World Tourism Won’t Return To Pre-Covid Levels Until 2024: UN Agency

Tourism revenue in 2020 was 72 per cent down on the previous year — which closed with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Tourism arrivals around the world are not expected to return to their pre-pandemic levels until 2024 at the earliest, the World Tourism Organization said Tuesday.

The highly contagious Omicron variant, though mild, will “disrupt the recovery” in early 2022 after last year saw four percent growth over 2020, according to the Madrid-based UN agency’s World Tourism Barometer.

Tourism revenue in 2020 was 72 per cent down on the previous year — which closed with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The pace of recovery remains slow and uneven across world regions due to varying degrees of mobility restrictions, vaccination rates and traveller confidence,” the UNWTO said in a press release.

In Europe and the Americas, foreign visitor arrivals surged by 19 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, last year over 2020.

The statement said tourism professionals “see better prospects” for this year after turbulence in the early months because of the Omicron wave.

The agency predicts a 30 to 78 per cent rise in international arrivals this year over 2021, while remaining far below 2019 levels.

Most experts say they do not foresee a return to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2024, it said.

Many countries are highly dependent on tourism and are eagerly awaiting a return to normal.

“The economic contribution of tourism in 2021 (measured in tourism direct gross domestic product) is estimated at $1.9 trillion (1.68 trillion euros), above the $1.6 trillion in 2020, but still well below the pre-pandemic value of $3.5 trillion,” the statement noted.

Soruce: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/coronavirus-world-tourism-wont-return-to-pre-covid-levels-until-2024-un-agency-2716088

3 Trends That are Shaping the Hospitality Industry

After a difficult few years, things are beginning to look up for the hospitality industry.

After a difficult few years, things are beginning to look up for the hospitality industry. Travel bans are lifting. More than 30 million Covid vaccines are administered worldwide each day. Airlines are getting busier by the day.

And while there are several reasons to be optimistic, here are a few that will be defining trends for the industry’s future:

Pent-up demand

After almost two years at home, many consumers are eager to get away. Because of high levels of personal savings and credit and loyalty program points, they are willing to splurge.

According to a survey from American Express, 57% of travelers are willing to spend more on a “once-in-a-lifetime” vacation than they were before the pandemic. In addition, nearly half are more likely now to book lodgings that offer luxury experiences and amenities.

Hotels and resorts — many of which closed in the early days of the pandemic or operated at reduced capacities — are more than happy to accommodate them. Some brands are so bullish on luxury travel that they’re investing heavily in the market. This summer Hyatt spent $2.7 billion to purchase Apple Leisure Group, doubling the company’s global resorts footprint and making it the largest operator of luxury hotels in Mexico and the Caribbean. The acquisition also expanded Hyatt’s presence into 11 new European markets.

There’s even an ultra-high-end hotel that will be opening in space in 2027. The views, in particular, will be out of this world.

The rise of technology

While technology was becoming an increasingly important part of hospitality before Covid (ex. complimentary wifi or the ability to book easily online) the pandemic took things to the next level.

Now, a hotel’s digital offerings play an important role in attracting guests and enhancing their on-site experience. For example, virtual and augmented reality are increasingly being used to offer tours of properties before booking. This gives prospective guests a view of a hotel’s amenities beyond anything previously available.

User-friendly apps now provide a seamless experience from booking rooms, to reserving services on the property, to checking out. These services are now the industry standard.

The pandemic has also increased consumer appetite for, and familiarity with, contactless service experiences. This allows hotels to digitize some of their standard processes, like check-in or concierge services. As we continue to navigate Covid-19, this could be key to protecting guests and staff from virus exposure.

Source: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4108367.html

Virgin Hotels set to open its first UK sites in Scotland

Virgin Hotels has announced plans to open its first hotels in the UK, with both of them based in Scotland.

The ‘lifestyle hotels’ are coming to Edinburgh in the spring, followed soon after by another in Glasgow.

The capital site will be located in Edinburgh’s Old Town, near the Royal Mile, in the India Buildings on Victoria Street.

The 225-bedroom hotel will also come with several dining and drinking outlets. The design team plans to work to preserve the historic building, while adding modern touches to the interior.

It will be completed in partnership with owner Flemyn, with assets managed by Siggis Capital.

Its Glasgow hotel will be located at 236-246 Clyde Street, with a view of the river.

The 242-bedroom property will include a meeting and event space, multiple dining and drinking outlets, including the brand’s Commons Club – a restaurant, bar and social club where guests can both work and play.

Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, said: “Edinburgh is such an iconic city and we’re thrilled to be able to say it will be the home of the first Virgin Hotel in the UK and across Europe.

