Local News
Prairie Rovers tours will showcase Brandon
A Brandon tourism business is set to put the city’s downtown and other attractions in the spotlight this week.
Founded by longtime tour guide Alison Dawson in August, Prairie Rovers will offer its “Brandon in Brief” tour Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., giving members of the public an opportunity to explore some of the city’s landmarks, businesses and history aboard a 20-seat bus.
The tour will travel through the downtown core, including Rosser and Princess avenues, with stops and points of interest including the Green Spot, Assiniboine College’s North Campus, Hanbury Hill, the Brandon Riverbank Discovery Centre, Daly Museum and the Keystone Centre’s Dome Building.
“The tours are intended to showcase parts of Brandon that residents and visitors may overlook,” Dawson said. “There are lots of history and stories down in the downtown core and other parts of the city.”
Dawson brings more than 20 years of experience in tourism, having worked for tourism agencies and companies in British Columbia, Yukon and Nova Scotia.
National News
Alberta tourism mission heads to Mexico to grow international market
Complete: Alberta’s government is leading a tourism mission to Mexico City this week as it looks to strengthen the province’s presence in one of its key international tourism markets.
Tourism and Sport Minister Andrew Boitchenko and representatives from Travel Alberta are scheduled to meet with airline, travel trade and media partners from Oct. 5 to 9. The mission will focus on promoting Alberta as a year-round destination, strengthening international partnerships, expanding direct air access and highlighting tourism experiences across the province.
Mexican visitors spent about $51 million in Alberta in 2025. The province also saw a 38 per cent increase in air passenger volume from Mexico, with visitor numbers rising from about 6,000 in 2024 to 8,000 in 2025.
The government says the mission will also explore opportunities for future investment in Alberta’s tourism sector.
During the mission, Boitchenko is scheduled to meet with Mexico’s Secretary of Tourism, the Ambassador of Canada to Mexico, representatives from the Alberta Office in Mexico City and airline partner Aeroméxico. The itinerary also includes travel trade media interviews, a Destination Showcase and an Alberta Winter Kick-Off event.
The Alberta government says Mexican visitation to Canada is forecast to be 40 per cent higher by 2030 compared with 2025 levels, while visitor spending is projected to increase by 60 per cent.
International News
Brand USA names Caroline Beteta interim CEO
Brand USA has named former Visit California chief Caroline Beteta interim president and CEO, effective November 9, with securing the organization’s reauthorization as her top priority.
Beteta succeeds Fred Dixon, who will depart on November 13 after more than two years leading the U.S. destination marketing organization.
Dixon returns to NYC Tourism + Conventions as president and CEO on December 1.
The appointment marks a return for Beteta, who previously served as Brand USA’s board chair and acting CEO and helped lay the groundwork for its creation.
“Caroline has led this organization before, she knows our partners and our mission,” said Brand USA Board Chair Todd Davidson, highlighting her experience as the organization pursues reauthorization.
Beteta retired from Visit California in September 2026 after leading the organization since January 1998.
Florida weighs ditching property taxes and sticking Canadians with the bill
Florida voters are weighing whether to scrap residential property taxes, and the state’s governor has a solution to that potentially huge revenue loss: tax Canadians more.
Canadians who own property in Florida describe the threats to shake them down for more money as just the latest insult in a series of them since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to power last year with a decidedly anti-Canada agenda.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has railed against property taxes, which fund local governments and the services they provide — law enforcement, fire, EMS, disaster preparation and mosquito control, among many others — equating them to a form of modern-day feudalism (new window) where homeowners must pony up money to the government just for the courtesy of using your own property.
To end this, DeSantis is pushing Amendment 3, a ballot measure crafted by his Republican statehouse allies that will be put to voters in the midterm election next month.
If passed, Florida homesteaders,
as permanent residents are called, will see a dramatic increase in an existing property tax exemption.
Iceland plans visitor fee to address overtourism at three famous Golden Circle sites
Iceland’s government has published a draft bill that would impose a new fee to visit three of the country’s most popular sites, as it tries to get a handle on overtourism and its impacts.
Iceland’s tourism industry has exploded over the past 20 years, fuelled in part by social media showcasing the country’s dramatic landscapes to the world, at the same time that a growing number of low-cost flights made the island relatively cheap and easy to reach from both North America and Europe.
But the speed of the growth caught the country off guard.
Fragile landscapes at some of Iceland’s busiest attractions struggled under the pressure of hundreds of thousands of visitors, while governments struggled to build and maintain the trails, parking lots, washrooms and other infrastructure needed to protect the sites and manage the crowds.
“There’s been a consensus for a long time, both on the part of the tourism industry and the public, that there’s a need to finance development and maintenance work due to the strain on infrastructure and nature that’s accompanied the rapid growth of tourism,” Iceland’s Minister of Industry and Trade Hanna Katrín Fridriksson said in a Sept 22 statement.
