Category: Latest Travel News

Geneva (Switzerand) – March 25, 2020 (travelindex) – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) updated its analysis of the revenue impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global air transport industry. Owing to the severity of travel restrictions and the expected global recession, IATA now estimates that industry passenger revenues could plummet $252 billion or 44% below 2019’s figure. This is in a scenario in which severe travel restrictions last for up to three months, followed by a gradual economic recovery later this year.

IATA’s previous analysis of up to a $113 billion revenue loss was made on 5 March 2020, before the countries around the world introduced sweeping travel restrictions that largely eliminated the international air travel market.

“The airline industry faces its gravest crisis. Within a matter of a few weeks, our previous worst case scenario is looking better than our latest estimates. But without immediate government relief measures, there will not be an industry left standing. Airlines need $200 billion in liquidity support simply to make it through. Some governments have already stepped forward, but many more need to follow suit,” said IATA’s Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac.

Slower Recovery

The latest analysis envisions that under this scenario, severe restrictions on travel are lifted after 3 months. The recovery in travel demand later this year is weakened by the impact of global recession on jobs and confidence. Full year passenger demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) declines 38% compared to 2019. Industry capacity (available seat kilometer or ASKs) in domestic and international markets declines 65% during the second quarter ended 30 June compared to a year-ago period, but in this scenario recovers to a 10% decline in the fourth quarter.

London (United Kingdom) – March 24, 2020 (travelindex.com) – Significant and Swift Measures are needed to support the Travel & Tourism sector in the turbulent months ahead. WTTC urges governments to implement policies that will directly support the sector across the following three areas, namely:

• Protecting the Livelihoods of Workers: Financial help must be granted to protect the incomes of the millions of workers in severe difficulty.

• Fiscal Support: Government must extend vital, unlimited interest-free loans to global Travel & Tourism companies as well as the millions of small and medium-sized businesses as a stimulus to prevent them from collapse. Governments dues and financial demands on the Travel & Tourism sector need to be waived with immediate effect for at least the next 12 months.

• Injecting Liquidity & Cash: Cash flow assistance to support players big and small of the Travel & Tourism sector is critical as well as to offer targeted support to severely affected industries within the sector.

On the basis on the three policy priority areas, above, WTTC has highlighted a number of countries which have announced and are now implementing impressive policies in this area:

• Italy: As part of its “Italy Cure” package, the Italian government has put worker protection at its core through the reactivation of the Cassa integrazione for all the sectors, whereby the government pays 80% of the employee salaries. What’s more, self-employed or seasonal workers can apply for a special pay-out of €600 in March. Families can apply for permission to suspend their mortgage payments if business shutdowns caused by the pandemic threaten their livelihoods. What’s more, parental leave has been extended to 15 days and in in March and April, people caring for a loved one with disabilities are entitled to take up to 12 days’ leave a month instead of three. Italy has also set up a 500 million Euro fund to deal with the damage suffered by the aviation industry and the Alitalia operation.
Gloria Guevara – CEO & President of WTTC

• Hong Kong: To ensure business continuity within Travel & Tourism, Hong Kong has created the Anti-Epidemic Fund’s Travel Agents Subsidy Scheme through which some 1,350 travel events have received payments through the to help them tide over the financial difficulties arriving from the outbreak. Each eligible travel agent may receive a one-off subsidy of HK $80,000. 98% of all licensed travel agents in Hong Kong have registered for the payment.

• Germany: To shield its companies from going under, the government pledged unlimited cash to German businesses and is suspending legal obligations for firms facing acute liquidity problems to file for bankruptcy until September. The government’s liquidity assistance envisages a massive expansion of loans provided by KfW, from €460bn to €550bn ($610 billion) the country’s development bank.

• Australia: As part of a $10.3 billion (AUS$ 17.6 billion) stimulus plan and the additional $38.3 billion to be spent over the next six months, the government has pledged AUS$1 billion (US$613 million) to support those sectors, regions and communities, including Travel & Tourism that have been disproportionately affected by the virus. This will include the waiver of fees and charges for tourism businesses that operate in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Commonwealth National Parks. Packages to support business investment, provide cash flow assistance to support SMEs will also support Travel & Tourism. To deliver support for business investment, for instance, AUS$700 million has been allocated to increase the instant asset write off threshold from $30,000 to $150,000 and expand access to include businesses with aggregated annual turnover of less than $500 million (up from $50 million) until 30 June 2020. These measures start today and will support over 3.5 million businesses (over 99 per cent of businesses) employing more than 9.7 million employees or 3 in every 4 workers.

