Daily Archive for June 18th, 2007

Tourism’s troubled waters

From the Toronto Star:

Tucked between Screamers House of Horrors, a $12.95 prime rib special and a slew of motels with heart-shaped Jacuzzis is a near-empty parking lot where the attendants, on the first Saturday in June, are parked on lawn chairs.

The odd vehicle cruises by on the once-gridlocked main drag.

Mike Piccirillo, who owns four downtown parking lots that would be jam-packed with U.S. licence plates in years past, waves two 20-dollar bills in the air to show his brother how business is that sunny afternoon.

“It’s dead around here. After my expenses, this is all the money that’s left over. It’s ridiculous,” he says.

“Everybody’s hurting,” adds his brother, Charlie Piccirillo.

“Heaven forbid if the currency ever hits par with the U.S.”

And they call it walrus love

smooshi_phil.jpg

This is old news (I posted here and here about this in February), but CNN recently posted a video segment about Smooshie the walrus at Marineland. You can also see more videos on AOL Video and YouTube.

Passport delay a relief for local operators

From the Niagara Falls Review:

Niagara’s tourism industry let out a collective sigh of relief over the weekend in light of the latest delay in the controversial passport issue.

The U.S. government Friday voted overwhelmingly to delay implementing the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) until at least the summer of 2009.

The plan had been set to begin Jan. 1, 2008 and would have required travellers - including Canadians and returning Americans - to have a passport in order to enter the U.S. at all land borders.

Hotel workers march through Niagara Falls

From the Niagara Falls Review:

Hotel and restaurant workers from across Ontario marched through Niagara Falls Saturday.

Protesters ended the march with a rally in front of the Sheraton on the Falls hotel, owned by Canadian Niagara Hotels.

UNITE HERE, the labour union representing hourly employees at three Canadian Niagara Hotels properties, has been in a dispute over contractual issues with the hotel chain since last July.