“Glasgow is a dynamic city with a rich history that is extra special to me as my wife Joan is from Glasgow.”

James Bermingham, chief executive of Virgin Hotels, added: “Virgin Hotels Glasgow will have all the brand differentiators such as our innovative chamber design, forward-thinking technology, food and beverage offerings and entertainment.”

Source: Virgin Hotels set to open its first UK sites in Scotland – Business Insider

How Can Hotel Website Design Bring in More Bookings and Revenue?

Do you want to build a hotel website design that can help you increase direct bookings and revenue?

The design of your hotel’s website has a significant impact on travellers’ booking patterns, and it should be a primary concern for you.

Travellers want a website that reflects their demands and expectations; if the website does not engage them, it is unlikely that they will book a room at your hotel. Today, having a strong, appealing, and successfully integrated online footprint is the only way hotels can stay in business.

This article will help you understand the need for a hotel website design and how to make a hotel booking website.

Why Do You Need to Design and Build a Hotel Booking Website?

Building a website for your hotel or property is important since it expands your online reach, enables direct hotel booking reservations and increases hotel revenue. All of these factors are advantageous to your hotel.

However, merely being visible online and providing relevant information about your hotel or property is not enough.

Here comes designing!

Hotel booking design is critical for increasing SEO rankings and creating an impression on travellers.

To get more guests to make reservations through your hotel’s website, you should do the following:

• To make your hotel more discoverable, you need to rank highly on search engine result pages.
• You must visually impress and connect guests with your hotel website design.
• You should be able to provide and display important and relevant information to your potential customers in an easily accessible manner.
• You must make it convenient for travellers to book hotel rooms.
• You should use advertisements, discount deals, and cost-effective packages to entice potential guests.
• You must display excellent visual content that is highly engaging and relevant to your hotel and location.

Unless you build and design a good and appealing website for your hotel, it could be hard to implement all of these elements in a presentable and organised manner.

When you build and design your hotel’s website using a website builder tool, you won’t have to worry about the final output. The technology will cover and take care of everything. Technologically advanced website builders are developed with best practices in mind, making it as simple as possible to increase traffic and convert visitors.

How to Create a Hotel Booking Website?

Developing and designing a new website can be a daunting challenge for hoteliers. Before you get started, you should pause for a moment and review your requirements, resources, and design expertise.

When it comes to hotel website design, there are two primary alternatives:

• Investing in a website builder that is easy to use.
• Investing in a web developer to develop a customised design from the ground up.

Investing in a web developer can provide hoteliers with a stunning, custom design. However, it can also be difficult for operators who are unfamiliar with web design.

Hiring a developer to design a web page from scratch will take far more time and cost more money over time than using a website builder. Furthermore, future updates and modifications to the website could be challenging because the hired website developer must approve all changes.

Investing in a hotel website builder, on the other hand, will allow you to design a customised website that is tailored to your branding. This option can save you a lot of money because you do not have to pay every time you change a minor element of your website.

If you decide to go with this option, choose a website builder designed exclusively for hotels. It will have the functionalities you need to increase your hotel’s direct bookings and sales revenue.

However, if you already have a website for your hotel, you will need to figure out and recognise the necessary elements that are missing and then consider redesigning your website. A call to action such as a ‘Book Now’ button, a safe online payment system, or a handful of high-quality SEO features could all be lacking from your hotel’s website.

Tips for Hotel Website Redesign

Here are five basic tips for you to begin with your hotel’s website redesign:

1. Check the image quality on your website

Adding beautiful and aesthetic imagery to your hotel website design is an important element in creating an impression on visitors. Add pictures of your hotel’s most interesting and unusual places to captivate potential visitors. But make sure that the quality of those pictures is good.

You can begin by assessing the quality of the existing photos on your website. It will help you determine the necessary improvements needed to be made to appeal to potential guests.

2. Going through the information available for your guests on your hotel’s website

Another deciding factor for your potential guests to book rooms with you directly on your website is the information you have provided for them about your hotel and region.

The information and details that matter the most about your hotel are:

• Hotel rooms rates
• Hotel room availability
• Services
• Amenities
• Ancillaries
• Contact details
• Your location
• Proximity to attractions
• Things to do

Most of this information is vital but basic.

Are you wondering how to make your hotel stand out?

Taking a step further and providing a complete overview of what’s interesting in the nearby area might help your hotel stand out from competitors. It will take your hotel one step closer to having the best hotel booking site. Having extensive information about local attractions on your hotel’s website will help keep a potential visitor hooked for much longer.

