Canada’s Tourism Recovery Hurt by China Group Travel Ban

Airline launches ad campaign featuring young PWHL hopefuls and Canadian hockey legend Mélodie Daoust.

China’s travel and tourism industry – among the world’s biggest – last year began its recovery from heavy pandemic damage. One beneficiary: Trip.com Group, a global travel service provider that is China’s largest. Revenue in the third quarter of 2023 almost doubled from a year earlier; net profit in the three months to September totaled 4.6 billion yuan (about $637 million), more than 18 times the year-earlier 245 million yuan.

As the sun sets on 2023, Trip.com Group, a global leader in online travel services, reflects on the dynamic landscape of travel over the past year, offering insights into the trends set to shape the journey in 2024. China’s border reopening sparks global travel surge

Ho Chi Minh City, a culinary haven renowned for its vibrant street food scene, has embarked on an international media campaign to showcase its unique and transformative cuisine. Spearheaded by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism since December 2023, the campaign has captivated audiences worldwide with its compelling video titled “All You Can Eat”. The captivating video has been prominently featured during prime time and throughout the day on esteemed networks such as CNN Asia, Discovery, and Asian Food Network (AFN). Leveraging the power of digital platforms and social media, the campaign ensures that the tantalizing glimpses into Ho Chi Minh City’s culinary landscape reach a global audience.

Recently, the 5th Hainan International Film Festival concluded in Sanya, Hainan, attracting guests from home and abroad as well as tourists to gather in Sanya, driving the popularity of the city continue to rise. “Our hotel room occupancy reached 90% in November, and in December, as a number of large-scale events such as the Hainan International Film Festival opened, the room occupancy averaged 96.8% from 1st December to 18th December, and weekends are basically full,” Cai Liwei, marketing and sales director of InterContinental Sanya Haitang Bay Resort said.

Travelers now have new options to save them time and headaches when traveling to Europe, thanks to an innovative new Air Canada program.  

Vietnam is one of those countries where you eat really well pretty much anywhere you go—but the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism has recently put out a guide to help hungry travelers find the absolute best the metropolis has to offer in the street.

Welcome back to another episode of the TravelPulse Podcast! 

Amsterdam city officials are trying to push tourists away from the city center’s Red Light District.

In this series of articles, I talk to a wide range of travel experts, insiders and luxury brands to find out more about the future of travel for next year and beyond. In Part 1, I wrote about the search for authentic travel and how technology can elevate travel experiences. For Part 2, I spoke to Black Tomato about the rise in people wanting to capture special moments through travel experiences. In Part 3, I looked at the rise of sustainable architecture, the return of maximalist hotel design and the quest for the best of sleep science. In Part 4, Cazenove+Loyd x Globetrender revealed their seven key travel trends for 2024. For Part 5, I spoke to wellness experts about the growth in demand for immersive well-being experiences when travelling. Today, for Part 6, and the last article in this Trends series, I write about a return to age-old traditions in the burgeoning wellness industry.

After a long pandemic pause, interest was very high as Japan welcomed back tourists this year. 2024 promises to be even stronger for this unique destination, but North Americans have an advantage with earlier seasonal starts and expanded seat capacity from Air Canada.

Destinations worldwide have increasingly moved to lift visa requirements as part of their strategy to increase visitor numbers — visa processing delays are a major obstacle to the industry’s full recovery.