Invasive and toxic hammerhead worms make themselves at home in Ontario
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Cooped-up tourists eager for a taste of Florida's sandy beaches, swaying palm trees and warmer climates are visiting the Sunshine State in droves, topping pre-pandemic levels in recent months.
Miami is one of the top search destinations on travel websites and statewide, Florida had 32.5 million travellers from July to September of this year, exceeding the number of visitors during that period in pre-pandemic 2019, Gov. Ron DeSantis said recently.
The state was boosted by the Republican governor's pro-business, anti-lockdown and anti-mask restrictions all year, allowing one of Florida's main economic engines to flourish, even as tourism dipped in other parts of the country.
Now, as snowbirds have returned and others are making holidays travel plans, hotels and tourism experts report a noticeable bump. Miami -- and Florida -- have grown even more popular since borders were opened earlier this month to international travels, though plans and logistics could be upset by the emergence of the new COVID-19 omicron variant.
"The moment the borders and the flights were reopened in November, we started to see bookings from Europe and South America," said Milton Sgarbi, a vice president at 1 Hotel South Beach, one of Miami's most luxe oceanfront resorts.
"We had bachelorette parties, we had reunions, we had weddings, not as big as we used to have in the past, but small weddings almost every weekend. Last weekend, we had three weddings."
Despite the pandemic, the high-end hotel flourished in 2021 with leisure travellers. Normally, they see an even mix of business and leisure, but he expects the business market will pick up in 2022, along with the international tourists
Karen Aguilar came to Miami in November -- just weeks after the borders reopened -- to enjoy the sun from Bucaramanga, Colombia.
"You have to come and enjoy the views, the beaches, the people. It's very friendly and yeah, I'll be back," she said.
Miami and Florida typically have an even mix of domestic and international tourism, but with the borders closed because of COVID-19 in 2021, cities launched massive marketing campaigns courting U.S. tourists who were tired of being cooped up.
"Domestic tourism came back like gangbusters," said Rolando Aedo, of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. "We expanded our market share of domestic visitors driven partially by the fact that Florida and Miami were open when others weren't and there was a lot of pent-up demand."
While much of the country was shut down, several new hotels opened up in Miami; airlines including Southwest and JetBlue added Miami routes for the first time; and Aedo said the nation's cruise capital of Miami broke ground on new port terminals to meet demand as several cruise lines, including Virgin, recently came onboard here.
Miami is also expanding as a destination: In addition to perennially popular South Beach, the burgeoning art district known as Wynwood has become a top draw. Wynwood officials estimate nearly 6 million visitors will have checked out the trendy area in 2021, up from roughly 5 million in 2020.
Chic new restaurants and boutique shops opened all year long in Wynwood, where most of the buildings and sidewalks are covered in grand technicolor murals. TripAdvisor even named Wynwood one of the coolest hipster destinations in the U.S.
Andrew Cronin, a resident of Orlando, Florida, has visited South Beach several times, but now says, "I do like coming a little bit more to Wynwood and Brickell because you really get to feel the real experience of Miami, like the heart of Miami."
The theme-park home of Orlando is always popular during tourist season, and now has big draws such as Disney's 50th anniversary celebration; new attractions including Peppa Pig Theme Park, which opens in February; and several new hotels.
"The holiday season is going to be strong for our destination," said Casandra Matej, president and CEO of Visit Orlando.
Advance bookings for Christmas and New Years in Orlando are at roughly 95 per cent what they were during the holidays in 2019.
"As we look ahead, bookings for January and February are triple the volume we saw at this time last year," Matej said.
Across Florida, vacation rentals through the end of the year are trending over 42 per cent higher than 2019, and seat capacity on domestic flights is nearly four per cent higher, according to VISIT FLORIDA.
And 50 new hotels are slated to open throughout the Sunshine State by March.
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
South Africa marked 30 years since the end of apartheid and the birth of its democracy with a ceremony in the capital Saturday that included a 21-gun salute and the waving of the nation's multicolored flag.
Britney Spears has reached a settlement with her estranged father more than two years after the court-ordered termination of a conservatorship that had given him control of her life, their attorneys said.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Although it's still unclear how much damage Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s candidacy can do to either Joe Biden or Donald Trump this election, Washington political columnist Eric Ham says what is clear is both sides recognize the potential threat.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Taking place in May in Malmo, Sweden, the 68th annual competition will see acts from 37 countries vie for the continent’s pop crown in a feelgood extravaganza that strives — not always successfully – to banish international strife and division. And you don’t have to be in Europe to watch, or to help pick the winner.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”