "Is it the Rockies? Is it the beaches of (Prince Edward Island)? Is it the wide-open expanse of the territories? It's such a huge, unique opportunity for the world to look in, not only on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, but to look in on them in a uniquely Canadian setting."

Yeah, but I still think it's RIDICULOUS that they're not visiting Toronto. I mean, are we going to continue to market ourselves FOREVER as the country of Moose and Mounties? Folks overseas love the Rockies and a good canoe trip, and so do I, but not many people outside of North America know how much Toronto has grown and how it's prospered as a hotbed for the arts and entertainment. It would've been nice to give the royal couple a small taste of the new AGO and some hot restaurants on Ossington. A killer cocktail on a swanky patio downtown would've been a tremendous boost. But I forgot. This is a Stephen Harper production...

No such problems in California, where Will and Kate (who surely had a hand in the decision-making) will be in lovely Santa Barbara (see photo) and then down in Hollywood. Nice choices, for sure. Santa Barbara has glorious weather, great beaches and excellent food. The local wines are among some of California's best, with luscious Syrah and Pinot Noir and excellent Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay all being grown just over the hills in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Folks in California are embracing the visit, but of course they want to make a buck like anyone else. The Beverly Hills Hotel has a presidential suite for $10,800 a night. On a budget? You can snap up a $15 Royal Fizz cocktail at the Luxe Rodeo Drive.

 

World's Most Beautiful Cities list - no mention of Moncton or Mississauga...

This blog is dedicated to a colleague of mine at the Star who simply LOVES lists.

I spotted an item on the forbes.com website the other day listing the world's most beautiful cities. Not the cities best for doing business or best quality of life but, simply, most beautiful. A lot more open to interpretation and less scientific, but probably just as valid as anything more business-oriented.

Forbes pulled together architectural and city planning types (they're always eager for publicity) and came up with the following list. I don't think it was in order but I could be wrong. There are some surprises, so without further adieu here ya go:

PARIS

VANCOUVER

SYDNEY

FLORENCE

VENICE

CAPE TOWN

SAN FRANCISCO

CHICAGO

NEW YORK

LONDON

CAMBRIDGE (ENGLAND)

TOKYO

Fully deserved marks for Vancouver, for sure. On a clear day, there's perhaps no city more beautiful in the world. On a day-to-day basis, I'd take Paris. But on a lovely spring day with a dusting of snow on the mountains Vancouver can't be beat. Even San Francisco falls a bit short.

Ontario, not surprisingly, gets shut out again. Not to mention New Brunswick, Alberta, Florida, Ohio and Arkansas.

The list has some surprises. I think Cambridge is lovely, and the publicity with William and Kate as Duke and Duchess probably doesn't hurt, but I don't think of it as a city so much as a big town. Anyway, it's just fine.

I was surprised to see Chicago on the list, to be honest. I know the new "bean" sculpture is popular and it's a very handsome city to be sure, but I'd probably put Stockholm or maybe Barcelona above Chicago.

Tokyo is an interesting choice. The editors said it was partly physical beauty but also the way the whole city works, which I couldn't agree more about. It's remarkable that way. There aren't many gorgeous buildings and the physical geography is nothing special, but the way it all knits together, along with the pockets of stunning gardens and temples, make it awfully impressive as a whole. So kudos for thinking outside the box a bit on that one.

But still, it's odd to see just the one Asia city, compared to four in North America and five in Europe, all in England, Italy and France. There's nothing in South America; no Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires, which is too bad.

Anyway, as my colleague would no doubt agree, that's what make lists so much fun. Right? I mean, Ilove listening to the top songs of all time on the radio but if I hear one more Oldies 1150 Countdown with "Satisfaction" as top song of all time I'm gonna hurl. Great song, but SO OVERPLAYED. See also: "Hotel California" and "Hey Jude," the latter a huge fave of mine but there's only so much you can take.

You know what? It would be like dating Penelope Cruz every night. After, oh, I don't know, 83 or 84 years you might want something else.

 

 

Will and Kate make a big splash in, surprise, Paris! Also, party time in Victoria

I'm a sucker for romance, and that's one lovely ceremony we're watching over in London, isn't it?

I don't think I've ever seen the city look finer; all those waving flags and folks singing "Jerusalem" and the parade with the Duke and Duchess, newly married, streaming past the Houses of Parliament and all. It's great advertising for the British "brand," if you like, and maybe that'll ease some  concerns from folks in Britain who don't like the price tag for the public purse.

Anyway, it's great stuff. And they're lapping it up all over the world, including Paris, as Star Travel guy Adrian Brijbassi reports...

You’d think Paris would be the one place in the world that would look at the Royal Wedding and shrug. You don’t see any large union jacks on display today, wedding gowns streaming down Ave. Winston Churchill or Will and Kate doubles lining Ave. George V. Pockets of excitement can be found in the City of Light, though.

