The Manitoba Model Forest in partnership with the Manitoba Department of Education and the Manitoba Tourism Education Council (MTEC) is hosting a workshop Friday, March 22 on “Training and Future Workforce Needs for Tourism in Manitoba”.   For additional information and registration please click above.

http://www.travelmanitoba.com/images_tr/pdf/future_workforce_workshop.pdf

WFP Guest Columnist, Benjamin Gillies: On Sunday, Manitobans will come together over a pint to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Unlike their counterparts across Canada, however, there is one place they will not be going to toast all things Irish: a brew pub.

Last October, Vacay.ca came out with the first-ever ranking of Canada's 24 best brew pubs. Unsurprisingly, Toronto had four establishments on the list, the most of any city, but even tiny Shawinigan, Que., home to just 50,000 people, had two.

In fact, every single province was represented except Manitoba -- because it is the only one to not have a single brew pub (We had one -- the River City Brewery -- briefly in Osborne Village.)

Apparently, the Exchange District came close to getting one in the 1990s. Two investors wanted to turn the James Avenue Pumping Station into the Pump House Restaurant and Brewing Co.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/fyi/exchange-brew-pub-might-make-irish-eyes-smile-198575881.html

Casino giant MGM held a job information session in Toronto on Saturday — part of its pitch to build and run a casino on the city's waterfront.

It showed off the thousands of jobs that the company says are part of the offer.

Edwin Joshua showed up at the event ready to hunt for a job, but he quickly discovered despite having the hallmarks of a job fair, it wasn't.

"They're like telling us how [it might be] if we want to work for them two or three years from now," he said.

Joshua said he felt as if he were being used as a pawn in the battle over whether to bring a casino to Toronto.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2013/03/16/torontomgm-jobs.html

Tourism operators and historians fear students and other visitors to national parks will soon feel the impact of cuts announced last year to Parks Canada.

Parks Canada plans to cut back on staffing levels at many of its national parks and historic sites after its budget was reduced by $29 million.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada says 432 Parks Canada positions in the Atlantic region were either cut or the employees' hours were reduced...   ...Ellen Tucker, the owner of Freedom Tours, a travel agency in Saint John, said Parks Canada has been unable to provide basic information about its summer operations...   ...She also can't book hotels or print itineraries for motor coach tours this summer until she can be assured staff will be there to accommodate them. To date, she said, she has received no guarantees.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2013/03/15/nb-parks-canada-school-visits.html

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - A luxury Radisson Blu hotel has opened next to the Mall of America, ushering in a new era of expansion plans at the mall.

The 13-story, 500-room hotel becomes the first nearby hotel to be linked by skyway to the Bloomington mall. Friday's opening comes at a time when the Mall of America is proceeding with a $225 million construction project aimed at adding upscale retail, lodging and entertainment venues.

"The hotel serves the same purpose as an anchor store, which is to bring in more people," Kurt Hagen, executive vice-president of development at Mall of America owner Triple Five Group, told the Star Tribune (http://bit.ly/WMVWVt ). "People staying in the Radisson Blu will shop, buy food and be entertained in the mall."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/opening-of-luxury-13-story-radisson-blu-hotel-ushers-in-new-era-of-mall-of-america-expansion-198623461.html

ROSS ISLAND, Antarctica - Across most of Earth, a tourist attraction that sees 35,000 visitors a year can safely be labeled sleepy. But when it's Antarctica, every footstep matters.

Tourism is rebounding here five years after the financial crisis stifled what had been a burgeoning industry. And it's not just retirees watching penguins from the deck of a ship. Visitors are taking tours inland and even engaging in "adventure tourism" like skydiving and scuba diving under the ever-sunlit skies of a Southern Hemisphere summer.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/tourism-numbers-rebound-in-antarctica-raising-questions-about-how-much-is-too-much-198620321.html

CHICAGO - The planned shutdown of up to 238 air traffic control towers across the country under federal budget cuts will strip away an extra layer of safety during takeoffs and landings, leaving pilots to manage the most critical stages of flight on their own.

The towers slated to close are at smaller airports with lighter traffic, and all pilots are trained to land without help by communicating among themselves on a common radio frequency. But airport directors and pilots say there is little doubt the removal of that second pair of eyes on the ground increases risk and will slow the progress that has made the U.S. air system the safest in the world.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/planned-closure-of-nearly-240-air-traffic-control-towers-will-strip-away-layer-of-safety-198499861.html

(A complete article published originally in the WFP, Mar.  '27)

Expenditure on the roads of the province, to the extent of more than $1,000,000, will be provided for In the capital supply bill, which will be introduced  in the provincial legislature at an early date, it was learned at the legislative building yesterday. While the general nature of the work to be undertaken will be in the direction of completing the Trans-Canada highway and the provincial trunk highway system several works to which considerable attention has been called will be provided for in the bill. Among the features of the bill will be an Item of $25,000 for repairing the St. Norbert pavement on the Lord Selkirk highway. This is pursuant to the general demand made from service clubs and other sources, that the southern means of access to the city should be improved in interests of tourist traffic. Provision will also be made for continuing the work on the Trans-Canada highway to the eastern boundary for which $50,000 will be sought. It is proposed to mark out the route east this summer, according to information available today. Work on the roads into the northern and central Manitoba minefields will be continued this summer, and the bill will call for $10,000 for completion of the road from Sturgeon Landing to the Flin Flon district. A further vote of $15,000 for completing the Rice Lake road, along the Wanlpigow river, also will be sought, and In expectation of completing the work this year, a crew of 12 men was sent forward this week to join the winter gang which, under V. H. Campbell, has been Improving portages for the provincial government, and clearing the eastern end of the river on behalf of the federal authorities.