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Crystal Cruises – a high profile victim of the pandemic – has officially relaunched under new ownership with the Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony vessels set to sail again beginning this summer.

The high-end cruise line, which had operated for close to three decades, ceased operations in early 2022, with two of its ships seized in the Bahamas for unpaid fuel bills.

Now Crystal is back with a new vision – dubbed ‘Exceptional at Sea’ – and itineraries for 2023 and 2024, under the ownership of Abercrombie & Kent (the A&K Travel Group), which acquired the Serenity and Symphony in 2022.

The first sailings will be a Mediterranean cruise of Crystal Serenity on July 31 from Marseille and Crystal Symphony, scheduled to depart Sept. 1 from Athens.

Travel Advisors and guests with Open Deposits have exclusive access to an early booking window that began Feb. 1 – before bookings open to the public later this month.

Guests will sail on ships refurbished with reimagined with larger updated suites, a leading spa, fitness facilities and large pool. There are nine dining options onboard each ship and a series of guest chefs connected to the destinations visited, will add diversity and local flavours.

“I am delighted to announce that Crystal is reborn, with Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony reimagined and enhancements made to every part of our guests’ journey,” says Crystal president Jack Anderson. “Palatial suites, spacious verandas and guest rooms have been rolled out on both ships, reducing overall guest capacity. Personalized service – long a Crystal signature – has been elevated further. Dining is a journey through culinary specialties, with authentic food from around the globe. Local experts at Abercrombie & Kent have planned memorable experiences in each destination to guarantee beyond-the-guidebook access.”

New Itineraries

Voyages will travel throughout the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Canada and New England, Alaska, the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The collection of cruise, along with other information, can be viewed on crystalcruises.com.

Suites

The suites and guest rooms are more spacious, with elevated detail and contemporary craftsmanship. Suites feature marble quarried from Italy, with modern furnishings and fine cotton linens.

Experiences

Both the spa and the gym will be revamped, and the Wimbledon courts will host both paddle tennis and pickleball. A refreshed approach to entertainment and events programming has been developed with more information to follow.

On shore, a seamless experience continues with A&K’s ground arrangements.

Agents can register on the Crystal web site to receive the latest updates.

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News

A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked wide swaths of Turkey and neighbouring Syria on Monday, killing more than 2,600 people and injuring thousands more as it toppled thousands of buildings and trapped residents under mounds of rubble.

Authorities feared the death toll would keep climbing as rescuers searched through tangles of metal and concrete for survivors in a region beset by Syria’s 12-year civil war and a refugee crisis.

Residents jolted out of sleep by the pre-dawn quake rushed outside in the rain and snow to escape falling debris, while those who were trapped cried for help. Throughout the day, major aftershocks rattled the region, including a jolt nearly as strong as the initial quake. After night fell, workers were still sawing away slabs and pulling out bodies as desperate families waited for news on trapped loved ones.

Tens of thousands who were left homeless in Turkey and Syria faced a night in the cold. In Turkey’s Gaziantep, a provincial capital about 33 km from the epicentre, people took refuge in shopping malls, stadiums and community centres. Mosques around the region were opened to provide shelter.

The quake, which was centered on Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, sent residents of Damascus and Beirut rushing into the street and was felt as far away as Cairo.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said officials do not know how high the number of dead and injured will rise.

The quake piled more misery on a region that has seen tremendous suffering over the past decade. On the Syrian side, the area is divided between government-held territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Turkey, meanwhile, is home to millions of refugees from the civil war.

Strained health facilities quickly filled with injured, rescue workers said. Others had to be emptied, including a maternity hospital, according to the SAMS medical organization.

More than 6,400 people were rescued across 10 provinces, according to Orhan Tatar, an official with Turkey’s disaster management authority.

The region sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in similarly powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999.

The U.S. Geological Survey measured Monday’s quake at 7.8, with a depth of 18 km. Hours later, a 7.5 magnitude temblor struck more than 100 km.

Thousands of buildings were reported collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 330 km to the northeast.

In Turkey alone, more than 5,600 buildings were destroyed, authorities said. Hospitals were damaged, and one collapsed in the Turkish city of Iskenderun.

