No squat-style toilets for old people. Always use white bedsheets. Do not stare at the guests. These are some of the lessons Abida Ghulam Jilani learned as she trained to be a host at her homestay in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Jilani is among a growing number of women in South Asia who are opening their homes to guests to earn money, gaining a degree of financial independence and helping to revitalise remote communities and promote sustainable tourism. The 34-year-old mother-of-five, who left school when she got married aged 18, began hosting visitors in 2019 and charges 2,500 Pakistani rupees ($15) a night. She has made more than 60,000 rupees since March last year despite the pandemic, allowing her to buy her first washing machine and a giant flat screen TV. “I can r...
Read MoreTag: pandemic effect
Vaccine tourism, where tourist hotspots are now offering COVID-19 vaccinations on holiday to attract visitors, is a double-edged sword as, while it could assist travel’s restart, it also raises the question of vaccine equity as it will further increase the divide between the wealthy and less privileged, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. FILE PHOTO: A health worker prepares a syringe with the Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at a vaccination center in Le Cannet, France, January 19, 2021. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard GlobalData’s Q2 2021 consumer survey found that only 6% of global respondents were not concerned about the impact of COVID-19. The remaining 94% were ‘extremely’, ‘slightly’ or ‘quite’ concerned. With concerns high, the opportunity to get vacci...
Read MoreBroadway puts on the razzle dazzle this month after an unprecedented 18-month pandemic shutdown, hoping that Americans have missed live theatre as much as actors and producers. A rousing video promotion by Oprah Winfrey, a television special, refundable tickets, and a week of outdoor performances in New York's Times Square will highlight the 18 musicals and five plays that open over the next few weeks. Production Tailor Annette Lovece and Dresser Jimmy O'Donnell adjust an outfit worn by actor Ben Crawford during a fitting at the Majestic Theater in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., September 3, 2021. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs "I think audiences are drooling to get back to live entertainment," said Ken Davenport, producer of "Kinky Boots" and "Once on This Island." "One of the best th...
Read MoreA healthy diet is an essential pillar for physical and mental wellbeing. The COVID-19 pandemic has become another driver for balanced diet trend to maintain a strong immune system. Against this backdrop, an analysis of GlobalData’s Social Media Analytics Platform, which identifies and tracks the emerging consumer trends, pain areas, new fields of innovation by top contributors, has revealed ‘Keto Diet’ as the most discussed health and wellness (H&W) diet trend among the influencers (redditors) in the social networking platform ‘Reddit’ during the first half (H1) of 2021. Smitarani Tripathy, Influencer Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, lists the top five health and wellness diet trends among redditors in H1 2021. Keto Diet | 3,910+ redditors Keto...
Read MoreWhen U.S. celebrity chef David Burke opened his second restaurant in Riyadh earlier in August, hudreds of Saudi men and women packed the venue to enjoy his dishes and fruity "mocktails" to a DJ's mix of Arabic and Western pop. While Saudis usually escape the desert country over the summer when temperatures can reach over 50 degrees Celsius, the coronavirus pandemic has seen them flock to restaurants and cafes in the open-air mall The Zone, bolstering Saudi Arabia's consumer sector. Saudi women sit at David Burke's restaurant, in The Zone restaurant complex, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia August 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri Noura, 21, a Saudi hostess at one such upscale restaurant said she has been booking up tables weeks in advance. "Before, that would have been impossible in August...
Read MoreTurkey's tourist sector is pinning its hopes on Britain removing it from a COVID-19 travel red list later this week to help it recover from the pandemic, a spate of wildfires, and Germany's designation of Turkey as high risk. While Turkish tourism has seen a strong rebound from last year, with foreign visitor arrivals for July jumping fourfold to 4.36 million, it remains well below pre-pandemic levels. FILE PHOTO: A staff member stands next to empty tables as cafes and restaurants reopen after closing down for months amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Istanbul, Turkey. REUTERS/Dilara Senkaya Many hotels in the southern Aegean region, which rely heavily on British tourists, may close by the end of August if Britain does not remove Turkey from its red list, touris...
Read MoreSuggest a holiday in Africa and most people picture baking hot sun, palm-fringed beaches or herds of wildebeest galloping across the savannah. Few think of skiing. People ski and snowboard at Kapoko Snow Park at Afriski Mountain Resort in Butha Buthe, Lesotho, July 31, 2021. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham Yet the continent contains five mountain ranges with enough seasonal snow to make potential slopes, of which two host rudimentary ski resorts. Tucked into South Africa's stunning Drakensburg range, one such resort in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho attracts tourists seeking a more adventurous skiing destination - despite visitor numbers being drastically slashed by COVID-19. !function(e,t,c,a){if(!e.fwn&&(a="fwn_script",n=e.fwn=function(){ n.callMethod?n.callMethod.apply(n,...
Read MoreOf the many sectors in the global economy, leisure, sport and tourism are three ‘patients’ that have struggled longest to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism’s suffering earns almost daily bedside bulletins, the latest being France moving to the UK’s amber list – enabling fully vaccinated people to avoid quarantine - only for this breakthrough to be marred by President Macron’s new ‘COVID Passport’ scheme, causing a new chaos in the French tourist industry. It highlights an all too familiar pattern during the COVID crisis: just as businesses glimpse a chance to bounce back, they then face new obstacles - tourism is still stricken by many curfews and travel restrictions to stop the spread of the virus across the globe. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) touri...
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