3. Implement mobile-friendly responsive web design

Responsive design is a fundamental concept that you should implement unquestionably. It is a website design technique that aims to build a viewable and interactive interface that responds to the user’s preferred device.

It ensures that the user experience is seamless and that the website’s features can be seen and operated efficiently.

Note that your hotel website design for mobile hasn’t been developed responsively if visitors have to zoom in to click a button or link.

For the finest user experience, prioritise your users’ requirements, just as you would when they arrive at your hotel.

4. Easy direct bookings

You could have all the great components for a stunning web experience, but the hotel website design is practically flawed if your potential visitors can’t make a reservation.

It is essential to enable direct bookings by integrating an online hotel booking engine into your hotel’s website, such as AxisRooms’ booking engine tool. It helps ensure that your website converts website traffic into customers. Direct bookings increase the sales revenue of your hotel.

The primary step is to ensure that your hotel’s website seamlessly integrates with an online booking engine. It is even more vital to make sure that your booking engine integrates into your branding and website design, convincing visitors that your website is secure.

5. Optimize your SEO

Want to know what makes a good hotel website?

The pinnacle of effective hotel website design is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), and attracting visitors through search engines must be a crucial aspect of your online marketing strategy.

Here are a few SEO pointers to get more direct bookings and ultimately increase your hotel’s sales revenue:

• Determine the best keywords for your hotel’s SEO.
• Write unique title tags and meta descriptions.
• Improve your hotel website’s loading time and responsiveness.
• Publish keyword-rich, high-quality blogs about your hotel and location that are interesting and educational for visitors to read and learn.
• Enhance your hotel’s customer experience by localising hotel web pages.

Source: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4108295.html

Six weeks after reopening, Bali wonders where the tourists are

Indonesian island’s unique culture and natural beauty not enough to overcome stress and worry of travel during COVID.

Pererenan, Bali – Before the pandemic, Dicky, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, earned up to $20 a day hawking shell craft jewellery to tourists on the crowded beaches of Bali’s southwest coast.

But nearly two months after Indonesia reopened its doors to visitors from China and 18 other countries, the international tourists Dicky once relied upon for sales are still few and far between.

“I came here at eight in the morning and have been walking up and down the beach all day. I try, try and try but I have not sold a single piece all day,” he told Al Jazeera as a blindingly beautiful blood-red sun set over the Indian Ocean at Pererenan Beach last weekend. “I don’t understand why more tourists aren’t coming now that Bali is open again.”

Dicky is not the only person on the island perplexed about the fact that not a single international flight has landed in Bali since the international airport reopened on October 14. The island’s COVID-19 metrics – just about the lowest recorded since the start of the pandemic – only add to the conundrum.

According to Indonesia’s National Board for Disaster Management, the seven-day average for new positive cases in Bali now stands at 11, the seven-day average for deaths is just one while the seven-day positivity rate for individuals tested is 0.17 percent – well below WHO’s minimum threshold of 1 percent for territories it classifies as having the virus under control. Vaccine numbers are also well above the world average of 42.7 percent, with more than 77 percent of all adults fully vaccinated in Bali, according to Indonesia’s Ministry of Health.

But six weeks after the country reopened, only 153 people around the world had applied for tourist visas, according to Indonesia’s Directorate General of Immigration.

The low level of interest reflects a survey by the International Air Transport Association that showed 84 percent of people have no interest in holidaying at destinations that require quarantine, and Indonesia imposes a mandatory hotel quarantine that was recently extended in response to the Omicron variant.

“Even with a short quarantine, no one will come to Bali,” said Udayana University Professor I Gusti Ngurah Mahardika, the island’s most senior virologist.

Confusing, complex, constantly changing, and sometimes contradictory government messaging and immigration policy is also keeping international tourists away.

Thailand has reintroduced free visas-on-arrivals for tourists, but those who want to visit Indonesia must apply for visas at foreign embassies or consulates and need a travel agency to act as guarantor. And they must show proof of booked accommodation for the entire length of their stay in Indonesia – a surefire way to quench the wanderlust of any intrepid traveller.

“There is no clear statement from the government of what it is trying to achieve, a process for getting there, or simple guidelines for would-be tourists,” wrote Bali-based statistician Jackie Pomeroy on her popular ‘Bali Covid-19 Update’ Facebook page.

And in a blow to the domestic tourism sector that saw up to 20,000 Indonesians fly to the island daily in November, restrictions have been reintroduced for the period of December 24 to January 2.

Beach clubs, restaurants and nightclubs cannot host Christmas events or celebrate New Year’s Eve, while voices on social media fear all leisure travel in Indonesia will be banned during the peak holiday period.

