Smelly Passengers, Visit Florida, Copa Airlines Award And More

The folks at Expedia recently conducted an airplane and hotel etiquette survey with Canadians and came up with some fun results regarding smelly passengers on a plane and the borrowing of someone else's clothes at an Air BnB.

The item I found astonishing is that 68% of Canadians feel that it's inappropriate at a vacation rental to wear host clothes/shoes. That's cool, but it pretty much suggests that one out of three of us think it's absolutely fine to borrow some guy's shirt or some woman's fashionable pumps and parade about the town. And that's crazy.

Also on the accommodations front, 81% of respondents feel Wi-Fi is a very important hotel amenity to have, while 71% believe price is very important when booking a hotel. Now, that also seems amazing to me, because that means 29% of Canadians have so much money that they don't consider a hotel's pricing to be very important. Which means I'm clearly in the wrong job.

As for airplanes, 47% of Canadians said they'd get the flight attendant to deal with a situation if one passenger was being rude to another. Fifty two per cent said they would politely ask the flight attendant if they could be reseated if they were sitting next to a passenger who smelt extremely bad, which means almost half of us would sit in silence. Which I guess makes me a bad Canadian, as the only time it happened to me I pushed the "call" button as soon as I could.

Copa Airlines was named "Best Airline in Central America and the Caribbean" for a fifth consecutive year and recognized as the carrier with the "Best Airline Staff in Central America and the Caribbean" at the 2019 Skytrax World Airline Awards. The Skytrax World Airline Awards' ranking reflects the results of the industry's largest customer service survey, which evaluated more than 300 airlines.

Throughout the course of 2019, Copa Airlines has received four additional international awards for the world class service it consistently offers passengers.

"We continue to operate as the leading airline in the region. These awards are the result of the commitment, dedication and teamwork of our Copa Airlines employees, who passionately work to offer the World Class service that differentiates us everywhere we operate," said Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Airlines.

Visit Florida officials rolled into Toronto last week for a fun, educational lunch. One of the groups who came represents the Florida Sports Coast, a new moniker for Pasco County, which is a little north of Tarpon Springs on the gulf coast and is famous for its kayaking and water sports, as well as its beach volleyball and ice hockey arenas. Anclote Key State Park looks like a fabulous spot to paddle in the area. I also had the chance to chat with friends from Ocala, where you'll find a handsome downtown with great restaurants and tons of amazing nature all around, most notably crystal clear, fresh water springs that make the region ideal for nature lovers. I also caught up with folks from Crystal River, which also has amazing fresh water springs and the funky town of Homosassa Springs.

Crystal River is the only place in the world where it's legal to swim with manatees, by the way. Finally, I had a chance to chat with a tourism official from Pensacola, who talked about cool food options and natural areas to explore in and around the city. I've been to several towns on the Florida Panhandle and enjoyed them all, but have never been to Pensacola.

The recently established Global Tourism and Crisis Management Centre in Montego Bay is set to partner with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to conduct research on the potential threat of sargassum to the destination and wider Caribbean.

Sargassum is a type of brown seaweed. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they inhabit shallow water and coral reefs.

"The issue of managing sargassum has become more urgent since large quantities of different species of the algae accumulated along the shores of many of the countries on the Caribbean Sea in 2015, said Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who made the announcement at the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association's 58th Annual General Meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Montego Bay.

"Sargassum, as a disruptive phenomenon, can negatively impact our destination as when washed up on shore, it often causes a foul odour, releasing fumes of sulphur compounds that rust metals, and damage modern conveniences.

The Board of Directors at the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority (SLTA) has appointed Mrs. Beverly Nicholson-Doty as the organization's Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Mrs. Nicholson-Doty has over three decades of industry leadership experience, including most recently serving as Commissioner of Tourism at the USVI Department of Tourism from 2007 to 2018. She brings significant experience in marketing, sales and strategic planning in Caribbean travel, tourism and hospitality. Mrs. Nicholson-Doty has developed deep relationships with executives across the airline, cruise, hotel and service industries that serve the region, and has created partnership opportunities that include public, private, non-profit, non-governmental and community-based entities.

Mrs. Nicholson Doty's achievements include the successful development of the Ports of the Virgin Islands concept to brand and develop a collaborative effort to elevate the territory's port facilities, and the creation of a strategic plan for positioning the USVI as one of the top destinations for the Meetings and Incentives (MICE) market. She was also instrumental in engineering double-digit airline capacity growth over a 10-year period.

The CEO will be responsible for overall management of the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority, including oversight of the development of the Authority's marketing and destination services, and general administration. She intends to work closely with agencies, institutions and individuals within the public and private sectors of Saint Lucia at home and abroad.

"We welcome Mrs. Nicholson-Doty to the organisation and look forward to the strategic leadership that she will provide implementing and developing our sustainable tourism growth strategy," said Nicholas John, Chairman of the Board at the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority.

In addition, as CEO, Mrs. Nicholson-Doty will work closely with the Board of Directors to achieve overall objectives, including coordinating and directing the programmes of the Board. In marketing, promotions and publicity, she will be tasked to utilize and deploy resources in the best interest of the development of tourism to Saint Lucia.

"I look forward to this opportunity. Our team at the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority will be focused on developing and implementing a strong strategic plan aimed at increasing market share, and even more importantly, increasing visitor spend for maximum return on investment," said Mrs. Nicholson Doty.

U River Cruises announcing three new itineraries and the relaunch of The B ship for 2020. Debuting in April 2020, U's seven-night itineraries will sail throughout hot spot European destinations such as Vienna, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Salzburg, Bratislava and more. New offerings on the sailings include added overnight stays, complimentary happy hour every night for guests to socialize, and even more active excursions such as touring Bratislava in a Soviet-era vintage car and taking in the proud exuberance of Belgrade.

The A, which was named "One of the World's Greatest Places" by TIME magazine, will offer the new Vienna Vibe and Eastern Europe Escapes itineraries, while The B will offer the Amsterdam & Brussels Bound sailing and an updated Rolling on the Rhine itinerary. In addition to U's four seven-night itineraries, cruises can be combined to create 14-night Super Cruises without repeating ports.