Bookings cancelled and plans changed as ‘chilling talk of Plan B’ hits hospitality sector

Restaurants and bars desperately need to have a good festive period after a “lost” Christmas last year – but now there are fears that mixed messaging and nervousness among customers could have a catastrophic impact.

Business owners across the hospitality industry say COVID rule changes are already having a “chilling” impact on bookings.

Many who have survived 20 months of lockdowns and restrictions as well as a “lost” Christmas last year, say a strong festive period this year is essential to their survival.

Data from reservations website OpenTable also suggests that diners became more cautious over the weekend after news of the Omicron variant came to light.

New restrictions came into place at 4am on Tuesday morning, including mandatory mask wearing on public transport, in shops, museums and other locations. Advertisement

While the hospitality sector is, thus far, exempt from these rules, many fear a nervousness setting in amongst customers.

Sacha Lord, the night-time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, is one voice already sounding the alarm.

“Every restaurant I’ve spoken to today, is now experiencing Xmas party cancellations.” he said on Twitter.

“Most of these businesses desperately needed a good December.

“The knock on effect will be catastrophic. Businesses, jobs, supply chain. A blow to a devastating year.”

OpenTable’s figures suggest that the level of people opting to eat out did fall in relative terms this weekend compared to the previous weekend.

On Saturday 20 November the number of seated diners was up 31% on the level seen two years ago – but by Saturday 27 November this had fallen to 20%.

There is concern that a lack of clarity from the government and those who advise it is not helping.

On Tuesday Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK’s Health Security Agency, said that “not socialising when we don’t particularly need to” would “help keep the virus at bay”.

The inference seemed to be that people should reduce contacts over the festive period and potentially cancel Christmas parties.

This was rejected by Prime Minister Boris Johnson who insisted he has implemented a package of “balanced and proportionate measures”.

The health secretary Sajid Javid reiterated that stance by suggesting people do not need to cancel parties but should consider taking a test before attending.

But many in hospitality fear the damage is already done.

“The chilling talk of Plan B is already being felt across hospitality as bookings are cancelled and plans changed,” said Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade body UK Hospitality.

“There is no doubt that this will have a damaging effect on businesses, just as they head into their key trading period.

“This all comes at a critical time for the sector, as costs are rising across the board, supply chain issues continue, chronic labour shortages show no sign of easing and next year will see a return of 20% VAT rate.”

The importance of this period and customer confidence is being echoed by those in retail.

Many are very aware that real disposable income is falling due to the steep rises in petrol and energy costs as well as inflation more generally.

Footfall has also struggled to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

While it has improved in recent months, last week it was still 17% lower than during the same week in 2019.

Shop owners such as Sam Haq, who owns SWAG in Reading, say they need customers to remain confident.

“I believe the most important thing is not to lose customers now,” he said.

“This is where a lot of the shopkeepers and owners are going to have a problem.

“Do they worry about customers wearing masks or do they say nothing and welcome the trade? And I think 90% of them will just welcome the trade because they need the sales.

“To be honest if we have another lockdown it could put a lot of businesses down to the bottom and close.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/bookings-cancelled-and-plans-changed-as-chilling-talk-of-plan-b-hits-hospitality-sector-12483797

Coronavirus pandemic could cost global tourism $2 trillion this year

The coronavirus pandemic will likely cost the global tourism sector $2 trillion in lost revenue in 2021, the UN’s tourism body said Monday, calling the sector’s recovery “fragile” and “slow.”

Despite recent improvements, the report warned that demand for travel could be further affected by “uneven vaccination rates around the world and new COVID-19 strains which had prompted new travel restrictions in some countries.

In the past few days, the emergence of the Omicron variant has led dozens of countries to reinstate restrictions on arrivals, or to delay relaxation in COVID-19 travel and testing rules, leading to wide uncertainty for holiday season travellers worldwide.

Spikes in oil prices and the disruption of global supply chains have also had an effect. According to the latest UNWTO data, international tourist arrivals are expected to remain 70-75 per cent below 2019 levels in 2021, a similar decline as in 2020.

‘We cannot let our guard down’

Although a 58 per cent increase in tourist arrivals was registered in July-September of this year compared to the same period in 2020, this remained 64 per cent below 2019 levels, the UN body found.

In August and September, arrivals were at 63 per cent lower than 2019, which is the highest monthly result since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Between January and September 2021, worldwide international tourist arrivals stood at 20 per cent lower, compared to 2020, a clear improvement from the 54 per cent drop, over the first six months of the year. 