Travel apartheid

A little less than a month ago, Professor Gusti advised Indonesia to drop quarantine altogether for fully vaccinated international travellers who test negative before departure and on arrival. But that was before the WHO identified Omicron as a variant of concern, tossing a radioactive wrench into the long-awaited reboot of the global travel industry.

On November 28, Indonesia, echoing measures by the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, banned non-resident arrivals from South Africa or any of eight other African countries. It also banned travellers from Hong Kong, which has reported its fourth case of the Omicron variant. Yet it did not ban travellers from the UK, where 246 cases of the variant had been reported as of Sunday – the kind of knee-jerk policy UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described as “travel apartheid”.

Indonesia also extended quarantine for arrivals from all other countries from three to seven days. Less than a week later, it was extended again, this time to 10, the longest quarantine period Indonesia has seen since the start of the pandemic. The strict new rule forced Garuda, the country’s national air carrier, to axe its first planned international flight to Bali in 20 months from Haneda Airport in Japan on December 5. Subsequent weekly flights have also been removed from the airline’s website.

The developments have put a dampener on Bali’s hopes of reviving tourism this year, which accounted for an estimated 60 percent of economic activity before the pandemic. The island’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrunk by just less than three percent in the third quarter, having contracted nearly 10 percent in 2020.

Indonesia’s national GDP increased 3.5 percent in the same period, making Bali the hardest-hit Indonesian province by the pandemic from an economic perspective for two years in a row.

The global tourism monster that once fed Bali will probably not rebound to 2019 levels until 2024, according to management consulting firm McKinsey & Company that made the prediction in June based on various scenarios that examined the effect of virus containment.

Observers in Bali feel the same way.

“History has shown that Bali is very resilient to disaster but the island will take another year or two to recover,” said Mark Ching, a director of the Tamora Group, a prominent property developer on the island. “It’s not just opening borders. People need to feel safe before they travel again.”

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/6/six-weeks-after-reopening-bali-wonders-where-the-tourists-are

Austria in lockdown: Hotels set to open just 12 days before Christmas

Austria’s tourism sector was plunged back into lockdown this week – for the fourth time since the pandemic began.

It’s the first country to take the drastic measure, despite spiralling COVID-19 infection rates across Europe. The hotels, restaurants, bars and cultural attractions forced to shut on Monday are unlikely to be able to reopen until 13 December – leaving just 12 days until Christmas.

From the traditional Christmas markets of Vienna, to the ski slopes of the Alps, there’s plenty of reasons why tourists flock to Austria over the festive season. Businesses were no doubt hoping the Yuletide spirit would work some magic on their finances, after a tough two years. So how are they faring now?

The luxury hotel still open for a lucky few

Inside Vienna’s historic Sacher Hotel, Christmas has already arrived. The lobby is decked out in its finery, though only a few fortunate business travellers are there to see it.

One told owner and managing director Matthias Winkler that “he feels like a king, because he has the whole building to himself”, which is quite something, given the hotel’s 152 luxury rooms.

Though he remains sanguine, Winkler says it was emotional to see an increase of guests coming to Austria – with visits approaching 70 per cent of 2019 levels – before his growing confidence was cut short by the lockdown announcement.

Practice makes perfect, however, and one thing Sacher Hotel has learnt over previous lockdowns is how to keep bringing its world-famous chocolate cake to the world.

Having observed that McDonald’s drive-thu was one of the few places open in the city last year, the concierge began selling ‘Sacher Torte’ on a little stand outside the hotel.

“We expected this to make a nice Instagram story but probably not more,” says Winkler.

“Completely wrong, people were loving it.”

This time they’re even doing home deliveries, with other Viennese specialities such as Wiener Schnitzel on the take-away menu. Some of the 16 to 18-year-old staff also had the idea to make Christmas sweets in the kitchens and sell them for charity.

“You would be surprised how much Christmas you would find,” Winkler says of the hotel’s interior.

With New Year also around the corner, they’re hoping to host a large number of guests for the renowned New Year’s Day Concert, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic just down the road. No one yet knows if it will go ahead.

A clear signal is needed from the government in the next few days, says Winkler, to stem the tide of cancellations in the city.

‘Another catastrophe’ for some businesses

Not all businesses are feeling so optimistic. One leading Viennese restaurant, whose owners did not want to be named, said “there is not much to say other than it is a catastrophe for our industry for the fourth time now.”

There’s an acknowledgement among others that while the lockdown is a blow to business, it shows that health is an important issue in Austria.

“This lockdown is epidemiologically necessary,” the Vienna Tourist Board tells Euronews Travel.