• France: As a starter to his promise for unlimited budgetary support for companies and employees, France has set up a €2 billion Solidarity Fund, for which many Travel & Tourism businesses will be eligible for, given that it that it applies to businesses meeting the following criteria. Businesses whose activity has been closed (mainly refers to catering businesses (which are 160,000), non-food trade (140,000), tourism (100,000); SMEs that have lost turnover by 70% compared to March 2019; SMEs with a turnover of less than €1 million. Within the €45 billion plan, €8.5 billion euros have been dedicated to the funding of short time working /partial unemployment measures. To use short time working, companies pay compensation equal to 70% of gross salary (around 84% of the net) to its employees. Employees with minimum wage or less are 100% compensated. The State will also fully reimburse partial unemployment for wages up to 6,927 euros gross monthly, i.e. 4.5 times the minimum wage.

• Singapore: Since Singapore began dealing with COVID-19 on 23 January, the government has rolled out a number of policies and measures to support the Travel & Tourism sector with a focus on confidence building and providing assistance to the sector. Among other policies, the government is waiving license fees for hotels, travel agents and tour guides, enhanced training schemes and subsidising them up to 90%; providing salary support through Workforce Singapore of up to 70% of fixed monthly salaries (capped at $2000 a month per employee). The government has also created a temporary bridging loan programme for cash flow support, has implemented rebates on aircraft landing and parking charges as well as rental rebates for shops and cargo agents at Changi. It has created a point-to-point support package for taxis and private hire car drivers. To further support jobs, it has created a job support scheme with a one-off wage support to help enterprises retain their workers. To further enable cash flow, it enhanced its Enterprise Financing Scheme-SME Working Capital Loan as well as well as implementing a corporate income tax rebate for YA2020 of 25% of tax payable, capped at $15,000 per company.

• UK: The Chancellor has set out a package of temporary, timely and targeted measures to support public services, people and businesses, currently amounting to £330 billion, through this period of disruption. The measures include: a 12-month business rates holiday for all retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England; a grant funding of £25,000 for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses with property with a rateable value between £15,000 and £51,000; small business grant funding of £10,000 for all business in receipt of small business rate relief or rural rate relief. The government also created the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, offering loans of up to £5 million for SMEs through the British Business Bank will be launched on 23 March. The government will provide lenders with a guarantee of 80% on each loan to give lenders further confidence in continuing to provide finance to SMEs. Businesses can access the 12 months of that finance interest free. To support larger firms, the Bank of England has announced a new lending facility to provide a quick and cost-effective way to raise working capital via the purchase of short-term debt. This will support companies which are fundamentally strong, but have been affected by a short-term funding squeeze, enabling them to continue financing their short-term liabilities. No business will pay VAT from now until the end of June. The government has also stepped in to pay people’s wages with a new scheme. A grant will cover 80% of wages up to £2.500 for those employees kept on payroll. This will be open for three months, with the possibility of extension, and will cover businesses of any size. The first payments will be made by the end of April.

• The Philippines: The Travel & Tourism sector will receive a significant portion of the government’s $523 million (PHP27.1-billion). support package to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Specifically, $271 million (PHP14-billion) aid from the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) has been earmarked for various programmes and projects of the Department of Tourism. To support workers, $23 million (PHP 1.2 billion) from the Social Security System will be used as unemployment benefits for workers from the private sector. What’s more, $58 million (PHP 3 billion) will be dedicated to a scholarship grant for the upskilling and reskilling of temporarily displaced workers. Nearly $40 million (PHP 2 billion) will also be allocated for social protection programmes for workers who work in organizations affected by COVID-19. To promote the Philippines as a destination once in the recovery phase, the Department of Tourism (DOT) is allocating approximately $118 million (PHP6 billion). At least PHP421 million earmarked for a new campaign for domestic travel and PHP467 million to create content that targets emerging countries unaffected by Covid-19.

