The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has launched its new mental health guidelines for the Travel & Tourism sector, which have been compiled to support businesses of all sizes to support the mental health of their employees. The Mental Health Guidelines build on the Diversity & Inclusion Guidelines released by WTTC in 2020, going one step deeper to focus on mental wellbeing. It will help businesses better prepare for the recovery period following the COVID-19 crisis, and will ensure that as the sector rebuilds, it comes back stronger and better than before. The guidelines come at a time when mental health could not be more important. With lockdowns, quarantines, job losses and uncertainty looming larger than ever all against the backdrop of winter, it is crucial...
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Great Green Wall gets more support to restore degraded landscape
The ambitious Great Green Wall for the Sahel and Sahara Initiative (GGW) has received at least 10 billion US Dollars in new funding. The funding will fast track efforts to restore degrading land, save biological diversity as well as create green jobs and build resilience of the Sahelian people. Emmanuel Macron, President of France, made the announcement at the just concluded One Planet Summit for Biodiversity co-organized by France, the United Nations and World Bank. The GGW snakes along the southern margin of Africa’s Sahara Desert running from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea, all the way from Senegal in the West to Djibouti in the East. The Great Green Wall Accelerator makes up 30 per cent of 33 billion United States Dollars needed to achieve the Great Green Wall’s ambitions...
Read MoreThe head of a global travel organisation have opposed making COVID-19 vaccinations a requirement for travellers in the fight against the pandemic, despite scepticism about reaching herd immunity this year. Several health experts said during the Reuters Next conference that the mass roll-out of coronavirus vaccines would not result in enough people having immunity to be able to effectively stop COVID-19 from spreading. FILE PHOTO: Vials labelled "COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" are placed on dry ice in this illustration taken, December 4, 2020. Picture taken December 4, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Some policymakers have proposed immunisation should be compulsory for air travel as the world steps up the battle to curb the spread of COVID-19, and Australia’s Qanta...
Read MoreThe International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA), Airports Council International Latin America and the Caribbean (ACI-LAC) and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), have jointly expressed their deep concerns about the new measures and restrictions imposed on air travel across Latin America and the Caribbean. In a call to governments they have asked for the implementation and adherence to internationally agreed measures which permit safe air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rolling back the progress made on restoring air connectivity in 2020 will have an adverse effect on the socio-economic recovery in the region, placing millions of jobs at risk. 2021 began as a promising and hopeful year ...
Read More-As the country with the most reported COVID-19 cases, the United States has suffered the biggest drop in tourism revenue with a total loss of $147,245 million-With the country seeing less than 20 million foreign visitors in 2020, Spain has the second largest revenue loss of $46,707m-France is the world’s most visited country with over 89 million tourists each year, but the impact of COVID-19 has resulted in a total revenue loss of $42,036m-The Caribbean islands make up 50% of those who have suffered the highest percentage loss in GDP, with Aruba, Turks and Caicos Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia and Grenada all ranking in the list of the top 10 worst affected FILE PHOTO: A man carries a surfboard at Kuta beach on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on August 15, 2020, which ha...
Read MoreRecovery in passenger demand worldwide, which had been slowing since the Northern hemisphere’s summer travel season, came to a halt in November 2020. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) data clearly reflect this thing. Thus, there is a clear signal that aviation industry is far from any signs of hope coming its way in the near future. FILE PHOTO: A passenger walks at Fiumicino airport in Rome, Italy. REUTERS/Remo Casilli According to IATA data: Total demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) was down 70.3% compared to November 2019, virtually unchanged from the 70.6% year-to-year decline recorded in October. November capacity was 58.6% below previous year levels and load factor fell 23.0 percentage points to 58.0%, which was a record low for the mon...
Read MoreThe International Air Transport Association (IATA) expressed deep frustration with Canada’s new COVID-19 testing requirement for all arriving air travelers due to come into effect as of 7 January 2021. While the industry for months has been calling for systematic testing to re-open borders without quarantine measures, these pleas have fallen on deaf ears, especially in Canada. Now, in a decision that can only be described as the ‘worst of both worlds’, the government is mandating that passengers provide proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken within 72 hours before planned departure to Canada, while at the same time declining to lift existing travel restrictions and quarantine requirements. Under the new order, passengers who, despite their bes...
Read MoreJagannath Temple in Puri reopened for all devotees on Sunday after remaining closed for nine months due to the pandemic even as Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal preferred to have darshan of the deities from outside for not having the mandatory COVID-19 negative report for entry into the shrine. The governor, along with his family members and some staff, had to return to the state capital after having darshan of "Patitapaban" (the symbolic image of lord Jagannath seen from outside the temple) as they did not have the COVID-19 negative report, a senior official accompanying Lal said. Though there was no restriction on the entry of the governor, who was welcomed by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and Puri district administration, Lal volunteered not to go inside on his ...
Read MoreAs Asia says goodbye to 2020 - a tumultuous year that saw the planet roiled by a deadly pandemic - celebrations will be smaller, shorter and more muted amid fears of coronavirus flare-ups. In Beijing, the capital of the world’s most-populous country, an annual New Year light show at the China Central Television Tower scheduled for Thursday through Sunday has been called off. The Beijing Yonghe Lama Temple, a tourist site, has also cut the number of visitors allowed by half since Thursday. Many Chinese tourists are staying home or taking shorter domestic trips. A woman walks past a painting outside an art school in Mumbai, India, December 30, 2020. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas The coronavirus emerged a year ago in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has since spread globally, ...
Read MoreThe number of visitors to be allowed into the Taj Mahal has been increased to 15,000 per day despite warnings from health officials that overcrowding at tourist sites could lead to a rise in coronavirus cases. The 17th-century mausoleum, one of India’s most popular tourist destinations, was shut in March after the government imposed a lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus. When it reopened in September, visitors were initially only allowed back under strict restrictions but local officials said numbers had swelled in recent weeks, pushing them to increase the cap on tourists from 10,000 per day. “The limit has been increased to 15,000 tickets per day so that every tourist can get the ticket and admire the monument,” government archaeologist Vasant Kumar Swarnkar said...
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