“At the same time, it means a frustrating situation for Vienna as a tourist destination, where efforts were made throughout the year to prepare for the important winter business by also taking all necessary measures according to scientific standards.

“The booking situation before Christmas this year was promising, the recovery tendencies were clearly visible.

“However, the increasing demand of the last months has proven that Vienna’s international attractiveness is unbroken. We hope that international travel will be possible again from 13 December.”

Source: https://www.euronews.com/travel/2021/11/25/austria-in-lockdown-hotels-set-to-open-just-12-days-before-christmas

Retailers hail lifting of travel ban, return of international tourists with hopes of sales rebound

As the holiday shopping season picks up, retailers across the country hope to get a lift from another wave of spenders: international tourists who can visit the U.S. once again

Starting Monday, the Biden administration will allow visitors from abroad into the country again. Most foreign travelers from more than 30 countries, including the U.K. and Brazil, have been restricted since early 2020, as Covid-19 cases rose globally. Visitors must be fully vaccinated against Covid and have a negative Covid test within three days before departure. Exemptions apply to travelers under the age of 18, if they have medical reasons preventing them from getting a vaccine, or are traveling from one of 50 countries with low vaccine availability.

For retailers, the policy is a much-awaited change that may help them fill up stores and ring up bigger sales again. At stake are billions of dollars that tourists spend on not only souvenirs, but luxury handbags, high-end makeup, top-shelf liquor and other items they often can’t find at home. Global visitors fueled more than $43.4 billion of shopping in 2019 — or 27% of the total shopping driven by travel and tourism, according to the International Trade Administration.

Yet retail experts and companies say it will take time for tourists to return to the U.S. and spend at post-pandemic levels. Airlines still have fewer flights. Other countries, including China, tightly restrict outbound travel. And pandemic-related logistics, from long lines at the airport to show proof at vaccination to Covid test when returning home, could delay travelers from booking a trip.

“Airlines will tell you that they are seeing a surge in booking. What they don’t quantify is when. Hotels will tell you is they’re seeing an uptick in bookings. What they won’t tell you is when,” said Daniel Binder, a partner for Columbus Consulting who focuses on travel retail. “The ban will lift, and it will take time.”

Binder saw the spending power of international tourists — especially Chinese tourists — up close as a longtime executive at DFS, a luxury goods travel retailer that’s owned by LVMH. He said he also saw the many months it took for global tourists to flock back and spend freely after other challenging periods, including the 9/11 terrorism attacks and the SARS outbreak.

Still, National Retail Federation CEO Matt Shay said there is a feeling of optimism as the ban lifts. He said that as Americans feel comfortable booking trips, dining out and having more active lives, they are also shopping. As international tourists visit, that will “give a jolt to the retail side,” too, he said.

“The return to the service and the experience economy is going to be positive and beneficial for retail and it’s going to be enhanced furthermore by these international visitors returning to the U.S.,” he said Wednesday on a call with reporters.

‘Shot in the arm’ for New York City

International shoppers will be a key ingredient needed for New York City’s recovery. During a typical year, visitors from other countries spend an estimated $4.75 billion on shopping, according to NYC & Company, the city’s tourism board.

Shopping is the most popular activity for people visiting the city from other countries — with 88% of international visitors saying they participate, according to a 2018 survey by the Department of Commerce. That’s compared to 86% who participate in sightseeing, 54% who go to art galleries and museums and 29% who experience fine dining.

In contrast, less than 30% of tourists from other parts of the U.S. shop when they are in New York City.

“It’s a pivotal milestone in our recovery, for sure,” said Chris Heywood, executive vice president of global communications at NYC & Company. “Welcoming back the international traveler is exactly the shot in the arm that New York City needs right now.”

In the coming days, Heywood said the tourism group will unveil a project with Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue and other retailers to incentivize visitors to return to their stores. Over the next few months, he said the group plans to spend $6 million across the globe on advertising about New York City. He said that money will be concentrated in countries that have loosened their policies in a way that makes it easier for their citizens to leave and return home. These include South Korea, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, France and Italy. Places where restrictions are till very tight, such as China, will not be part of the advertising campaign.

Heywood said New York City benefits from having many shopping districts that are themselves tourist destinations — such as Fifth Avenue, Times Square and Hudson Yards — along with attractions like Broadway shows and art museums.

“This is a chance to actually get back to this notion of that shopping experience and having the bragging rights to say ‘I bought that on Fifth Avenue’ or ‘I bought that in New York,’” he said. “That’s something people have not been able to have.”

Still, he said it will take years to build back up the city’s tourism and shopping revenue. The group expects about 2.8 million international visitors to come to New York City this year, compared with 13.5 million international visitors in 2019. Next year, it expects international visitors to triple to about 8.5 million and by 2024, it expects international tourism to roughly match pre-pandemic levels.