• Spain: The Spanish government announced a financing line of €400 million with guarantee from the ICO (Official Credit Institute of Spain), for self-employed and tourism companies domiciled in Spain in need of liquidity with a limit of €500,000, including transport companies, taxis, hotels, restaurants, car rentals, travel agencies, museums and similar, among others. The funds operate as a 4-year loan; with a fixed interest rate (with a maximum of 1.5%) in which the ICO will guarantee Credit Institutions with a 50% of the risk of their clients. Operations can be agreed until 31 December 2020. The government also announced a €200 billion package on 17 March to help companies and protect workers and other vulnerable groups affected by the crisis. Of the €200 billion fund, half of the money is tied to a public guarantee scheme to ensure liquidity for struggling businesses, specifically to ease the conditions of the temporary collective layoffs (known as ERTEs in Spain), supporting workers and businesses affected by the slump in activity, and guaranteeing liquidity for businesses.

• Portugal: The Portuguese government launched over 30 initiatives aimed at protecting workers and families, and at mitigating the economic impacts of COVID-19 through fiscal breaks and the injection of liquidity. The Government has placed particular emphasis on the Travel & Tourism sector by establishing a dedicated €60 million credit line for micro-businesses in the sector and by working closely with Turismo de Portugal to bolster national capacity to respond to the challenges resulting from COVID-19. Key measures include €200 million credit line for businesses, €60 million credit line for micro-enterprises in the tourism sector, extraordinary support for the maintenance of employment contracts in a company in the amount of 2/3 of the remuneration, and ensuring 70% of Social Security, the remainder being borne by the employer, offering of training scholarships in the Institute for Employment and Vocational Training in Portugal (IEFP) and extending the deadlines for payment of taxes and other declarative obligations.

Bangkok (Thailand) – March 24, 2020 (travelindex.com) – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has temporarily redesigned the two main logos for international and domestic tourism, encouraging foreign and Thai tourists to maintain social distancing, as part of the nationwide effort to combat the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

TAT understands that maintaining social distancing can be inconvenient, but it is for the greater good. As a state-run enterprise, TAT is doing our utmost to strictly implement preventive measures and heighten awareness for all tourists in Thailand to protect them from being exposed to the virus.

TAT has also taken a step further in line with the Thai government’s social distancing guidance by allowing our staff at the TAT Head Office and TAT Bangkok Office to work from home from today, 23 March until 5 April, 2020. Operations at the two offices in Bangkok are expected to resume from 7 April, 2020, onwards.

Official advice on social distancing

The Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand has advised the public to refrain from attending social activities and keep a distance of at least one metre from other people. The public should also refrain from unnecessary trips to crowded places and if possible, work from home. If people strictly implement self-protection, it can reduce the disease transmission.

According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) basic protective measures against the new coronavirus, maintaining social distancing is to maintain at least one metre distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing. The WHO explained that when someone coughs or sneezes, they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain the virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease.

Victoria, Mahé (Seychelles) – March 23, 2020 (travelindex) – The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has almost reached 300,000 in 175 different countries, territories and areas. All European countries have registered confirmed cases, with the rate of infection rising rapidly even where restrictive measures are being taken. WHO has declared Europe as the present epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a significant increase in numbers and community transmission of new infections.

According to the WHO situation report of 19th March 2020, the total number of deaths globally stands at over 11,000 and Italy is now the country with the most deaths, reporting half the total deaths worldwide on 19th March 2020.

The epidemic does not show signs of slowing down in most places. Community transmission is now occurring to different degrees on all continents. The United States of America (USA) and Australia have also reported a significant increase in the number of new cases. Countries in the African region have also reported new cases. These include South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Mauritius. Containment will continue to be a challenge worldwide and countries are gradually implementing stricter measures.

Flight bookings and arrivals into Seychelles have already significantly declined, showing signs of adverse impact of COVID-19 on the tourism and other industries. However, with the outbreak escalating in Europe, the epicentre, the possibility of having more passengers infected with COVID-19 who have already arrived in Seychelles, remains. Seychelles needs to continue focusing its resources on dealing with the current situation locally and mitigating the impact of the outbreak on its citizens, hence the implementation of the following measures.

Madrid (Spain) – March 23, 2020 (travelindex.com) – by Mr. Xu Jing, Specialist in Tourism of Asia and the Pacific/ Former Director of Asia-Pacific UNWTO – How Asia-Pacific tourism will be impacted in the wake of COVID19? Will NTAs be prepared to confront with the on-going and post crisis? Are we ready for a drastic game change? Xu Jing shares his personal insights on the evolving trends – go domestic, go short haul, go all- inclusive while analyzing the egg-basket concept, the previous crisis reference as well as long term perspective of rethinking and re-planning.

