● The Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing (VDTM) has announced that after a four-year hiatus, Vermont has rejoined Discover New England, a regional destination marketing organization dedicated to promoting international visitation to the six member states of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. VDTM will gain access to DNE’s existing media and travel trade relationships. In addition, tourism industry businesses will have access to educational resources and the DNE Summit to meet directly with tour operators.
● 15 Airlines Have Changed the Way Airlines do Business in Latin America. The Mexico-based Latin American new publication REPORTUR tells readers that the LATAM air travel market has been revolutionized in recent years by 15 low-cost carriers who operate with a more profitable and accessible business model. Among these fifteen companies—a they are located in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Venezuela—are: Viva Air, Viva Aerobus, Volaris, JetSmart, Sky Airlines, Wingo, Easyfly, Azul, Ultra Air, Flybondi, Gol Linhas Aéreas, GCA Airlines, Avior Airlines, Laser and Avianca with a more affordable business model for travelers. Click here for the complete REPORTUR article.
● Althams Travel—it is in Burnley, about 240 miles north/northwest of Central London—has announced plans to move staff to a four-day working week as the business strives to offer “a much better work-life balance.” The new approach begins on April 1st after changes led by managing director Sandra McAllister. McAllister said the companies board has first discussed the idea back in 2018 but plans to implement it were put on hold in 2020 due to the pandemic and staff working from home.
“Everybody’s prepared to step it up,” said McAllister. “We didn’t want it to look like it was all give, give, give, I do understand they’ll be some give and take from staff, so we said look, we feel this will be a much better work life balance for everyone concerned and nearly everyone was onboard with it.” She admitted some staff members were concerned with the change and that salary would be reduced, however wages will stay the same despite the decrease in working hours.
● Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently signed an executive directive which creates the City of Los Angeles Tourism Cabinet, a group of department general managers to support growth in the tourism and hospitality sectors in Los Angeles. Doane Liu, the executive director of the LA City Tourism Department, was designated as the chief tourism officer and the Chair of the Tourism Cabinet and will be responsible for leading the implementation of the Tourism Master Plan. “I look forward to serving as the Chief Tourism Officer and collaborating with the Tourism Cabinet to enhance the visitor experience while also improving the quality of life for Angelenos,” said Doane Liu, adding, “The Tourism Master Plan is a destination management plan that helps Los Angeles prepare for long-term growth in the number of visitors to the City, and I’m excited that the Tourism Cabinet will work with public, private and community stakeholders to advance the 22 recommendations in the Plan.” Click here for the complete city statement on the new office.
● Z.J. Tong, president at Chicago-based China Pro Marketing Partners, has told us that, on March 21, his company “reached a milestone on WeChat Channel to over 100K followers. I started livestreaming on this platform exactly a year ago in March, 2021. Now I’m averagely growing 10K new followers a month on there. While tourism marketing to Chinese market is very quiet at the moment, I have become one of the loudest voices to fill the void and have successfully built myself as the top travel influencer for the U.S. on WeChat Channel.”
● Testing Rule Change a Huge Boost for Canadian Tourism, Starting April 1. April 1st is a day to celebrate for Canadian travelers, and for anyone wishing to visit Canada. Previously, the Canadian government today) announced that mandatory border tests for fully vaccinated residents and visitors will be dropped as of April 1. That means Canadians can travel out of the country and not have to worry about finding an expensive COVID-19 test. They also don’t have to worry that they’ll be denied entry to the country because of a positive test result. It also means foreign visitors can avoid pricey tests and the worry of testing positive. Read the full story on this item here.
● New in New York: MAD Tours. After more than a year of work (and sweat and anxiety) Isabelle D. Mary and Martin Dominique are the new owners of their brand-new tours and events agency: MAD Tours and Events. It all started, says Isabelle, “one afternoon on the phone with my amazing friend and one of the best tour guides of New York City, Martine Dominique, when we came up with the idea for MAD Tours and Events.” We spent 13 months working days and night because we had a vision and wanted to make sure our agency would reflect it! With leadership, mentorship, friends, YouTube and YouTube again, the positive work morale and discipline we established, we are in the final stage to have our website go LIVE … Here it is: https://www.madnewyorktours.com/. You can also call 1.646.895.5778.
● CVC stubbornly stays on course. The company’s key numbers for 2021, as reported by PANROTAS, show the following:
—CVC Corp’s balance sheet for 2021 shows that the company was unable to satisfy a goal of several years ago of 100 new agencies a year, but considering the economic environment in which it operated, one has to be impressed with its key numbers for last year.
—The number of its stores in Brazil were down by 67 stores in total and up by 10 stores in Argentina.
—There were 1,119 CVC stores at the end of the year—1,107 franchises (a decrease of 73 compared to the beginning of 2021) and 12 of its own stores (an increase of 6 units compared to the beginning of the year.)
—Brazil ended the year with 1, 176 stores, including 57 Experimento stores (Experimento is an educational store specialist), four of which are owned and 53 franchises.
—Overall, the CVC Corp. had 1,279 stores at the end of 2021, in Brazil and Argentina.
—Of the 12 of its own stores, four have already have begun to use the new layout defined by the company for more personalized service and closer to the customers.