“We’re hoping to accelerate that timeline as much as possible,” he said.

‘We don’t see tremendous movement’

Some retailers said they don’t expect the lifted travel restrictions to result in an immediate jump in sales. For many companies, especially those outside of the luxury space, the market doesn’t make up a significant chunk of their businesses. Department store chain Macy’s, for example, said that international tourists accounted for just about 4% of sales in 2019.

Capri Holdings, which owns Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo, believes that some international tourists will book trips to the U.S. in the coming weeks. But CEO John Idol noted on an earnings conference call on Wednesday that there was only a minor return among international tourists into Europe, after travel restrictions were lifted. And there has been no return into Japan nor Korea, he said.

“In our forecast, we don’t see tremendous movement changing our trajectory at least in next fiscal year,” Idol said.

For a company like Tiffany, however, it could be worth the extra effort to try to court international visitors back to its U.S. stores. The jewelry chain, now owned by LVMH, typically sees about 12% of sales domestically coming from foreign tourists.

This holiday season, Tiffany has opened a pop-up shop in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, which pays homage to the legendary Tiffany designer Jean Schlumberger. The space, which features a number of Instagram friendly backdrops and activities for visitors such as painting, is open to the public from Monday until Jan. 8.

It’s the mall operators — some of the most challenged by stay-at-home trends in 2020 and consumers shifting into e-commerce — that say they expect to see a boon to traffic as foreigners return.

“We still think that there’s another leg up if we get the international tourist that we haven’t seen for a couple — two, three — years,” Simon Property Group CEO David Simon told analysts on an earnings conference call held Monday.

Simon’s malls include The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, The Galleria mall in Houston, as well as a number of premium outlet centers.

Over in New Jersey, the American Dream megamall is antsy for foreigners to visit. A portion of the 3 million-square-foot development first opened to the public in October 2019. But it was shut down shortly after due to pandemic restrictions. When it had first kicked open American Dream’s doors in the fall of 2019, operator Triple Five Group told CNBC the megamall would draw 40 million visitors annually, many of them foreigners. It has likely only since seen a sliver of that.

American Dream is ramping up its efforts to court tourists to New Jersey’s Meadowlands in preparation for Monday. The megamall has a team entirely dedicated to tourism that is corresponding with travel agencies and helping visitors book trips to the development.

“American Dream was always designed to be a top global tourism destination,” said Jill Renslow, executive vice president of marketing at Triple Five. “We’re also working with New Jersey … making sure we’re showcasing all the things that New Jersey has to offer.”

The fact that sales of clothing and footwear in New Jersey are generally tax exempt should be another appealing factor for foreign visitors to head to the state, she said.

Just last month, the first round of luxury retailers — including Saks Fifth Avenue, Hermes and Dolce & Gabbana — opened up at American Dream. These high-end shops also have their own wing within the megamall, which includes a separate escalator entrance for buses that are there to transport tourists and their shopping bags.

Jeweler David Yurman has laid the groundwork during the pandemic to grow its international sales. It has 45 stores in the U.S. and a handful in Canada, but has partnerships with jewelry and department stores in other parts of the globe.

Over the past year and a half, it has launched dedicated websites in other countries and kickstarted initiatives to woo more Chinese customers, David Yurman head of marketing Lee Tucker said. It started to sell a limited collection through social media and messaging app, WeChat, he said.

Tucker said that salespeople at the jewelers’ stores know how to speak numerous languages, including Mandarin, Arabic and Farsi, so they can welcome tourists and make them feel at home.

Starting this month, a double-decker bus wrapped in the company’s advertisement is driving to destinations like Rodeo Drive and Newport Beach, where international tourists may see it and get inspired to shop.

“We’re holding our breath to understand how international tourists are going to come back to our cities and which groups are going to travel here first,” he said.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/07/retailers-hail-lifting-of-travel-ban-return-of-international-tourists-with-hopes-of-sales-rebound.html

Garth, a luxury neo-Bistro opens this week at Kempinski Hotel, Mall of the Emirates

Located inside a new private members club, The 9 Lounge, at Kempinski Mall of the Emirates, the premium culinary hub has opened its doors to those with a penchant for refined, delicious medleys of Italian, Greek, and Southern French cuisines. Guests that are not members of The 9 Lounge are encouraged to make reservations in advance and abide by the formal dress code, suited to the elevated ambiance of the locale.