Bitterly cold temperatures could reduce the time frame that rescuers have to save trapped survivors, said Dr. Steven Godby, an expert in natural hazards at Nottingham Trent University. The difficulty of working in areas beset by civil war would further complicate rescue efforts, he said.

Offers of help — from search-and-rescue teams to medical supplies and money — poured in from dozens of countries, as well as the European Union and NATO. The vast majority were for Turkey, with Russian and even an Israeli promise of help to the Syrian government, but it was not clear if any would go to the devastated rebel-held pocket in the northwest.

More than 1,600 people were killed in 10 Turkish provinces, with more than 11,000 injured, according to Turkish authorities. The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed to 570 people, with some 1,400 injured, according to the Health Ministry. In the country’s rebel-held northwest, groups that operate there said the death toll was at least 450, with many hundreds injured.

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News

Canadians have always been ahead of the curve when it comes to travel to Britain, according to the country’s national tourism agency chief executive Patricia Yates.

“Canadians come and they tend to stay, and they tend to explore more, and I think that’s where travel has gone post-COVID,” Yates says.

VisitBritain has done a “huge amount” of surveys showing how post-COVID travellers have changed, and Canadians tick all of the boxes, she told Travel Industry Today at the recent Britain Showcase 2023 event in London.

Additionally, she observes that Canadians have traditionally demonstrated aspirations to go beyond London and into the countryside and “really get under the skin of a place” – all post-COVID trends.

“Canadians,” she laughs, “have always been ahead of the curve.”

VisitBritain’s travel trade manager for Canada, Lynda Falcone, agrees that the tourist board’s “Another Side of Britain” campaign suits Canadians, who are already predisposed towards seasonal and regional travel in the UK.

However, the campaign isn’t simply about steering visitors away from London, but rather embracing the diversity of the destination and discovering that there is always something new to see.

On a post-Showcase Britain FAM trip for Canadian tour operator buyers, participants, for example, made their own (King Charles III) coin at the Royal Mint, trekked with alpacas in southern Wales (banner photo), stayed in Britain’s oldest hotel in the Cotswolds (The Old Bell Hotel), got a fright at Mary Shelley’s House of Frankenstein in Bath, and toured the Bombay Sapphire gin distillery, amongst other less-than-common experiences.

“We are encouraging people to do the icons with a twist,” Falcone adds.

At the showcase event, held at Tottenham Stadium, British Tourist Authority chairman Nick de Bois pointed to the soccer facility’s “Skywalk” attraction, which allows daring visitors to walk on the roof for a thrill and a panoramic view of London, as the perfect example of the type of “surprising, unexpected,” experiences that can be found across Britain.

“This is the unifying message that we’ll be basing all of our marketing on throughout the course of the next year. We want the world to see there is another side to Britain,” he said. “We want to celebrate those (tourism) icons. But (also) tell a story about how those icons are evolving with the times, offering dynamic experiences that you might not normally expect of us Brits.”

For example, he said, North Wales, known for its incredible castles, now boasts adventure options like ziplining.

To help tell that story Yates says, “Our strategy in Canada is to work with the travel trade to make sure that Britain is being sold in the market.”

Falcone says her office is dedicated to helping the trade sell Britain in all ways – not least in navigating post-pandemic travel to the destination, which she says is experiencing an “explosion” of travel interest. That includes advice that demand has in some cases impacted product availability, meaning clients should book early.

Or, little things, like bringing one’s own sanitizer as it is no longer been provided in public places.

Darlene St. Louis of RIT (Royal Irish Tours) points out another critical change: “The seven-day trip has almost disappeared,” she says, adding that most Canadian travellers want to add on at least a couple of extra days, making a nine-day stay more than common than a week.

VisitBritain statistics show that visitors are also spending more and that, combined with a 15% increase in arrivals from North America and a surge in the luxury market, pre-COVID value levels should return by the end of this year.

As Britain calmly carries on in an ever-changing post-COVID world, Falcone says, more than ever “our focus is to get back in front of the trade and understand the needs of the industry. Our job is to support them… And be there for travel agents.”

