The Consulate General of Austria – Commercial Section hosted Vancouver travel agents for lunch on Thursday at the first ever Discover Austria tourism showcase for travel professionals on the West Coast. With representatives on hand from Austrian Airlines, Eurofun Touristik hiking and biking tours, Salzburg Tourism and the Vienna Tourism Board, it was an information-packed afternoon…

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Insight Vacations gathered Vancouver travel agents and their clients together at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Vancouver last night for a Travel Showcase to launch the company's 2016-17 Europe program and new Luxury Gold program.

"The concept is to provide an opportunity for agents to expose clients to knowledge and inspiration,” Cris David, president, Insight Vacations Canada, told PAXnewsWest.com. "It's a wonderful opportunity to get clients inspired and show them what the Insight experience can be…”

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Tucson offers the largest concentration of Mexican eateries in the United States crammed into an area dubbed "the country's best 23 miles (37 km) of Mexican food.” Putting on our stretchiest pants, PAXnewsWest.com dove into the Tucson food scene with Visit Tucson to sample as much as we could in 24 hours. A tour is the best way for visitors to maximize the time (and calories) invested; we rode with Gray Line Tours Arizona on their Best of the Barrio tour, offering five stops in Southern Tucson…

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Canadian travellers may think of sunny skies and top-notch golfing as the primary reasons to visit Arizona, but the state has a distinct food culture, too. That makes it a prime destination for those seeking agritourism experiences and foodie travel – as PAXnewsWest.com learned first hand on a recent trip with Visit Mesa and Visit Tucson…

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Representatives from Travel Alberta and some of the province's key tourism destinations met with travel media in Vancouver yesterday to highlight their latest tourism offerings.

Banff and Lake Louise
"We're a protected playground,” Kymberley Hill, senior manager, media – North America for Banff Lake Louise Tourism, told PAXnewsWest.com. "Banff doesn't change a lot, but that's why we love it…”

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My story about my experiences at the Elephant Hills camps in Thailand appears in the latest issue of PAX Magazine.

Read online at PAXmagazine.ca.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) brought a taste of the gambling capital of the world to Vancouver nightclub Twelve West last night. More than 100 agents gathered for a spirited evening of cocktails and contests for a huge collection of prizes from the long list of partners at the event. Prizes ranged from rubber chickens and whoopee cushions (the "zonks” in the "Let's Make a Deal” game) to airfare from WestJet and Air Canada and stays at some of the top hotels on the Vegas Strip…

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Hard Rock Hotels hosted a "sold-out” event in Vancouver last night to give agents a taste of Hard Rock's "authentic rock star experience,” wrapping up the Western Canadian leg of its Genesis of the All Inclusive tour, which also included stops in Edmonton and Calgary…

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Visit Mesa spoke to travel media and members of the travel trade yesterday to showcase a new tourism initiative from Arizona's third-largest city and the surrounding towns of Queen Creek and Gilbert. The Routes to Roots Fresh Foodie Trail guides visitors through the Eastern Valley Region's orchards, farms and farmers' markets…

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Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) welcomed 70 agents to its 2015 Fall Event Series stop in Vancouver last night for a training session that highlighted the brand's unique offerings and showcased the line's newest ships.

Dana Gain, NCL's national director, sales – Canada, started the evening off by announcing that Norwegian now has the largest sales force of any cruise line in Canada…

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