The space comprises of a beautiful verdant terrace, a cigar lounge, and a restaurant, where guests can indulge in the finest mix of seafood, meat, and vegetarian dishes. Whilst diners can enjoy a host of raw fish and seafood plates courtesy of a specialty raw bar, the menu also includes an array of meat, vegetarian and vegan options that are guaranteed to gratify even the most selective appetites.

Guests are promised satisfaction as they acquaint their palates with the gastronomical innovations, born from the proficiently sourced quality ingredients at Garth. The food and menus are expertly designed by celebrity chefs Sergei Andreychenko and Mohammed Musthafa. A team of professional mixologists and sommeliers assist guests in selecting from a carte of Old World and New World wines, cocktails, and premium spirits.

The mouthwatering menus include dishes such as Zucchini Carpaccio, Beef Cheeks Paccheri, Poached Sea Bass, Truffle Risotto, Niçoise Salad, Beef Tartare, Burrata Grande and many more.

At the raw bar, guests can opt for the Salmon or Tuna Tartare, Sea Bass Ceviche, or indulge in an assorted tartare platter featuring three varieties of the dish. The desserts menu is home to rich classics such as Basque Burnt Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Almond Crumble with Berries, Dark Chocolate Mousse, and hand-crafted Ice Creams and Sorbets.

Garth features a new lunch menu each week, featuring daily specials, to keep it fresh and interesting for afternoon guests, from 12pm till 3pm. Although the culinary adventure is the primary focus of the experience, the menus will maintain the sophisticated taste and plating associated with the brand.

Open daily, from 12pm till 12am on weekdays and from 12pm till 2am on weekends, the lounge creates a relaxed atmosphere with unique sound design, featuring a distinct combination of genres. Produced skillfully by an ensemble of instrumentalists from Moscow, the music will include streams of new wave funk, soul, jazz, chill rave, and afro beats genres. Breezy terrace evenings can be enjoyed with a soundtrack of electronic chill rave beats, whilst soulful piano music will grace special dinners at the restaurant.

The layered interiors feature neutral tones of cream, beige and brown, complemented by blush pink furniture. Plush pampas grass lines the windows and the bar canopy, accented by bright neon lighting that lends an effortless luminous glow to the space. A promising venue that is bound to be the next hotspot in Dubai, Garth takes guests on a journey that goes beyond the plate, offering an ideal space to socialize and indulge in finer experiences.

Source: https://www.hotelnewsme.com/hotel-news-me/garth-a-luxury-neo-bistro-opens-this-week-at-kempinski-hotel-mall-of-the-emirates/

Former hotel workers sue Swissotel Chicago, accused it of violating ‘Right to Return to Work’ ordinance

Swissotel didn’t respond to a request for comment, but sent a letter to the women’s attorney in August, arguing the ordinance doesn’t apply to the three women because they were “terminated,” not “laid off.”

Maria Ruiz was a banquet server at Swissotel Chicago nearly 24 years, putting her job before her family, sometimes sleeping in a hotel room for just a few hours between shifts when there wasn’t enough time to go home.

“I was at the hotel for 36 hours straight,” Ruiz said Tuesday afternoon at a news conference outside the hotel. “I wasn’t able to kiss my babies good night or hug them in the morning. My brother was killed two years ago and it was so hard — but even then I didn’t miss a day or work.”

Ruiz, 51, was one of hundreds of hotel workers who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The uncertainty of their future was scary, but the Chicago City Council sought to alleviate that anxiety by passing the “right-to-return-to-work” ordinance to make sure hotel workers could get their jobs back instead of being replaced.

But a lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses Swissotel of violating that ordinance by not rehiring Ruiz and two other banquet servers, each of whom had worked at the hospital at least 20 years.

“I dedicated my life to this job, to this hotel. I was so proud to work there,” Ruiz said. “Since being fired last year, my life is like a nightmare that I haven’t been able to wake up from.”

Unable to find new work or pay her mortgage, Ruiz said she’s on the verge of losing her house, The situation is just as dire for the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Marie Lourdie Pierre-Jacques and Maria Teresa Hernandez.

The ordinance had been pushed by union leaders and laid-off hotel workers. It called for Chicago hotels to prioritize seniority when deciding which former employees to rehire. The women involved in the lawsuit advocated for the ordinance, speaking out publicly in favor of it.

That original version, however, was opposed by the hotel industry as a logistical nightmare that would slow the pace of rehiring. It made no sense, they argued, to rehire someone based only on seniority if it meant having to hire a dishwasher to do an accounting job.

Eventually, a compromise version passed the Council. It narrowed the scope, requiring seniority be considered, but only within the same job categories.

But in their lawsuit, the women claim Swissotel offered positions to banquet servers with less seniority than the three women.