Over the years, the global tourism industry has made remarkable advancements, among which the performance of Asia and the Pacific has always been outstanding. As we speak, the region takes roughly a quarter of the world’s international tourist arrivals while its revenue accounts for over 30% of the total share. For more than two decades, Asia and the Pacific has almost always been the fastest growing region. The feeling is that of a celebrity star under the dazzling spotlight. Furthermore, the overwhelming share of the Chinese outbound market within Asia-Pacific and its increasing share in the world has equally put the region in the central stage of world tourism.

However, since the beginning of 2020, the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has suddenly hit the tourism industry in Asia and the Pacific more severely than a tsunami of any scale.

On 24 January 2020, with the notice issued by the Chinese government to suspend all enterprise operations, tourism was completely shut down overnight, both inbound and outbound. As a result, tourism in Asia wasdisrupted in all directions as well as for the world experiencing unprecedented shocks. On 11 March, WHO declared the COVID-19 epidemic as a global pandemic due to its rapid spread to North America, Europe and the Middle East. As of date, diagnosis has been confirmed on all six continents except Antarctica. This shock will undoubtedly be a disaster of the highest order for the global tourism industry in 2020 and beyond.

Looking back on the glorious days of international tourism industry, it is only recent that we repeatedly chanted the importance of tourism. Remember those authoritative claims? One in every 11 job opportunities is created by the tourism industry, and as many as 3 million cross-border tourists every day contribute to the prosperity and development of the world. We are the sun rising industry brighter than any other sectors, and we are the inexhaustible green oil!

Now, out of the blue and in front of the crisis, the industry is so much disrupted! Disrupted to the extent that we have no choice but to give in temporarily because we are confronted with the risk of losing so many lives on this planet earth!

The crisis once again tells us that tourism is such a fragile and dependent industry! This is not the first time that the international tourism industry has been disrupted. SARS in 2003 and the tsunami at the end of 2004 also had a huge impact on the global tourism industry. However, this outbreak of the novel coronavirus is certainly the worst. History and the future remind us that this crisis will not be the last.

The Asia-Pacific tourism situation in 2020 should have been another course of action. In 2019, the region’s growth rate once again achieved fantastic results of 7%. At the national level, various tourist destinations actively developed a series of tourism products, hoping to create even greater glories. China’s outbound tourism continued to maintain a strong momentum; Japan broke through 30 million inbound tourists as early as 2018 and is advancing towards the government target of 40 million; Malaysia, Nepal and many other Asian countries started 2020 with the “Year of Tourism”. And destinations such as Thailand, South Korea, and Australia were all focusing on how to prevent tourists from over-concentrating and discussing the urgent issue of how tourists diverge.

However, the novel coronavirus changed all this and caught Asia and the world by surprise.

As of March 10, before WHO announced the global pandemic, WTTC already believed that the negative impact of the epidemic in China alone would shrink the world tourism industry by 25%. Of these, 80% impacted could be SMEs, and as many as 50 million people could lose their jobs due to this crisis. Take Thailand as an example. Last year, it received circa 39 million international tourists, and its income was roughly one-fifth of national GDP. Among them, Chinese tourists accounted for more than 10 million. One can easily imagine how the epidemic has been affecting the country. According to an estimate by a British media, many small businesses in Phuket are hard to survive if the crisis lasts for more than three months.

According to the analysis of CAPA, most of the airlines in the world are likely to go bankrupt before May this year with the spread of the virus worldwide! It may sound too sensational, but it reflects the harshness of reality.

The accuracy of the above data is no longer the most important thing in the face of such a rapidly spreading plague. In recent days, understandably so due to the swift control of the disease nationwide, all levels of Chinese government are actively preparing for the resumption of work, the resumption of production, and the reopening of businesses. Furthermore, the culture and tourism ministry is considering how to resume operations of the tourism industry step by step. But with the spread of the virus to the rest of the world, it is almost by now an ideal of wishful thinking.

China is no longer the only factor in the equation. Iran and Italy fell! Spain, France and Germany are in danger! Even Britain has said that deaths will be measured in thousands or even hundreds of thousands!

In such a grim situation, I don’t see how one can predict the direction of China’s tourism!

In such a grim situation, I don’t see how one can predict the direction of Asian tourism!

In such a grim situation, I don’t see how one can predict the direction of world tourism!

I’m not a pessimist, because all things are still changing, because we don’t know where Asian tourism can go as a result of such a worldwide epidemic! But we have to shoulder the responsibility to think and prepare to win the tourism revival war.

