News that has caught Chris' eye in the Travel World

New Airport for St Vincent and The Grenadines (11 April, 2017)

There’s good news for those who love the Caribbean island vibe. One of the most beautiful of all these islands in the sun is now a lot more accessible. St. Vincent and The Grenadines has opened its first international airport – the brand new Argyle International Airport.  It’s taken eight years and a 300 million dollar investment to create a 90,000-foot runway that can handle wide-body planes. Previously, it was necessary for Canadians to fly to a more developed island nearby, such as Barbados, overnight there, and then take a small inter-island plane to St. Vincent. Now, very shortly, you will be able to fly directly to this island paradise.

St Vincent will never be a mass market destination – there are only 2,200 rooms on the island right now and the island nation receives just 8,000 Canadian visitors a year currently. The island tourism team is headed up by Glen Beache – an exToronto resident who was my guest on the Travel Show the last time we covered this destination. He is in talks with several Canadian tour operators including WestJet Vacations and Air Canada Vacations for direct flights from Canada to the new airport.  “So much of travelling is about bragging rights right now,” Glen says. “People want to be able to post their vacation pictures on Pinterest and say, ‘I got to go somewhere that no one else did.” On a personal note: this is the destination my wife and I chose to renew our wedding vows and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

A Tunnel for Ships! (11 April, 2017)

Norway plans to build the world’s first tunnel for ships.  The Stad Ship Tunnel, which will be able to accommodate cruise and freight ships weighing up to 16,000 tons, is expected to open in 2023.  It will be 36m wide and 49m tall and 1.7 kilometres long, burrowing through a piece of rocky peninsula. It will allow vessels to avoid a treacherous part of sea and it will cut journey times along the Norwegian coast substantially. Sign me up for the first trip through!