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The content originally appeared on: Trinidad and Tobago Newsday Tobago Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association vice president Carol-Ann Birchwood-James wants to discuss plans for the sector with the new THA administration. - Photo by David Reid Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association (THTA) vice president Carol-Ann Birchwood-James is hoping the new Farley Augustine-led Tobago House of Assembly (THA) administration will meet with hoteliers and other businessmen early in the new year to discuss the future of island’s tourism sector. “Business is […]
South Africa is one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa with over 740,000 infections.
The country recorded 60 more virus-related deaths on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 20,011.
THE REGION'S LEADING INDUSTRY EVENT HIGHLIGHTS RESILIENCY OF CARIBBEAN TOURISM, POST-PANDEMIC BOUNCE BACK.
Some airlines, like JetBlue , even require passengers to wear face coverings over their mouths and noses throughout check-in, boarding, in flight, and while deplaning, while others may only require that masks be worn on board.
“Some airlines, including Delta and Alaska, are limiting the number of people seated in first class, so that is basically 50 percent of the capacity,” said Henry Harteveldt, travel analyst and principal at Atmosphere Research.
While the experts agreed that there is likely to be more overall space, especially between passengers in first class, it’s likely not going to make much of a difference, unless you’re in a particularly secluded seat or suite, or the airline is limiting business or first-class capacity.
Andy Christie, global private jets director at Air Charter Service, a global charter brokerage service that helps connect travelers with private charter flights, says that taking a private charter flight can almost “completely minimize the risk of transmission,” simply by reducing the number of contact points and exposures.
Their flights operate out of private hangars and terminals, and planes have been reconfigured from 50 seats down to 30, giving passengers around 36 inches of seat pitch — or a similar seat experience to business class on a major domestic airline.
[New Times] Entrepreneurs in the tourism value chain now have the chance to receive a grant of up to $50,000 thanks to the new Covid-19 recovery programme.
With an economy battered by coronavirus, locust invasion and floods, Kenya’s Finance Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani on June 11 tabled a Ksh2.79 trillion ($27.9 billion) budget for the 2020/2021 fiscal year that seeks to revive almost every sector of the economy as quickly as possible and still keep the government running.
This year’s budget comes against a backdrop of weakening global economy, shrinking domestic revenue collections and a surge in public expenditures to address targeted interventions designed to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic whose level of infections in the country has surpassed the 3,000 mark.
The government has revised the country’s growth prospects for 2020 to as low as 2.5 per cent from 6.1 per cent compared with last year’s growth of 5.4 per cent.
“Going forward the government will scale up efforts to boost the tourism sector by promoting aggressive post Covid-19 tourism marketing and providing support for hotel refurbishment through soft loans to be channelled through the Tourism Finance Corporation,” said Mr Yatani.
Mr Yatani said the government is also working on the post-Covid-19 Economic Recovery Plan, which among other things will focus on adequate local and foreign resource mobilisation to ensure sustainable funding of development programmes.
Caribbean women are being celebrated for the efforts being made in helping the region's countries and territories combat and recover from COVID-19.
WESTERN BUREAU: As Jamaica closed its borders to United Kingdom flights on Monday, the country’s largest lobby of hoteliers and tour operators has thrown its weight behind the Holness administration’s decision to shut out British travellers amid...
Transair, an ambitious company founded 10 years ago, has no passengers because of the pandemic - but it still has to fly its planes.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates the crisis will inflict a hit of $314 billion on airlines' turnover this year, equivalent to a fall of 55% over 2019.
Such talk is grim news for Senegal's three airlines, the biggest of which is the national flag carrier Air Senegal, founded in 2016, which specialises in scheduled flights between West Africa and Europe.
\"Before (the pandemic), we were expanding, we were even thinking about starting inter-continental flights in a few years,\" Transair's boss and founder, Alioune Fall, told AFP.
Of this, 45 billion francs is likely to go to Air Senegal, while Transair, as a private company, is likely to be offered low-interest loans and a delay in value-added tax (VAT) payments.
Over the years, the Vodacom Durban July event has brought nearly 45 000 patrons to Durban and KZN with over R300M in economic impact
Barbados is preparing to welcome the first cruise in more than a year when the Celebrity Millennium ship arrives at the Bridgetown Port on Monday June 7. All passengers and crew are fully vaccinated. And according to Minister of Tourism Senator Lisa Cummins, who made the announcement during a COVID-19 Update press conference today, and […]
The post Barbados set to welcome first cruise passengers in more than a year appeared first on Barbados Today.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced plans to help businesses and Kenyans survive the economic storm caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The president said infrastructure spending is set to be ramped up so as to stimulate and support micro and small business enterprises.