“Data for the third quarter of 2021 is encouraging,” UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said. “However, arrivals are still 76 per cent below pre-pandemic levels and results across the different global regions remain uneven.”

In light of the rising cases and the emergence of new variants, he added that “we cannot let our guard down and need to continue our efforts to ensure equal access to vaccinations, coordinate travel procedures, make use of digital vaccination certificates to facilitate mobility, and continue to support the sector.”

Uneven recovery

Despite the improvement seen in the third quarter of the year, the pace of recovery remains slow and uneven across world regions.

In some sub-regions, such as Southern and Mediterranean Europe, the Caribbean, North and Central America, arrivals actually rose above 2020 levels in the first nine months of 2021.

However, arrivals in Asia and the Pacific were down by as much as 95 per cent when compared with 2019, as many destinations remained closed to non-essential travel.

Africa and the Middle East recorded 74 per cent and 81 per cent drops respectively in the third quarter compared to 2019. Among the larger destinations, Croatia, Mexico and Turkey showed the strongest recovery in the period of July to September.

Caribbean rebound

The Caribbean had the highest results of any of the subregions defined by the UNWTO, with arrivals up 55 per cent compared to 2020.

International tourist arrivals “rebounded” during the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere thanks to increased travel confidence, rapid vaccination and the easing of entry restrictions in many nations.

In Europe, the EU Digital Covid Certificate has helped facilitate free movement within the European Union, the report added.

Source: https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/11/1106712

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

When the Biggest Spenders Aren’t Coming Back Any Time Soon

Even before Omicron’s arrival, China was discouraging its citizens from traveling abroad. That has had a huge impact on global tourism.

On Jeju Island in South Korea, the markets have gone dark. In Bangkok, bored hawkers wait around for customers who never come. In Bali, tour guides have been laid off. In Paris and Rome, the long lines of people with selfie sticks and sun hats are a distant memory.

This was supposed to be the year travel came back. In Europe and Asia, many countries reopened their airports and welcomed tourists. But they are confronting a new reality: Variants such as Omicron are causing global panic, leading governments to shut borders again, and their biggest spenders — Chinese tourists — aren’t returning any time soon.

As part of its effort to maintain a zero-Covid approach, China has announced that international flights would be kept at 2.2 percent of pre-Covid levels during the winter. Since August, it has almost entirely stopped issuing new passports, and it has imposed a 14-day quarantine for all arrivals. Returning to China also requires mountains of paperwork and multiple Covid-19 tests.

No country has been more crucial to global travel in the past decade than China. Chinese tourists spent roughly $260 billion in 2019, exceeding all other nationalities. Their prolonged absence would mean travel revenues are unlikely to return to prepandemic levels soon. Analysts say it could take up to two years before China fully reopens.

Shopping malls have emptied out. Restaurants have shut down. Hotels are deserted.

The downturn is particularly affecting North and Southeast Asia. China is the No. 1 source of tourism in Asia for several large cities, according to Nihat Ercan, the head of investment sales for the Asia Pacific at JLL Hotels & Hospitality, an adviser to the hospitality industry.

The recent discovery of Omicron has prompted countries to reimpose travel restrictions or bar travelers altogether. It’s another blow to an industry that, though still reeling from the lack of Chinese tourists, was just starting to recover.

In Bangkok’s Or Tor Kor fruit market, where masses of Chinese tourists would once gather around tables eating durian, business has ground to a halt. Phakamon Thadawatthanachok, a durian seller, said she used to keep 300 to 400 kilograms of the spiky fruit in stock and had to resupply them three to four times a week to keep up with the demand. Now, she had to take a loan just to make ends meet.

“The loss of income is immeasurable,” she said. “At the moment, we are only holding onto the hope that it will get better someday.”

In Vietnam, the pandemic has caused over 95 percent of tourism businesses to close or suspend operations, according to the government.

Before the pandemic, Chinese visitors flocked to the beach towns of Da Nang and Nha Trang, accounting for around 32 percent of the foreign tourists into the country.

“The service industry in this city has died,” said Truong Thiet Vu, director of a travel company in Nha Trang that is now shut down.

On the Indonesian island of Bali, many tourist agencies have either sold their vehicles or have had them confiscated by their leasing companies, according to Franky Budidarman, the owner of one of two major travel agencies on the island that caters to Chinese tourists.

