U.S. Consul General welcomes guests to Toronto residence

A strong Canadian dollar and a U.S. hospitality industry welcoming northern visitors are among the reasons for Canadian travellers to head south for vacation, said the guests of honour at a U.S. Consulate General Toronto event this week.

U.S. Consul General Jim Dickmeyer welcomed a trio of guests - Rick Ortiz, Commercial Counsellor at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa; Toronto U.S. consul commercial officer Shakir Farsakh; and Andrea Gorog, foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State – to his Toronto residence this week, to meet with Canadian business and government representatives for a networking event.

The guests offered PAX some comments on the state of the cross-border travel industry, one day after the annual Discover America Day event promoting U.S. tourism was held in Toronto.

“With the Canadian dollar doing so well, it’s a good opportunity for Canadians to travel to the U.S. - we’re each other’s number one travel destination,” said Ortiz.

“Canadians are unique in that they’re the only travellers who come to virtually all places in the U.S., not just the big place like New York and Los Angeles,” added Farsakh. “There’s plenty of resorts and hotels that are just crying out for more Canadians to visit them.”