The President also announced that the government will buy locally manufactured vehicles worth Ksh600 million ($6 million)
to promote local car assembly firms.
\"Additionally support will be made available to approximately 160 community conservancies at a cost of Ksh1 billion
The government will hire 5,000 more healthcare workers with diploma and certificate education level for one year to enhance public health system, the President announced.
President Kenyatta vowed to provide the necessary support for healthcare workers in the fight against Covid-19 disease which has now claimed 50 lives in Kenya with 1,192 infections.
There are jitters among workers in the tourism sector that a premature reopening of the industry which has been in hibernation since the coronavirus pandemic reached local shores could be catastrophic, but they admit that they don’t know how they would survive another month without an income.
Their concerns stem from the call by the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association for a clear indication by Government of a reopening timeline of the country’s borders and the resumption of the industry by latest June 30.
When I watch television, I don’t see that everybody is taking precautions,” Joan Harvey*, a massage therapist who has been working in the sector for more than 15 years, told The Sunday Gleaner.
Having spent the last 10 years in the industry, the bartender said her tourism earnings have helped her to build a home and provide her children with an education.
Unlike the four people who work directly in the industry, Diane, a jerk chicken vendor who operates along the Second City’s famed Hip Strip, is not as worried – “The Lord will keep me safe” – although admitting that she has seen a 95 per cent dip in business.
Mia Mottley
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — CARICOM countries will adopt measures that will ensure the safety of their citizens as well as tourists as they prepare to reopen their borders for the post-coronavirus(COVID-19) pandemic phase, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said Tuesday.
Mottley, who is also the chair of the 15-member regional integration grouping, told the BBC World Service that regional countries, whose economies are highly dependent on the tourism industry, had been severely affected by the virus that was first detected in China last December and blamed for more than 340,000 deaths and 5.5 million infections of others worldwide.
“We are in deep conversations with each other on a common public health protocol within the region, we are also having discussions with the airlines and the cruise industry, but we are not going to be driven by date, we are going to be driven by the satisfaction that we have safety protocols that keep our workers safe, keep our people safe, that keep our visitors safe,” she said.
Mottley said that the region is working through all of the protocols to ensure the safety of both nationals and tourists alike with the relevant stakeholders including the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association that had written to her on the matter.
Mottley said that the pandemic has significantly affected the revenues of governments in the region.
The Western Cape’s Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier was the first to point out the so-called blunder on Twitter
As the country prepares to reopen its borders, Minister of Works and Transport Rohan Sinanan said all airlines are welcome to resume flights to the Piarco Airport when they are ready.
Newsday contacted Sinanan on Tuesday for an update on the plans leading up to the reopening of the borders, closed on March 21, 2020 to curb the spread of the covid19 pandemic
Asked when flights by carriers other than Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) will resume, he said, “We have no control of scheduling of carriers. They submit scheduling to Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of TT (AATT). How soon they will fly in and out will be up to them.
\"The borders will be declared open from July 17.”
Airlines that previously flew into Piarco include JetBlue Airways, American Airlines, Air Jamaica, United Airlines, Air Canada, Surinam Airways, Copa Airlines and Westjet.
Airlines that operated to and from Tobago included British Airways, Condor, CAL and Virgin Atlantic.
But Tobago will remain closed to international flights for the time being, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young said last week.
Tobago’s Secretary for Health, Wellness and Family Services Tracy Davidson-Celestine said the Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association (THTA) had asked for more time. But THTA president Chris James denied his association made such a request, saying hotels on the island are ready and eager to welcome guests.
On Saturday the Prime Minister echoed Young’s statement that all international air traffic will pass through Piarco.
AATT’s communications officer Zola Joseph told Newsday, “The authority wishes to advise that following the announcement of the reopening of the borders, all airlines operating out of Piarco and ANR Robinson International Airports will be able to resume international flight operations.”
She said many international airlines are working out their schedules
The post Sinanan on border reopening: Airlines welcome when they're ready appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
Kenya Airways could lose up to $500 million in revenues by the end of this year, due to disruptions associated with the coronavirus, which has grounded the airline's passenger operations.
So far, the airline’s management says KQ has already lost an estimated $100 million due to the pandemic which forced the country to suspend international flights on March 25.
“When we estimate to the end of the year, we will lose between $400 million and $500 million”
The suspension of passenger flights in March badly exposed the airline, which sources a bulk of its revenue from passenger services forcing it rely on cargo services which accounts for a paltry 10 per cent of its revenues.