Swissotel didn’t respond to a request for comment, but in a letter sent to the women’s attorney in August, it argued the ordinance doesn’t apply to the three women because they were “terminated,” not “laid off” — an important distinction, the hotel’s lawyers argued in the letter.

Stephen Yokich, an attorney for the women, said they anticipated this problem when they lobbied for the bill, but even so, “most responsible hotels in the city are following the law,” he said.

“Swissotel passed over the women who helped pass the law in the first place,” Yokich said. “Our message to the court will be the same as our message today: Swissotel should follow the law.”

Pierre-Jacques stood behind her colleagues during Tuesday’s news conference, often breaking down in tears as she remembered working while pregnant. Her co-workers often joked she would go into labor at the hotel because of the long hours she worked.

When she did gave birth to her son, she returned to work in just six weeks. She would drop the baby off at her sister’s house on her way back to the downtown hotel.

“I left him with my sister and for a long time he thought my sister was his mother. It broke my heart every time he called her ‘Mommy.’” Pierre-Jacques said through tears. “No one can understand that feeling unless you have been through it. I sacrificed that time with my son because I thought I was being a good worker. I thought if I worked had and give my all, my job would respect me back.”

Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter joined the women and their supporters outside the hotel to show his support in the lawsuit which calls for the women to be reinstated and for them to receive back pay from the date of when they “should have been reinstated.”

“We believe that as guests return to Chicago and hotels increase staffing, hotels should recall the workers who have dedicated their lives to Chicago’s tourism industry,” Reiter said. “These women were fired by Swissotel Chicago during the pandemic, they’ve also been on the front line of advocating for Chicago’s hotel worker’s rights. … We are here to support these workers who are seeking to enforce their rights.”

The Federation of Labor has an ownership stake in Sun-Times Media.

Source: https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2021/10/26/22747376/fired-hotel-workers-lawsuit-swissotel-chicago-right-return-to-work-ordinance

Radisson Hotel Group shows remarkable growth in 2021 marked by 70 signings and openings in key markets in EMEA

Brussels – Radisson Hotel Group, one of the world’s leading hotel groups, looks back on a successful Q3 2021 with key expansions across the Group’s EMEA portfolio, reaching over 50 hotel signings and nearly 30 openings in EMEA YTD.

Radisson Hotel Group is continuing its road to recovery and ambitious pursuit of its five-year expansion and transformation plan. The strength of Radisson Hotel Group’s strategic transformation and development plan has ensured that the Group can rebound swiftly. Since the start of the pandemic, Radisson Hotel Group has achieved remarkable growth of more than 250 signings worldwide, including 100 hotels confirmed in China alone.

Elie Younes, Global Chief Development Officer, said: “Our initiatives are increasingly relevant to our guests and investment partners. We are thankful and grateful to our owners for their continued trust in our people and brands. We commit to continue creating more possibilities to our guests and opportunities to our owners as we slowly enter a transition recovery period for the travel industry”.

Radisson Hotel Group remains solidly committed to becoming the brand of choice for owners, partners, and guests and has signed more than 50 hotels in EMEA since the start of 2021. Key milestones achieved in Q3 2021 include:

• The opening of central London’s first Radisson RED hotel, Radisson RED London Greenwich The O2
• Strong expansion in Morocco with the signing of seven new hotels, of which five already opened during the summer, adding 1600 rooms. This brings the Group’s Moroccan portfolio to 10 hotels, fast-tracking its strategy to reach 15 hotels in operation and under development in the country by 2025
• Doubling of the Group’s presence in Makkah, Saudi Arabia by adding nearly 1000 rooms and serviced apartments in Thakher City
• Signing of the Group’s second Radisson Collection property in Sochi, Russia and opening of two exceptional Radisson Collection properties in Milan and Seville, marking the brand’s introduction in Spain and further expansion in Italy
• Swift global expansion of Radisson Individuals to more than 20 hotels across EMEA in one year since the brand was established, including Greece’s first Radisson Individuals property, Anda Hotel Athens, a member of Radisson Individuals

In the lead up to the UN COP26, Radisson Hotel Group supports the responsible recovery of the hospitality industry. In line with the Group’s target to reduce its carbon and water footprint by 30% by 2025, Radisson Hotel Group is increasing the number of green hotels in its portfolio with recent additions like Radisson Collection Hotel, Magdalena Plaza Sevilla which is Spain’s first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Hospitality Gold certified hotel, Radisson Collection Hotel Gran Via Bilbao, Radisson RED Hotel Dubai Silicon Oasis, and Radisson Resort & Spa Lonavala in India.

Source: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4107163.html