A lot of aaahs could be heard from inside the Frog & Rosbif when Kate said “I will” to her prince. The decidedly female crowd gathered at this British pub near the Marais. Lineups began before the doors opened at 11 a.m. local time and more than 150 crowded in by the time Kate and William met at the altar about an hour later.

Rob Sutton said he was missing the street parties in London, where he lives. He’s visiting Paris for the weekend and thinks the nuptials will reinvigorate interest in the royals, because of the likeability of the couple. “The two big things are the coronation and the wedding. You don’t miss those,” he said, pointing out that a boom in TV sales occurred in Britain when Queen Elizabeth II was officially crowned in 1953.

Still, Sutton was a bit chagrined to be at a bar holding a pint watching bouquets stream by.

“I think if you’d ask the blokes in the bar, we’d all wonder what the hell we’re doing here,” he said, laughing. “It’s a wedding, it’s a girls’ thing.”

It’s also big business. Patricia Yates, VisitBritain’s director of strategy and communications, said on Sky TV on Thursday night that she expects 2 billion people around the world to watch the ceremony and thinks the attention will generate billions in tourism revenue. “We’ll see an additional 4 million people over the next four years visit the country,” she said.

At the Frog & Rosbif, cheers arose when the big names showed up — the Queen, the Prince of Wales and the couple themselves, of course. And there were big cheers for Elton John when he was flashed on the broadcast. Some hands went up, from tiara-decked women, when Westminster Abbey — and the world, really — was asked if anyone objected to the marriage.

Torontonian Mel Dark, who’s been visiting Paris for weeks, said many people she’s run into in the city have been talking about the wedding. Briton Justin Steed, though, joked that Paris may not be so into the wedding as other places because “The French just don’t have this, do they?”

They were whooping it up this morning at Le Meridien King Edward in Toronto, where it was being shown, and out in Victoria, B.C., where folks were up at 3 a.m. to watch the start of the ceremony. Star columnist Bert Archer files this report...

Four hundred groggy well-wishers gathered in the Tea Room and Bengal Lounge of Victoria’s Empress Hotel very early Friday morning to eat beans, eggs and kippers in their bathrobes, pyjamas and fascinators and watch Kate Middleton become Princess Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge and the latest Mrs. Windsor.

“This is the first wedding I’ve attended in a robe,” says Alisa Muntz, 31, who came up from Seattle with her friend, Eliza Schuster, 23, to watch the wedding in Canada’s monarchist capital. It’s not her first wedding at the Empress, though. She had her own wedding here in 2005.

“She’s just so classic,” Schuster says, eyes fixed on one of 12 screen beaming the beaming princess into the three rooms set up for the breakfast festivities.

Tickets for the breakfast affair went on sale in February, and sold out so quickly that they added rooms and screens to meet the demand from tourists and locals.

Angela Rafuse-Tahir, director of sales and marketing for the hotel, who was up at 1 a.m. to make sure everything went smoothly, figures about a third of the guests were also guests of the hotel; the other two thirds were locals who paid $39 a pop to nibble on roasted tomatoes and watch the wedding, exactly the sort of people who make Victoria, and the Fairmont Empress in particular, Canada’s royal ground zero.

Meryl Howard, 78, and her friend of 40 years Sylvia Keith, 70, were two of them.

“I’ve taped two of the broadcasts,” says Keith, who moved to Canada from England when she was 25 but still speaks with a hearty southern British accent. “CBC and CNN, and I’m going to watch the whole thing over again, twice.”

The Empress was also the site of Canada Post’s debut of the official William and Kate stamp, which was selling briskly, even at 4am.

Sara Tichgelaar, 18 and Jordyn Ramsay, 19, both in tiaras, were two of the early-morning revellers in line for the stamps. “It really brings the country together,” Ramsay says of the wedding and the Empress 400. “It makes you feel good to be a Canadian.”

The Monarchist League of Victoria clearly has nothing to worry about for the next few decades.

 

Star's Heather Mallick in London; desperate for milk!...Oregon, Niagara news

Here's a London post from the Star's Heather Mallick, who's covering the Royal Wedding on Friday but is having trouble adjusting to holiday hours and the lack of North American-style milk.

Here’s a tip. Never travel to London without checking first for approaching Bank Holidays.

This would be obvious, normally, but you wouldn’t think a city devoted to entertainment and commerce would be so, well, shut down for Good Friday and Easter Monday. Worse, London closes in a Parisian sense, which means that it’s seriously closed and expects you to know that. It doesn’t update websites about approaching closures and it sneers at capitalism in the sense that even chain stores decide not to be at all approachable.

 Thank god it doesn’t shut down in French style by telling you to f--- off for even wanting to see your huge giant important museum exhibit. On Friday, a London guard apologized to me for the British Library not having announced its Good Friday closure on the website. Amazing. What a nice man.