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News

Amongst last week’s news, WestJet paused Europe flights from some Canadian gateways, while Canada Jetlines announced its first Mexico destination: Cancun; PCR testing requirements for travellers from China were extended; and Sunwing and Air Canada Vacations unveiled new promotions.

NEWS

Effective Feb. 01, TICO reduced the required rewrite wait times for the Travel Counsellor and Supervisor/Manager exams. New exam rewrite wait times (if first exam attempt is unsuccessful are 24-hour waiting period after receiving results from first exam; five-day waiting period after receiving results of second exam, and 30-day waiting period for each attempt after receiving results for third and any subsequent exam rewrites. TICO has also charged Elite Encounters and Adventures Inc., Dwayne Pogue, and Stefanie Landriault with one count of operating as a travel agent without being registered.

Canada has renewed mandatory COVID-19 testing and screening for travellers from China, Hong Kong, and Macao for another two months. The government mandated pre-boarding tests for people coming from those places last month after China removed longstanding public-health restrictions, causing a countrywide outbreak of the virus. The Public Health Agency of Canada says the testing requirements are expected to remain in place until April 5.

At the same time, travellers between Hong Kong and China no longer require COVID-19 PCR tests nor are subject a daily limit, authorities announced, as both places seek to drive economic growth.

AIR

WestJet has announced it is pausing transatlantic service between Halifax and Europe as part of its 2023 summer schedule. The airline also confirmed that it suspended transatlantic service to Europe from Vancouver and Toronto as of early December 2022. WestJet says the moves are part of a series of strategic decisions it is making to its transatlantic service to cope with capacity constraints.

Canada Jetlines has confirmed a new international nonstop service out of its travel hub of Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) to Cancun (CUN) in Mexico. The Canadian carrier’s first route into Mexico will launch starting with two flights per week in March with increased frequency to follow.

Lynx has launched inaugural service to the US with its first flight from Toronto Pearson to the new Terminal C at Orlando International Airport (MCO). The carrier will operate four direct flights per week between Toronto and Orlando, flying brand-new Boeing 737 aircraft.

DEALS

The ‘Winter Blues Sale’ from Sunwing is offering to up to 45% off packages booked by Feb. 26 for travel by April 30. Additionally, clients staying at one of the tour company’s ‘Smile Resorts’ will also receive a range of perks to elevate their getaway, including kids two through 12 Stay, Play and Eat free, exclusive deals for teens aged 13 to 17, no single parent supplement fee, a supervised Kids Club program and more.

Through March 5, clients booking an Air Canada Vacations beach vacation can save through weekly deals on departures between May 1 and Oct. 31 to select destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and Hawaii. Additionally, travellers can take advantage of 50% off the CareFlex travel protection plan.

TOURS

The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, A Belmond Train, Europe will unveil a new ‘Suites’ cabin category in June. Eight new suites will join the two pre-existing cabin categories, reflecting the train’s history and craftsmanship of the 1920s and 30s. Inspired by the dramatic landscape unfolding through the train’s picture-windows, the suites will feature a private marble ensuite bathroom and a lounging area by day, converted to either double or twin beds, by night.

BY THE NUMBERS

In 2021 there were 120.8 million visitors to show caves, an overall 16% decline from a pre-pandemic high in 2019 of 144 million, according to The International Show Caves Association. COVID restrictions and staffing shortages were to blame for the decline. There are more than 1,500 show caves around the world.

HOTELS

The first Mondrian hotel in France, Mondrian Cannes, is set to open in March. The beachfront hotel will open on the site of the town’s oldest luxury hotel, formerly Grand Hotel Cannes. Following an extensive renovation, the new luxury lifestyle hotel will feature 75 guest rooms including three suites, state-of-the-art meeting and event facilities, Hyde Beach Cannes, and a new innovative culinary concept yet to be announced. Mondrian Cannes features a prime oceanfront location including a private beach and is the only hotel on the famed boulevard de La Croisette with its own gardens and direct access to the rue d’Antibes shopping district.

Set for a spring opening, Hotel Riu Plaza London Victoria has a superb location right in the heart of London just a few minutes’ walk from Victoria Station in Westminster. Featuring 435 and suites, amenities include a lobby bar and a restaurant, and 24-hour fully equipped gym.