At this stage, we may be able to vaguely feel that some trends are gestating:

1. To discuss which egg in the basket is no longer important

When the epidemic had just spread in China, most destinations were quick to say that next time we should not over-focus the source market to China. No matter how great the market of China is, once a crisis comes, no one wants to put all eggs in one basket as the old saying goes! Does it make sense? Absolutely it does! But the discussion is no longer meaningful, because other source markets are or will soon be hit the same way. Even with eggs of different colors, it is now difficult to put them in different baskets anyway as there aren’t other ones.

2. Past recovery experience is no longer applicable

It is pertinent to mention that after SARS in 2003, the international tourism industry came up with a corresponding recovery plan to assist China’s tourism industry. At that time, it was the Chinese inbound tourism market that was hit. The Chinese outbound market then was not yet playing a pivotal role in the global market as it is now.

As for the tsunami at the end of 2004 and into 2005, although the international tourism community came up with a set of revitalization plans represented by the “Phuket Global Tourism Recovery Action Plan”, the crisis hit only several Asian destinations, unlike now which is worldwide.

Therefore, the crisis management needed now is all directions involving both major source countries and all major destinations. We are now talking about the possible recovery of tourism that has no precedence for reference.

3. The shift from inbound tourism to domestic tourism

As China, the United States, and European countries successively announced restrictions on travel by their nationals, the world has come to a sudden stop with all of the most important tourist source markets vanishing overnight. In this situation, tourism administrations must come up with corresponding measures as soon as possible to save the disaster. Being unable to choose any target market externally, the first consideration may be the domestic tourism market. Although this market is not as economically efficient as the international market for many destinations, it is expedient to solve the immediate crisis as a makeshift method. If countries are keenly aware of this sudden change and recognize the domestic market as the goal, they must make timely adjustments to their destination tourism policies. Changes in the market direction should not be a major problem for countries such as China and India or developed countries such as the United States and Europe, and there should be no problem in following up policies and measures. As far as China is concerned, this may also be a good time to turn crisis into opportunity, and take advantage of the current situation to drive domestic consumption that needs to be promoted. However, destinations that rely heavily on inbound tourists, such as the Maldives and Fiji, will be seriously challenged to adjust in a short period of time.

4. Short-haul products could be more popular

Several industry professionals are already advocating this idea. As they say, compared to international long-haul products that cross national borders, this short-haul trend in the market may become part of the immediate solution. I would categorize this type of products as those that are close-range within the domestic boundary. Typical itineraries could include city breaks, outings in the suburbs and rural tourism products within short distance. It is therefore suggested that they should become the first batch of leisure tourism as part and parcel of the overall recovery process. What needs to be considered as a word of caution is that these alternative products cannot be the same products of domestic tourism for years. They need to reflect the newness and the joy from the relief of pressure. A good reference point in product design is the post 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan of China, where tourists just wanted mental joy with physical spend after their survival.

5. All inclusive package as holiday product will be on the rise

There are also industry insiders who are already paying attention to the products of a typical resort hotel in a closed ambiance. Once arriving at the destination, three meals a day, all entertainment and leisure are in situ. No moving out. In the short-term, it might be a popular product because nowadays all tourists will be talking about hygiene and health safety. I believe that the Maldives may also use this strategy in order to attract Chinese guests and other markets to return. However, from the perspective of government policy, we should consider those products that can directly bring greater radiation benefits to the community, rather than such “closed-door” leisure that mostly benefits large enterprises.

6. From a long-term planning perspective

Over the years, we have had too many governments and enterprises that are enthusiastic about developing large scale projects and construction of assets of volume under the excuse of embracing the high-growth tourism industry in the Asia-Pacific region. Now in the region, you easily find hotels with 5,000 rooms each or a cruise ship with 7,000 cabins. Once the crisis comes, once we have a lockdown like now, disaster of course comes. Unemployment is inevitable, and pressure to honour financial commitments cannot be escaped. It is even more expected that the upstream and downstream supply chains are broken! If we had less cement accumulation before, and if we had destroyed less of nature due to construction in the first place and did not pursue the maximization of profit, maybe we can still survive through the crisis this time. The original form of tourism after all is that of family based bed & breakfast. I am sure we could have less impact with smaller scale of businesses.