Mr. Budidarman said he had to cut the salaries of his office workers by half and pivoted to running a food delivery service and a cafe. “I’m grateful that I have survived for two years now,” he said. “I sometimes wonder how I could have done this.”

For the places that catered to Chinese tourists who traveled in group packages, the loss has been especially stark. On Jeju Island, popular among Chinese visitors because they could enter without visas, the number of tourists arriving from China dropped more than 90 percent to 103,000 in 2020 from more than 1 million in 2019. From January to September of this year, that number was only about 5,000.

As many as half of the duty-free shops catering to Chinese tourists in Jeju have closed, according to Hong Sukkyoun, a spokesman for the Jeju Tourism Association. At the Big Market Shopping Center, which used to sell island specialties like chocolate and crafts, all but three of 12 employees have been laid off, said An Younghoon, 33, who was among those who became jobless in July.

“When the virus began spreading, we all started counting our days down,” he said. “We knew there wasn’t going to be any business soon.”

Chinese visitors are less common in Europe, but they had emerged as an increasingly important market in recent years. At the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London, for example, about 1,000 people visited per day in its peak, and at least half of them were from China, said Paul Leharne, the museum’s supervisor.

Since its reopening on May 17, the museum has attracted only 10 percent of its usual numbers. This year, it opened an online store to sell merchandise and souvenirs, about a third of which is being shipped to China, he said.

“We really feel their absence,” said Alfonsina Russo, the director of the Colosseum in Rome, referring to Chinese tourists.

Asian tourists, “especially from China,” made up around 40 percent of international visitors to the Colosseum in 2019, according to Ms. Russo. That year, the site had adjusted its panels and guides to include the Chinese language, along with English and Italian.

The number of international tourists arriving in Italy remains down 55 percent, compared with a Europe-wide drop of 48 percent, according to statistics issued in June by ENIT, the national tourism agency. In 2019, two million Chinese tourists visited Italy.

Their disappearance has dealt “a devastating blow” to some businesses that had invested in this particular group, said Fausto Palombelli, head of the tourism section of Unindustria, a business association in the Lazio region, which includes Rome.

Like so many other places, Rome had taken steps to cater to visitors from China. It taught its taxi drivers to thank its Chinese customers with a “xie xie,” or thank you in Mandarin. Its main airport, Fiumicino, offered a personal shopping service with no value-added tax to attract Chinese travelers, according to Raffaele Pasquini, head of marketing and business development at Aeroporti di Roma, the company that manages Fiumicino.

In France, knowing that it may be months — possibly years — before Chinese tourists return, some are trying to keep a connection with potential customers.

Catherine Oden, who works for Atout France, the national institute in charge of promoting France as a tourist destination, said she had to familiarize herself with Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo and Douyin to live-stream virtual activities like French cooking lessons and tours of the Château de Chantilly.

“We want to be present in their minds,” she said. “So that once everything gets back to normal, they choose France as their first destination.”

In Paris, long lines of Chinese tourists snaking around the boutiques of the Champs-Élysées used to be a common sight. “Before the pandemic, we had four Chinese-speaking salespeople,” said Khaled Yesli, 28, the retail manager of a luxury boutique on the Champs-Élysées. “We only have one left, and no intention to recruit any more.”

Mr. Yesli said the store’s best-selling product was once a red and gold metal box containing macarons and hand creams that was designed purposely for Chinese tourists. But with sales lackluster in the pandemic, those boxes are now on the bottom shelf.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/05/world/asia/china-tourism-omicron-covid.html

China Outbound Tourism Set to Jump More Than 25% This Year – State Media

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese outbound tourism numbers are set to jump by more than 25% this year from 2020 but remain “basically at a standstill” compared to pre-pandemic levels, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday, citing official projections.

The dramatic drop in travellers from China, the world’s most populous nation, since the rapid spread of coronavirus early last year, has left a $255 billion annual spending hole in the global tourism market.

A total of 25.62 million Chinese tourist trips overseas are expected to be made in 2021, CCTV said, citing an annual report on outbound tourism from the China Tourism Academy, part of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

That is up from 20.334 million in 2020, which was itself an 86.9% plunge from a year earlier as the coronavirus outbreak led to severe restrictions on global travel.

This year’s projection, which includes trips to special administrative regions of China such as the gambling hub of Macau, will still be well below annual numbers of over 100 million before the pandemic hit, CCTV noted.