RESORTS

Located in the heart of the idyllic town of Tulum, Mexico, Secrets Tulum Resort & Beach Club (within the luxurious Aldea Zama Complex) is slated to open in the summer, fusing elegant and boho design with eco-chic elements, jungle themed surroundings uniquely designed by award-winning architect Michael Edmonds.

AMR Collection has announced the expansion of its Dreams Resorts & Spas brand to Portugal with the Dreams Madeira Resort Spa & Marina anticipated to open in early 2024 following renovations, Located on the island of Porto Santo, one of the key touristic attractions in Madeira, the 366-room report will feature more than 10 a la carte restaurants, seven bars, on-site private beach and marina, exclusive adults-only areas and on-site waterpark. 

CRUISE

With the start of its new season on May 19, Le Boat will expand further into Ottawa (photo) with the addition of Dows Lake as a new satellite base to create convenient trips into the capital. The luxury houseboat rental company has been offering itineraries on the Rideau Canal since 2018.

 Carnival Celebration is introducing an expanded youth program including new enrichment activities for children, teens, and families, as well as an update to Carnival’s popular Dr. Seuss Bookville. Many of the new offerings will be implemented fleetwide by spring.

ATTRACTIONS & THEME PARKS

Super Nintendo World will open at Universal Studios Hollywood on Feb. 17 as the first Super Nintendo World in the US. The attraction will transport theme park guests and Nintendo fans into the world of Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach. The immersive land will be a visual spectacle of vibrant colours and architectural ingenuity within a newly expanded area of the theme park, featuring a ground-breaking ride, interactive areas for the entire family and themed shopping and dining.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi has launched a new mega-coaster, Mission Ferrari – a high intensity, and multisensory 5D rollercoaster experience that includes the world’s first sideways coaster drop. The themed next generation mega-coaster combines cutting-edge technology with stunning scenic show sets, an exhilarating inverted loop, and state-of-the-art special effects.

FAMS & INCENTIVES

Travel agents can get 3X BONBON, that’s $15, with any eligible Transat Europe tour booking made through Feb. In addition, by booking up to 60 days before departure, travellers can save $500 per couple. The promotion is valid for travel between April 1 and Oct. 31, for tours booked and paid up to 60 days before departure. Savings are already included in the tour price. Transat has more than 40 guaranteed departures in Europe from both Toronto and Montréal for next summer. See Agent Direct for full details.

Encore Cruises’ ‘Love is in the Air’ offer will provide travellers with $125 off their flight (maximum $250 per reservation) when booking a cruise. And travel agents will receive 2,500 bonus Loyalty points per stateroom.

This promotion applies to any new cruise bookings made by Feb. 15 and applicable to six-night or longer sailings departing on or before July 31, 2023 when booked in a balcony stateroom or above. Additionally, travel agents booking a new group in February departing before July 31with a minimum of eight staterooms will receive a $1,000 Bonus Commission.

PEOPLE/APPOINTMENTS

Unique Vacations Canada has announced the appointment of two new members to the sales team for Sandals and Beaches resorts. Mireille Moutou, who boasts experience at Karisma and The Five Hotels, ACV and Transat Vacations, joins as the new Bilingual Business Development Coordinator (mireille.moutou@uvisandals.ca), while Jahbari Thompson is a new reservations specialist, having worked in the past on-resort at Sandals Ochi Beach (jahbari.thompson@uvisandals.ca).

DESTINATIONS

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. has been awarded Tripadvisor’s 2023 Travellers’ Choice “Best of the Best” Popular Destination in Canada award. The award comes from customers and the ratings they leave for restaurants, hotels, things to do and other activities in the area. The reviews are collected over a 12-month period.

LAST WEEK IN TRAVEL HISTORY

In 1858, gold was discovered along British Columbia’s Fraser River, attracting thousands to Canada’s West Coast. Hundreds of ships, jammed with gold-seekers, worked their way across the Strait of Georgia to the Fraser, then made the dangerous trip up the swift-running river.

Send info to baginski@travelindustrytoday.com

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News