Earlier this month, the financially struggling carrier reported a $130 million full-year loss extending a string of back-to-back losses that have forced the government to consider re-nationalising the airline to save it from collapse.
Under the re-nationalisation plan, Kenya Airways, Kenya Airports Authority and the Kenyatta International Airport will be become subsidiaries in an Aviation Holding Company in a plan the government says will help the country’s aviation assets to complement each other.
A team from the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on Thursday inspected the COVID-19 measures in place at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) ahead of next week’s proposed reopening for international flights.
During the visit, the team scrutinised the measures at Guyana’s main international airport that aim to prevent persons with COVID-19 from entering or exiting the country.
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) earlier this month unveiled its four-phase reopening plan to facilitate incoming and outgoing flights at the CJIA.
GCAA Director General Lt. Col. (ret’d) Egbert Field had said that Guyana will begin the gradual reopening of its airspace from July 1st with a controlled number of flights coming into the country.
During a webinar, Field and other stakeholders also spoke of measures that are being implemented to facilitate the movement of passengers through the two international airports to limit the spread of COVID-19.
The three-man committee announced by Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Ancil Dennis geared at creating greater synergies between the operations of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) divisions and the Office of the Auditor General is being labelled as \"smokescreens and mirrors,\" by deputy political leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) Farley Augustine.
Augustine told Newsday: 'All smokescreens and mirrors. A lame attempt to disguise and draw attention away from the repeated embarrassing and unpleasant issue of bad auditor general's reports.'
Dennis made the announcement on Wednesday during the weekly post Executive Council media briefing following the recent release of the Auditor General's report, which highlighted concerns over the assembly's management of covid19 relief support.
Augustine said for years Tobagonians have been getting the \"same lame resolve.
'From Anslem London to Joel Jack, they have been promising to fix the system to ensure that we don't have situations where the Auditor General turns up and records are missing or not in line with financial rules, yet that has never happened.'
He said the issue is with the management of Tobago's resources and not with efficiency between the Auditor General's office and the THA.
'The THA needs to strictly abide by financial regulations and keep records of what was done.
'The Auditor General's Office is an independent external agency, whose job it is to come in and verify the accounts and the expenditures and the financial decisions of the THA. It is the THA's job to operate above aboard and follow all the financial rules. The THA also has internal auditors whose job it is to guide the divisions along the right path.'
He said he has received information that the internal auditors previously pointed out the same flaws in the Division of Health that the external auditors (auditor general's office) eventually pointed out.
'Yet they were ignored and swept aside.'
The Chief Secretary, Augustine said, needs to stop pretending that these bad reports are the fault of the Auditor General.
'They are the fault of the THA which he leads.
'Administrators must put their feet down and insist that policies and regulations are followed. Politicians must stop thinking that state resources are for them to use as they wish.'
He added: 'If everyone does what they are supposed to do, we won't be embarrassed with bad reports. And once these accountability issues continue to surface, we are left with no option but to allege wrong doing.
The post Augustine on new THA committee: All smoke screen and mirrors appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
CARIBBEAN Hotel and Tourism Association first vice-president Nicola Madden-Greig was optimistic that the region was making progress towards reopening travel with different countries, such as the United Kingdom.
She said this during a webinar hosted by the Caribbean Council and the Colibri Corporate Advisory on UK-Caribbean travel during the pandemic.
Madden-Greig said the regional tourism sector was hard hit last year by the pandemic, with a loss of US$36 billion in gross domestic product and thousands of workers lost their jobs as well. She was concerned about further losses, if regional tourism was not restarted in a substantial way soon.
She explained that through a series of health, safety and public relations strategies, industry stakeholders have been seeking to find innovative ways to keep its customers safe while adhering to covid19 protocols.
\"We took it seriously from day one.'
Madden-Greig said stakeholders have also been using this time in the pandemic to develop new offerings for customers.
Referring to Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) executive director Dr Joy St John's comments about how Caricom has been able to handle the pandemic better than many other countries, Madden-Greig was hopeful that strategies could be developed to allow tourists to travel safely between the UK and the Caribbean.
Virgin Atlantic chief commercial officer Juha Jarvinen shared her optimism. He said the airline has been flying to the Caribbean since 1997 and with its founder Sir Richard Branson having a home in the region, Virgin Atlantic considers the Caribbean home.
Jarvinen said the airline's revenues took an 80 per cent decline with the reduction in commercial flights because of covid19. But he said Virgin Atlantic's cargo business threw the airline an important lifeline which has allowed it to keep flying.