7. Rethinking is needed to bring back tourism more to the attainment of SDGs

This unprecedented crisis will hopefully bring warnings to human beings, not only to overcome the virus epidemic, but also to rethink what our fundamental concept of developing tourism should be. I sincerely hope that tourism is more than the basic enjoyment and rights of our mankind. Tourism should be an effective means to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the United Nations! In any crisis, restructuring and shuffling will be inevitable. It will be all industry-wide. The impact is not only on traditional travel agencies and hotels, but also on every link in the modern Internet supply chain. Let us stop for a moment and maybe we can change our mind. Let us turn crisis into opportunity,. Let tourism contribute not just to our physical pleasure but more to sustainable production of resources! Let tourism contribute to more sustainable consumption of goods!

It is my personal conviction that if the consumption of resources is minimized by human beings, the impact of a crisis of any sort should also be minimized. In so doing, let us hope that tourism will be on its real road of being green.

The crisis of the coronavirus is still underway. The difficulties are far from over. Let us unite under one roof of the world to overcome. Together we can do it and tomorrow will be brighter.

First published by Mr. Xu Jing on March 18, 2020 on Linkedin

Luang Prabang (Laos) – March 25, 2020 (travelindex.com) – The perfect wedding does not need to be a lavish celebration with hundreds of guests. True romance is about finding your own space – a secluded sanctuary to create deeply personal moments with your loved one, without any unnecessary distractions. Interested couples can start planning their wedding right away from home. Resort’s new “Khoi Hak Jao Lai” package includes a traditional ceremony, professional photography, a romantic dinner, couple’s spa treatment, in-room amenities and more.

This is what future wives and husbands can discover when they stage their wedding at Pullman Luang Prabang, the luxurious and eco-sensitive retreat in northern Laos. Nestled in 16 hectares of lush countryside, surrounded by paddy fields, rivers and jungle-clad hills, this five-star resort is giving brides and grooms the chance to exchange their eternal vows in peace and privacy, blessed with authentic Lao heritage and hospitality.

The new “Khoi Hak Jao Lai” wedding package captures the essence of this exquisite destination, with a spiritual ceremony and a wealth of extra amenities, from romantic room decorations and sublime spa treatments to professional photography, delectable dining and more. With no minimum number of guests required, couples can enjoy the most important day of their lives on their own terms, without the stress of organising a large wedding.

“Pullman Luang Prabang is the ultimate romantic destination for modern couples. We allow loved ones to come together and create truly unforgettable occasions together without the usual romantic clichés. What’s more, our commitment to sustainability means that guests can combine their wedding with their passion for preserving the environment. And with fewer guests, the event’s carbon footprint will be significantly smaller. Everything can be organised remotely in advance, in coordination with our expert onsite wedding planner – perfect for couples who are currently spending more time at home together. We look forward to letting guests soak up the romantic ambience of northern Laos,” said Denis Dupart, the resort’s general manager.

The Khoi Hak Jao Lai package showcases a traditional Lao “baci” ceremony, which is designed to bring harmony and balance the body’s spirits. Guided by an expert wedding planner, couples will take their place around a “pha khuan”, a floral centerpiece made from fresh flowers and banana leaves. This sacred ritual will be conducted by a “mor phon” – a respected village elder or monk – for a truly enchanting experience.

The couple will be dressed in classical Lao costumes, with hairstyling and make-up for the bride. The venue will be fully decorated and accompanied by instrumental music. A four-hour wedding photography session, including transportation to beautiful local landmarks such as Heuan Chan Heritage House and Wat Xieng Thong, will ensure the perfect memento of this special day.

Back at Pullman Luang Prabang, the bride and groom will be treated to a romantic set dinner for two in a cabana, a 60-minute couple’s massage at the Pullman Spa, and a specially decorated room with a blissful bubble bath, a bottle of sparkling wine and a cake.

Since it opened its doors in 2019, Pullman Luang Prabang has implemented a series of environmental initiatives, including organic farming, local community partnerships and eco-friendly guest activities. These were recognised recently, which it became the only property in Luang Prabang to receive the 7th ASEAN Green Hotel Standard Award.
Local farmer working in Pullman Luang Prabang’s fields that produced 3.5 tonnes of organic rice from its last harvest
Eco-conscious couples can discover how the resort’s own rice fields are worked by local farmers using water buffalo, and how the organic gardens produce 100kg of fresh vegetables and herbs per month for the restaurants. They can also learn how Pullman Luang Prabang works with important community initiatives, such the Namkhan Project, an eco-farm which has helped to reverse soil degradation, and Laos Buffalo Dairy, a unique CSR project that produces milk, cheese, yoghurt for the resort and creates an additional revenue stream for the animals’ owners.

