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American
tourism boards strike gold with
cheap loonie
Thanks
to the strength of the Canadian
buck, U.S. destinations are
targeting more Canucks with
Web-based marketing campaigns.
Orlando explains its strategy.
Plus: Is there any way to bring
Americans up here? The Canadian
Tourism Commission may hold the
answers.
Details-> Air
Highways to Africa- from
Canada,
Special
Edition debuts at New York Travel
Show
Open
Skies and Air Highways to a Great
Canadian Vacationland
by
Jerry
W.
Bird
There's
a great big, broad land way up
yonder,
There are forests where silence
has lease
There's a beauty that thrills me
with wonder,
There's a stillness that fills me
with peace.
Robert W. Service
This
summer, we will be loading our
Dodge Caravan with magazines, and
heading out on the road across
Canada to meet the media, develop
new travel industry contacts,
interview mayors and community
leaders. The starting route we
have chosen is the
Trans
Canada Yellowhead
Highway
from Prince Rupert, BC via
Kamloops, Jasper, Edmonton and
Saskatoon to Winnipeg. Via Rail
Canada travels the same route,
and we have over 20
Railway
Travel
pages
on this site alone. We plan to
stop at many interesting places
in between and will renew old
aquaintances.
Travel
Statistics
:
Calgary
/ Edmonton
/ Hamilton
/ Ottawa
/
Montreal
/ Quebec
/ Regina
/ Saskatoon
/ Thunder
Bay
/ Toronto
/ Winnipeg
/ Vancouver
/ Victoria/
Atlantic
 
Travel
With Taste
Tours
Putting
the Spirit in the
Season
Award-winning
Vancouver Island food writer,
Elizabeth Levinson, and culinary
tourism specialist, Kathy McAree,
are putting the spirit in the
season with indulgent weekend
getaways.
Wizz
Air - Eastern Europe
Canada
Hosts 2006 Air Cargo
Expo
 For
example, I can't wait to visit my
Royal Canadian Air Force base at
Macdonald, Manitoba near
Portage
La
Prairie
where I served for a year or so.
It's really an awesome journey,
some 2600 km in length. A few
months ago,
I
was keynote speaker at the
Yellowhead Highways Association's
56th Annual Conference in
Sherwood Park, near Edmonton,
Alberta, and my timely topic of
course, was Tourism. While we are
off to Atlantic City, USA, Europe
and Africa, my son Ken Bird
will be carrying on the
tradition. He and his friends
will be exploring more of
Canada's great river systems,
with 30 already to their credit.
See Rivers
of
Canada.
In
designing our Air Highways
Canada Showcase for the next
USA trip, we dig deep into a gold
mine of memorable experiences as
residents and visitors in many of
Canada's cities, rural
communities and far flung
frontiers. Thanks to the Canadian
Tourism Commission, its
provincial counterparts and mail
from communities near and far, we
have a gold mine of information,
and plan to bring our readers the
creme de la creme..
Canada's
Railway Castles
Another
natural place to start a tribute
to Canada is with the hotel
industry. Canada is dotted with
famous hotels, castles, inns,
lodges and resorts; a few having
existed since pioneer days, while
others are but faded memories.
Many of my favorite haunts remain
as attractive as ever, keeping up
with the times, yet retaining
their unique charm. Across
Canada, the palatial Banff
Springs and Chateau Lake Louise,
Victoria's Empress, Hotel
Vancouver, Edmonton's Mac,
Saskatoon's Bessborough, Regina's
Hotel Saskatchewan and Calgary's
Palliser are prime
examples.
Further
east, there's the Fort Garry,
Royal York, Chateau Frontenac and
Laurier - the list goes on- and
on. Fotomation - Famous travel
posters available at Canadian
Pacific Stores. http://www.cphotels.ca
And
how can I forget our glorious
week long stay at the Hotel
Newfoundland in St. Johns during
the TCAAN Convention.
Newfoundlanders know how to throw
a party. Last summer, I was
pleased to meet with
Sandra
Kelly,
whom Air Highways interviewed in
1993 at an Airports Conference
when she was Mayor of Gander.
This lady of our times is now the
Hon. Sandra Kelly, Provincial
Minister of Industry. A well
deserved position. I promised to
return and write a feature on
Newfoundland Tourism, and am
eager to return. Speaking of
hotels, during the mid 70s, a
suite in Edmonton's Macdonald
Hotel served as our advertising
agency's branch office.
Harrison Hot Springs Resort, near
Vancouver also 'springs to mind'
as a legend of CPR's glory days,
when high rollers, from movie
stars to royalty rode the train,
staying at hotels and resorts at
or near the main line. We
launched Air Highways Magazine
there at the BC Aviation Council
1996 Conference, where I spoke on
my favorite topic - Open Skies.
Another great hotel, Vancouver's
Sheraton Wall Center was the site
of our 1st Air & Marine
Tourism Conference, and we plan a
return engagement.
 Travel
into History:
The
first hotels in my memory were in
my home town, Dawson City of
Klondike fame. Most were
remaining relics of Gold Rush
days. Ornamental pressed tin
adorned the inner walls and lined
the ceilings, corrugated tin,
patched with flattened aviation
gas cans was the popular roofing
material, and the facade was
usually a false
front.
In the Royal Alexandra
Hotel
on Front Street, facing the
steamboat docks, hung enormous
oil paintings of buxom nude
ladies. Scattered about lobby
were shiny brass spittoons and
deep, black leather chairs, where
we kids dove for loose change
every few days. There was usually
a gang of old timers from the
creeks and about town, with tall
tales to tell. Most of them like
Black Mike, Snoose Benson and
Little Dave, frequented the snake
room and card tables at the back
of the hotel. For more see
Canada's
Hotels and
Resorts.
Icons
of
Aviation:
Our
SuperTours from Vancouver via
Asia to Africa, were inspired by
the early achievements of
Edmonton's Grant MacConachie,
founder of Canadian Pacific
Airlines, who dreamed of an air
bridge to the Orient and across
the pole.
Canada's
Airport network, and pilots Wop
May, Max Ward and others have
played a vital role in opening
the North to trade and tourism,
just as the great
transcontinental
railway
changed the face of Canada in the
1890s. Stay tuned, there's plenty
more to come on the topic of
transportation
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