Macau, a former Portuguese colony, has become a “bright spot” for outbound tourism from mainland China due to effective virus prevention and control measures, CCTV said.

The pace of recovery in 2022 will depend on how other destinations handle tourism, it added.

China’s National Immigration Administration said this month it would continue to guide citizens not to go abroad for non-urgent and non-essential reasons.

Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-11-22/china-outbound-tourism-set-to-jump-more-than-25-this-year-state-media

France’s Travel & Tourism Recovering Ahead of EU & Other World Countries

France’s travel and tourism sector has increased by 34.9 per cent this year, research from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) reveals.

The news was shared during the Destination France Summit, where WTTC also added that the sector’s growth noted this year is ahead of other European countries by 23.9 per cent and 30.7 per cent compared to the international stage, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

As WTTC shows, this recovery rate can bring France an additional €38 billion or a year-on-year growth of 35 per cent, which by 2022 is expected to stand at 21.8 per cent or about €38 billion.

According to Julia Simpson, WTTC’s CEO, France is recovering faster than other EU countries, but a long way ahead awaits the tourism and travel sector in the country.

“Last year the pandemic saw hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in France. This year employment remains flat, but we expect to see a big uptick in Travel and Tourism in France next year as long as the country remains open to vaccinated travellers,” Simpson noted.

As the Head of WTTC said, about 200,000 French residents lost their jobs last year, but employment is expected to remain on the same levels in 2021. Next year, the country expects a rise of 9.4 per cent, accounting for 236,000 job vacancies.

The same source shows that in 2020, the travel and tourism sector brought €108 billion to the country, accounting for 4.7 per cent of the national economy. This figure was 48.81 per cent less than 2019 when the sector brought €211 million (8.5 per cent) to the national economy.

In terms of the type of tourism, domestic travel has seen a surge in France during the last two years, but not enough to fully recover the economy and jobs lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The research also shows that domestic spending has increased by 56.6 per cent this year, but international spending is expected to mark a 1.9 per cent decrease by the end of the year.

In general, on a year-on-year basis, domestic spending is expected to increase by 9.9 per cent, whereas international spending can rebound by 67.8 per cent, as the vaccination campaigns have been implemented and employment rates have been restored to a point.

SchengenVisaInfo.com previously reported on the matter, revealing that a 35 per cent increase will be evident in France’s travel and tourism sector. The same source reported that the recovery would be evident sooner if the vaccination campaigns were fully implemented, a common digital solution to be standardised and for governments to recognise vaccine manufacturers.

Source: https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/frances-travel-tourism-recovering-ahead-of-eu-other-world-countries/

Country overview: Japanese hotel market to grow by 18,000 rooms

According to the TOPHOTELPROJECTS construction database, Japan will experience steady growth in the coming years, fuelled by expansion in Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo.

Our researchers report that 72 hotels with 17,730 rooms are currently in the pipeline across Japan. We take a closer look at the country’s development slate and highlight some schemes that are well worth keeping an eye on.

Japan’s hotel openings by year

Before 2021 draws to a close, five more hotels with 1,085 rooms will open their doors in Japan. For 2022, 28 launches with 4,733 keys have already been pencilled in, followed by another 14 schemes with 2,915 rooms in 2023. A further 25 projects and 8,997 keys are in the works for 2024 and beyond.

Of Japan’s 72 new hotels, 43 will be in the four-star category, while the remaining 29 are targeting the five-star market.

Top urban growth markets

Osaka, one of the country’s key economic hubs, will get eight new hotels in the coming years, adding 4,553 rooms to the city’s offering. Over half of this impressive figure stems from a single megaproject incidentally – the 2,500-key MGM Resort Osaka.

Elsewhere, and only a short drive from Osaka, the cultural hotspot of Kyoto will get seven new properties with 995 keys. And the capital Tokyo will see six hotels with 1,348 rooms open soon.

International hotel brands expanding in Japan

All three of Japan’s fastest-growing hotel brands hail from North America.

Fairfield Inn & Suites, by Marriott International, takes the lead with 11 active projects set to bring 900 new rooms into play. Fellow US giant Hilton Worldwide’s signature brand Hilton Hotels & Resorts, meanwhile, will add five properties and 1,747 keys to its offering in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Lastly, Canada-based Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts is currently working on three projects with 495 rooms.

