New Year, New Economy, New Travel Deals

Not to be outdone -- or out-dined -- Vancouver, British Columbia, is running Dine Out Vancouver from Jan. 14 through Feb. 1. Participating restaurants offer C$18, C$28 or C$38 prix fixe menus. Among them: the Wedgewood Hotel's excellent fine-dining restaurant Bacchus; the fun brewpub Yaletown Brewing Co.; the Fish House in stunning Stanley Park; the standout seafood restaurant C; and the cutting-edge eatery West.

There are exceptionally good hotel-and-dinner deals on offer, too. The Wedgewood Hotel, a downtown bastion of old-school elegance, located just off bustling Robson Street, offers rooms from $150 and dinner for two in Bacchus at the Dine Out Vancouver prix fixe rate; other participating hotels include the Fairmont Waterfront, Hyatt Regency and the Westin Bayshore. Read here for tourism deals.

Speaking of hotels, there are some very good deals out there, due to an unholy combination of recession-driven falloff in business and leisure travel, the usual winter blues and the fact that the hotel industry insanely overbuilt in the boom times of recent years and is now having trouble filling rooms.

Mid-winter discounts include rooms from $120 through Jan. 31 at the beachside Caribbean resort Catalonia Royal Bavaro, in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic; and from $128 through Jan. 31 at the Catalonia Royal Tulem Beach & Spa Resort, on Mexico's Riviera Maya.

In Mexico's Baja California, there are more deals. Riu Hotels is offering spring escapes from $102 per night at its 902-room, family-friendly Riu Santa Fe Cabo. At the Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas, a 642-room resort, rooms start at the same price. Riu says this is a 30% discount. Rooms must be booked by Jan. 30 for stays between April 13 and April 30.