He said the resumption of the airline's service to St Vincent and the Grenadines has been rescheduled from July to October because of the recent eruption of the La Soufriere volcano.
He added, Virgin Atlantic is also looking at other Caribbean destinations with a view to resuming flights in the near future.
Consultant Carol Hay said there is still a lot of doubt on the UK side, with British nationals uncertain about whether it is safe to travel to the Caribbean. She said recent comments in the public domain, including mixed messaging from government ministers, have contributed to this doubt.
\"I couldn't listen to the news for a while.\"
Hay attributed the confusion in the UK to the British government's traffic light system, to determine which countries are safe to travel to and which are not.
The system includes red, amber and green lists, with travel only being allowed to countries on the green list. Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and the Bahamas are on that list. No Caribbean country is on the green list.
Hay said given efforts by Caribbean countries to deal with the pandemic, a case could be made
The Caribbean’s economy is projected to grow this year despite the beating its tourism sector has taken; a new airport for Dominica; Grenada negotiates a stimulus, St. Maarten comes away with no money and more Caribbean business news this week.
The post Caribbean Business News Round-Up - June 11, 2021 appeared first on Haiti News.
SRINAGAR, India — Indian Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has unveiled a loan package for travel agencies and tourist guides to revive the industry. The tourism industry has welcomed the package. “We welcome post-Covid-lockdown schemes [...]
Analysis - Less than 9% of UNESCO World Heritage Sites are in Africa. Experts say the award is too Eurocentric. But in Africa, there's also a lack of structures and political will to preserve cultural and natural heritage.
SYDNEY — Australia risks being the “lost kingdom” of the South Pacific, as per the tourism bosses who are angry about a lack of support in the federal budget. The 2021/22 plan leaves the tourism sector high and dry with nowhere to go until at least the middle of next year, Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond said. The […]
The post Australia At Risk Of ‘lost Kingdom’ Status first appeared on The Florida Star | The Georgia Star.
(CNN) — It was the good news that gave the world hope. On November 9
The post How a Covid-19 vaccine could change travel for good appeared first on L.A. Focus Newspaper.
Monrovia — The head of Media Council for the Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA) Africa Zone 3, Naomi Tappia says it is time for African basketball legends to be celebrated and promoted.
The Liberian female Journalist said promoting African basketball legends and having a strong and effective communication arm of FIBA must be taken seriously if Africa is to be like other continents in terms of basketball development.
Tappia was speaking following a \"fruitful meeting\" held for heads of media councils of various FIBA Africa zones on June 24.
\"Those of us that are head of media councils, it is our responsibility to ensure that we effectively communicate Basketball issues within our zones and federation in our various countries it was an important discussion,\" she said.
Tappia, who is one of the two prominent female journalists in Liberia, is of the conviction that with the help of the media in promoting basketball, there will be many great stars to come from Africa.
Kenya is one of several African countries that are recommencing international flights suspended since March because of the COVID‐19 pandemic.
The country's international airline, Kenya Airways , has resumed flights to 30 different destinations.
The airline is expecting demand to remain below 50% of its pre‐pandemic capacity, but it has said that it has the flexibility to increase the number of routes and the frequency of flights dependent on demand.
Other African countries enjoying a resumption of flights include Mali, Rwanda, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Togo.
In Ivory Coast, a health declaration document form must be completed before travelling. In the case of Togo, all travellers will be subject to a COVID 19 test on arrival and another on departure, except for those merely in transit through the country.
Meanwhile, Tanzania banned Kenya Airways from entering the country as Kenya's services airlines resumed on Saturday. It's the latest move in a row triggered by Tanzania's controversial handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Tanzania said Kenya Airways flights were being banned \"on a reciprocal basis\" after Kenya decided against including Tanzania in a list of countries whose passengers would be permitted to enter Kenya with the resumption of commercial flights.
Kenya Airways Chief Executive Allan Kilavuka said he was \"saddened\" by the letter and hoped the situation would soon be resolved.
Tanzania's approach to the COVID 19 crisis has been controversial; they began reopening the country two months ago.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli's refusal to impose lockdowns or social distancing measures, as well as to prevent the release of statistics regarding infection since late April has caused concern among Tanzania's neighbours and the World Health Organization. President Magufuli declared Tanzania free of coronavirus in June.
From as long as he can remember, Roxroy Hutchinson has always been working with his hands. Whether it was scraps from the metal workshop near his home in Orange Bay, Hanover, or a piece of wood from the lush greenery throughout his village, or...