Exciting new hotels in Japan’s project pipeline

Let’s start with Hoshino Resorts Omo7 Osaka Shin-Imamiya, which is due to open opposite a major train station in Q2, 2022. From here, guests will be able to easily reach Kansai International Airport as well as popular downtown areas. On top of its convenient location, the hotel will benefit from expansive green spaces, multiple restaurants, a cafeteria and open spaces for public events.

Over in the foothills of Mount Fuji, Unbound Collection by Hyatt, Fuji Speedway will offer guests convenient access to events at the new Motorsports Village facility. Once the property opens, it’ll feature 120 rooms and suites, a flexible banquet room of 500 sq m, a 200 sq m conference room, fine-dining restaurants, bars, an indoor pool, a fitness centre, a spa and natural onsen hot-spring bathing facilities. Guests will also be able to gain access to the onsite car museum, celebrating the historic significance of Fuji Speedway.

Finally, in early 2023, Four Seasons Resort and Private Residences Okinawa will begin welcoming guests. The 120-room resort is located on the beachfront along the island’s western coast, just 31 miles from Naha International Airport. Its facilities will include an all-day dining restaurant, specialty dining, a lounge, shops and recreational facilities, as well as public grounds and gardens.

Source: https://tophotel.news/country-overview-japanese-hotel-market-to-grow-by-18000-rooms-infographic/

2022 hotlist: Europe’s top three openings

Europe is set to debut hundreds of new hotel projects next year, with a total of 87,206 rooms expected across 535 openings – here’s our pick of three stellar schemes to watch out for.

We take a look at a trio of standout hotel schemes scheduled to complete in 2022 – an architecturally ambitious project in Frankfurt, a historic conversion in London and a landmark hotel for Belgrade.

Roomers Park View, Frankfurt

Developed by RFR and Hines in partnership with the Gekko Group, this under-construction hotel forms part of a mixed-use project consisting of two buildings: a 19-storey hotel tower and a 26-storey tower for condos with access to Roomers services. Located in Frankfurt’s Westend, Roomers Park View will afford impressive views over Grüneburgpark and the city’s skyline when it opens in late 2022.

The 136-key Roomers hotel will place the focus on suite accommodation and come with a host of amenities, including a special gastronomic concept, 19th-floor panoramic bar and 18th-floor spa. The project is being designed by architect KSP Engel, with interiors courtesy of Piero Lissoni.

Fulham Town Hall by Room2, London

The former Fulham Town Hall site, which is currently being restored by Ziser London, is set to enter a new era as a premium Room2 hometel. The hometel will span the property’s elegantly restored wings and a newly developed space, with Da Costa Mahindroo Architects and Corstorphine & Wright working on the architecture, juxtaposing innovative elements with the grade II*-listed building’s historic façade.

The interiors of Name Architecture promise to push the boundaries of artistic rebelliousness. On completion in the third quarter of 2022, it’ll house both event and co-working space, along with 90 guestrooms.

The St Regis Belgrade

A five-star newbuild, The St Regis Belgrade will occupy the first nine floors of Kula Belgrade, a 40-storey mixed-use tower within Eagle Hill’s huge Belgrade Waterfront development. The under-construction property is being designed by architectural firm SOM in London, with interiors by HOK’s London studio.

Expected to launch in the second quarter of 2022, the 119-key scheme will offer guests views over the city or River Sava, along with a destination restaurant at the top of the tower. There’ll also be an all-day dining restaurant and a St Regis Bar, inspired by the King Cole Bar at The St Regis New York. Among the other notable amenities being planned are a spa, a pool, a fitness centre and event space.

Source: https://tophotel.news/2022-hotlist-europes-top-three-openings/

Supports for Indigenous tourism businesses continue

Indigenous tourism businesses will receive another financial boost to aid in pandemic recovery and foster growth through the continued partnership of the Province and Indigenous Tourism BC.

“Back by popular demand, we are responding once again to the Call to Action from the Indigenous tourism sector,” said Melanie Mark, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. “These grants are reconciliation in action and support self-determination for Indigenous tourism businesses to showcase their territories, culture and people. Together with Indigenous Tourism BC, we are working to rebuild Indigenous-led tourism and return it to the thriving levels of growth we saw before the pandemic, resulting in a stronger future for everyone.”

The Province initially provided $5 million to Indigenous Tourism B.C. (ITBC) to create the BC Indigenous Tourism Recovery Fund. It is now is providing an additional $3 million for a second intake.