Available until 31December 2020, the new Khoi Hak Jao Lai package is priced at just US$1,799 net per couple, including accommodation and all the aforementioned amenities and activities.

About Pullman
Pullman Hotels & Resorts delivers an experience that is upscale, upbeat and perfectly in tempo with the global zeitgeist. Against the backdrop of today’s fast-paced life, Pullman helps guests be at their best, in business and at leisure, enabling them to seamlessly conduct business, explore the locale, workout and make connections – to the neighbourhood and people around them. Retaining the values of exploration, comfort and dependability that drove it to become a pioneering travel brand over 150 years ago, Pullman today features more than 120 worldwide properties including Pullman Paris Tour Eiffel, Pullman Park Lane Hong Kong, Pullman Shanghai South, Pullman London St Pancras and Pullman Sao Paulo Vila Olimpia. Pullman is part of AccorHotels, a world-leading travel and lifestyle group which invites travellers to feel welcome at more than 4,600 hotels, resorts and residences, along with some 10,000 of the finest private homes around the globe.

Zurich (Switzerland) – March 25, 2020 (travelindex.com) – In the current uncertain times, our health and solidarity with others are of the utmost essence. Many anticipated vacations won’t become reality now. But that shouldn’t stop us to dream. That’s why we would like to show you a Switzerland the way you should undoubtedly be able to experience it again soon – with beautiful pictures, emotional videos and entertaining stories! After all, anticipation is known to be the greatest joy. We are looking forward to welcoming you again soon.

Unfortunately, trips to Switzerland are not possible at present. But it is allowed to dream. That is why we would like to bring Switzerland to your home – with beautiful pictures, emotional videos and entertaining stories, please visit MySwitzerland.com

About Switzerland Tourism
Switzerland Tourism is the national marketing and sales organization for Switzerland, the ideal country for travel, vacations and congresses. Switzerland Tourism is entirely devoted to all visitors and works in close collaboration with tourism partners and suppliers at home, and their subsidiaries abroad. Together, we do our best to make sure that your stay in our country turns out to be a truly unforgettable experience. You are indeed the center of our attention! Try us, and you will find out all you ever wanted to know about Switzerland: attractive offers, detailed information on all kinds of subjects, dream pictures, links to our partners.

Switzerland Tourism
Morgartenstrasse 5a, Postfach
CH-8004 Zürich
Switzerland

Singapore (Singapore) – March 25, 2020 (travelindex.com) – We have been working closely with all our exhibitors and event partners over the past few weeks to confirm the most suitable new dates for the postponed SYS 2020.

We are delighted to finally be able to announce that the 10th Anniversary edition of Asia’s most important boat show will take place on 15 – 18 October 2020, the dates preferred by the vast majority of our participants, in the completely redesigned and rejuvenated ONE°15 Marina Sentosa Cove.

Furthermore, we will be unveiling some long-awaited new developments and changes to the Show’s layout that will elevate your experience – and that of your customers – at the re-scheduled four-day event in October, and also going forwards to next year’s 11th edition (currently slated for 22 – 25 April). For the very first time, we will be moving the whole Show on to the water, which means no more big exhibition tents on the adjacent grass areas. Instead, thanks to the new pontoon configuration, we are able to build air-conditioned exhibition booths and showrooms all around the perimeter of the marina – so we can bring all visitors straight to the action for an immersive, 360-degree experience.

It was hugely difficult for us back in February, just six weeks from the opening day of our 10th Anniversary edition, to take the decision to postpone, and it’s been increasingly sad to see almost all the other boat shows around the world having to follow suit. Things are beginning to get dramatically difficult in the rest of the world now, but we can take heart from the fact that China seems to be turning the corner already, and the Singapore and Hong Kong governments have both been lauded for their positive and effective management of the crisis, keeping things under control. So with a full six months delay to October, we are hopeful that the rescheduled show will be able to give the industry in these parts the boost that it will badly need by then.

We will keep you fully informed over the coming weeks and months as we unveil SYS 2020’s diverse and dynamic calendar of events – family-friendly experiences, workshops for the industry and boaters, sailing lessons for kids, personal watercraft demonstrations… Visitors can also look forward to more dockside entertainment and parties right in the heart of the region’s most impressive display of yachts and boats. There really will be something for everyone at SYS 2020.