  The Wellcome Collection show didn’t explain that  it wouldn’t open until noon on Good Friday. It’s weird waiting in Bloomsbury, an area much bombed during the war and coffee-shop-free, to see an art show called DIRT: The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life, about how dirt can be used as a material for art, and how revolting cities have always been, and continue to be. It was wonderful and creative, but very odd to hang around waiting to be deliciously repelled. Kind London passers-by explained the Wellcome always opens late on Bank Holidays.

 The courtesy of Londoners is extraordinary. I apologize 10 times a day and each time a good-humoured Londoner brushes it off. In Toronto, people ignore my apologies, leaving me grimly reluctant to offer them ever again. Until the next hopeful apology.

 I suppose they don’t think the Wellcome’s bricks made of hair, skin flakes and toenail clippings collected from around London call out much to the tourist trade. (Really, the show was brilliant, fodder for unusual thoughts.)

Even at St. Pancras, the huge train station that sees everyone off on Eurostar to Paris and the great capitals of Europe, a third of the shops shut down because they bloody well feel like it. I know this because my hotel sits on top of the station. I can watch from my room as tourists melt down when they can’t buy a cake or an egg or a notepad or a red purse.

That was me only hours before. Le Pain Quotidien is always open, and at all times, I can order a soft-boiled egg. Never before have I found a restaurant that will boil an egg for me. Now I seek a European restaurant—or any restaurant anywhere—that will give me a huge glass of skim milk. You can't get milk in restaurants, it's too naff.

I love milk, I drink a gallon a day. The trick of travel is to replicate the conditions of home. If anyone knows where I can get a glass of skim milk in London, please email me at hmallick@thestar.ca.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog from Jim Byers.

OREGON HAPPENINGS

Managed a drink with some nice folks from Oregon Tourism at the always fun Park Hyatt rooftop lounge Monday night.  I haven't spent a ton of time in Oregon, but I've been a couple times, mostly to Portland (see photo), and quite enjoyed it.

I think Canadians feel a certain affinity for folks with a West Coast liberal attitude. Well, some of us do, anyway. Oregon is big on environmental sustainability and celebrates the outdoors like true Canadians; windsurfing on the Columbia River, playing golf at world-renowned courses like Bandon Dunes on the lovely coast, mountain biking, climbing Mt. Hood (apparently doable quite easily in a day) and, even better, quaffing lovely, Oregon-grown Pinot Noir or heartier reds from the eastern part of the state.

Folks in Ontario may not realize it, but Oregon's geography is quite varied. Just like B.C., it's rainy and green on the coast (although not in summer or fall so much), then there are some lovely valleys and mountains. The eastern edge, kind of like the Okanagan Valley, is much more dry and desert-like, with sagebrush and rolling hills and wide-open spaces.

Bend, Oregon, is a favourite spot of my dad's in central Oregon, although I haven't had the pleasure. Canadian cross-country skier Beckie Scott was living in Bend at one point, and I remember interviews in which she raved about the place.

Portland, of course, is a dynamic city with great cafes and shopping and terrific local food. They also love their Portland WinterHawks hockey team, I was told by an Oregon tourism official whose husband adores Tie Domi and has a quote from Domi on the family refrigerator, and how many people other than Don Cherry can say that?

There's also a great Shakespeare festival in Ashland and a hugely popular Pinot Noir festival and a big western rodeo (as opposed to the eastern kind) in Pendleton, home of Pendleton shirts. This year's Pendleton Round-up goes Sept. 14-17.

Good stuff. But if there's anything that's gonna lure your Toronto Star Golf magazine editor out to Oregon, it's likely Bandon Dunes. They have four courses and consistenly get rated as the top or very close to it golf experience in North America. One of the folks involved in Bandon Dunes is helping build the new Cabot Links course in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, which we wrote about in this year's golf magazine.

MAID OF THE MIST ABOUT TO RETURN IN NIAGARA

I got this press release on Tuesday morning, another sign of spring (at last).

"After a particularly long winter the historic Maid of the Mist returns to the water, three and a half weeks later than last year.  Maid of the Mist will welcome visitors on both the Canadian and American landings on May 4, 2011.  As Niagara Falls’ top tourist attraction, the popular boats have graced the Niagara waters for more than a century.

"To kick off the upcoming season, readers of the Niagara Falls Review have voted the Maid of the Mist the number one tourist attraction for the 17^th consecutive year. Trip Advisor, a trusted travel review site, has also consistently placed Maid of the Mist as the number one activity in Niagara Falls. With high reviews and a rising economy, the Maid of the Mist organization expects promising results this year."

I always thought it would be cheesy but I took a ride on the Maid of the Mist last year and thought it was awesome. Just spectacular, to be honest. Definitely a must-see in Niagara.