Launched in February 2021, the fund provides grants to Indigenous tourism businesses, including lodges and resorts, restaurants, outdoor adventure experiences, galleries and gift shops owned by Indigenous people. Recipients can use the funds to keep the lights on and pay rent or employee wages. The intake opening date for the second round of the recovery grant will be announced by ITBC in the coming weeks.

“ITBC has worked hard with stakeholders and provided a support system for businesses to continue operating during the pandemic,” said Brenda Baptiste, chair, Indigenous Tourism BC. “We are extremely grateful for the partnerships and work that we do with the tourism industry and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport.”

For example, Ay Lelum, the Good House of Design on the Snuneymuxw First Nation in Nanaimo, used its grant to maintain its business.

“The ITBC grant process was well-developed and efficient, which allowed us to focus on doing the work that we do in sharing Coast Salish art and culture. The funds enabled us to maintain our business operations while developing our newest collections, resulting in our successful launch at New York Fashion Week in fall 2021,” said Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Seward-Good, sisters, directors and designers of Ay Lelum, the Good House of Design, a second-generation Coast Salish design house. “With our Stqeeye’ Collection showcase, we were able to share Coast Salish art, music and culture on a global scale, and reach millions of viewers worldwide, benefiting our business and our community in a positive way.”

Quick Facts:

• There are more than 480 Indigenous tourism businesses, within the 203 First Nations in British Columbia.
• Prior to the pandemic, Indigenous tourism was the fastest-growing sector of the tourism industry. It generated $705 million in direct gross domestic output and created 7,400 direct full-time jobs.
• 140 Indigenous tourism businesses received grants through the first round of the BC Indigenous Tourism Recovery Fund, which is a partnership with Indigenous Tourism BC.  
• These grants have assisted in maintaining nearly 1,200 jobs in communities throughout B.C. in the past year.
• The BC Indigenous Tourism Recovery Fund is part of the Province’s actions to support the recovery of the tourism industry.

Source: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021TACS0065-002176

India opens to fully vaccinated foreign tourists

Restriction rollback marks the first time since March 2020 that India has allowed foreign tourists on commercial flights to enter the country.

India began allowing fully vaccinated foreign tourists to enter the country on regular commercial flights, in the latest easing of coronavirus restrictions as infections fall and vaccinations rise.

Tourists entering India, starting on Monday, must be fully vaccinated, follow all COVID-19 protocols and test negative for the virus within 72 hours of their flight, according to the health ministry. Many will also need to undergo a post-arrival COVID-19 test at the airport.

However, travellers from countries that have agreements with India for mutual recognition of vaccination certificates, such as the United States, United Kingdom and many European nations, can leave the airport without undergoing a COVID-19 test.

This is the first time India has allowed foreign tourists on commercial flights to enter the country since March 2020, when it imposed one of the toughest lockdowns in the world in an attempt to contain the pandemic. Fully vaccinated tourists on chartered flights were allowed to enter starting last month.

It came as coronavirus infections had fallen significantly, with daily new cases hovering at just above 10,000 for more than a month.

To encourage travellers to visit India, the government planned to issue 500,000 free visas through next March. The moves were expected to boost the tourism and hospitality sector which has been battered by the pandemic.

“The pandemic devastated the industry but things will return to normal once foreign tourists start to arrive,” said Jyoti Mayal, President of the Travel Agents Association of India.

Mayal said coastal states like Kerala and Goa in the country’s south and Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in the Himalayan north are already witnessing a surge in domestic tourists. All four states are heavily dependent on earnings from tourism, and Mayal said foreign travellers scheduling their visits there would also help lift the local economy.

“Tourism is a very resilient industry and the upcoming season looks very promising. We are hopeful of generating more jobs than we lost during the pandemic,” she said.

With more than 35 million reported coronavirus infections, India is the second-worst-hit country after the US. Active coronavirus cases stand at 134,096, the lowest in 17 months, according to the health ministry.

Nearly 79 percent of India’s adult population has received at least one vaccine dose while 38 percent is fully vaccinated. The federal government has asked state administrations to conduct door-to-door campaigns to accelerate the vaccine campaign.

Fewer than three million foreign tourists visited India in 2020, a drop of more than 75 percent from 2019, when tourism brought nearly $30bn in earnings.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/11/15/india-opens-to-fully-vaccinated-foreign-tourists