Victoria, Mahé (Seychelles) – March 22, 2020 (travelindex.com) – With COVID-19 cases now spreading in many African countries African Interests are going all out against the threat of the deadly coronavirus and destroying the continent’s travel and tourism industry.

With the launch of the COVID 19 Tourism Task Force for Africa, Taleb Rifai and Alain St.Ange are taking an important step to give Africa a strong voice on a global stage.

Africa expert Cuthbert Ncube said: “I see our role as having the interest of our African travel and tourism industry in mind. The victim in the coronavirus situation clearly is the travel and tourism industry. We are more fragile in Africa than anyplace else in the world.

The goal of this task force will be to act efficiently and fast, giving African stakeholders an important voice and help to minimize the impact of this global challenge .” The task force will be able to react to this emerging crisis on a daily basis. It will be flexible enough to adjust its activities constantly without having to delay the process by a time-consuming decision making process.

Joining the growing team of this newly established task force are known tourism celebrities operating under the leadership of Dr. Taleb Rifai, patron, who was the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) for almost 8 years. Joining also is former Minister of Tourism for Seychelles Alain St. Ange, and Dr Peter Tarlow a renowned international expert in travel, tourism, and health. Dr. Tarlow has managed tourism safety and security projects for Safertourism.com as well as training of tourism police around the globe. Dr. Tarlow also teaches medicine at the University in Texas, USA.

The COVID 19 Tourism Task Force for Africa is in direct contact with sitting ministers and heads of African National and Regional Tourism Boards and tourism associations.

For the largest resource on tourism in Africa visit TourismAfrica.org

New York (United States) – March 22, 2020 (travelindex.com) – During the coronavirus crisis, in particular in the tourism sector, layoffs seems to be one of the first decision taken by corporate leaders.

Of course, a cost-cutting reflex is understandable as leaders are obligated to make responsible decisions to keep their companies afloat. But those who manage the economic effects of this crisis in a clear and compassionate way create more value for their companies and will come out of this pandemic stronger than ever before.

The current crisis also brings opportunities to strengthen current relationships and build new ones not only with employees and customers but also with professional associations and government.

Global and national travel and tourism associations (IATA, WTTC, DMAI, AHLA, SITE, IACC, ICCA, HOTREC, International Hotel & Restaurant Association, German Hotel Association, Thai Hotel Association, etc) are asking, and need, financial support from Governments but these same associations should also stress to their members the importance of “putting employees first”; companies that demonstrate genuine empathy and competence amid the Covid-19 pandemic will emerge in a much stronger position.

The hotel industry employs about 6 million workers in the U.S. alone and accounts for about 5% of GDP, generating some $650 billion in annual sales. On March 17, 2020, hospitality executives met with President Donald Trump in the White House to ask for a federally funded bailout. Industry executives are asking for as much as $150 billion in help.

American Hotel and Lodging Association President Chip Rogers said hotel owners hope about $100 billion of that can go to help support furloughed workers. The rest would be needed to help hotel owners make their debt payments.

Airlines and hotel companies, which are at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak as bookings crumble and cancellations outpace bookings, are seeking billions in aid, including direct grants from governments. Lawmakers have to request that companies receiving financial assistance should be barred from buybacks permanently, and prevented from issuing dividends or executive bonuses for three years. These companies should also commit to invested heavily in their employees, who are the backbone of the industry.

Smaller companies show the way; lebua hotels and resorts in Bangkok (Thailand) has not laid off any single employee since the beginning of the corona virus outbreak. Deepak Ohri argued that any assistance must be designed to reduce inequality between executives and workers. “If we are going to bail out companies, we need to make sure all employees get their pay-check and benefit from a turnaround.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses to shut down, impacting millions of workers. But some companies are looking to hire as consumer demand swells; Walmart plans to hire 150,000 new employees, Amazon plans to hire 100,000 workers and Pepsi, 7-Eleven, Safeway, Kroger are hiring as well. Finding a coexistence model between employees and employers is more important than laying off employees.

In the pre-covid-19 world major brands were great at creativity but falling short of customer expectations. Today opportunity lies in being selfless and helping the world like it was very well said; “When the tide recede we will see what everyone is wearing”. Let’s all of us cooperate to make the world better a better place.

The global challenge posed by the current Covid-19 pandemic is a once-in-a-century disease that will require Governments, organizations and companies to jettison previous recovery models in favour of out-of-the box ideas and measures to bring societies and people together, instead of driving them apart.