A car sale with a twist (audio)

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Tourism in 2021

 

Travel in 2021 will be easier than in 2020. More flights will take off and land. A greater number of countries will welcome visitors. There will be fewer restrictions. But those gains will come, as statisticians like to say, from a very low base. After a year in which flights came to a near-complete standstill, many countries closed their borders and those that still allowed visitors imposed restrictions, even the slightest loosening will be a welcome improvement.

The signs are encouraging. By September 2020, 115 of the 217 destinations tracked by the UN World Tourism Organisation had loosened their travel restrictions. Global hotel-occupancy rates more than doubled from a low of 22% in April to 47% in August. And travellers are willing to get going. According to Skyscanner, a price-comparison website, there is plenty of pent-up demand

  Three big changes will define travel in 2021. The first is frequency and length. Short breaks  across  borders will remain difficult. As they open, most countries will impose two-week  quarantines on incoming and returning travellers, turning a three-day holiday into a 31-day ordeal.  As a result, trips will be fewer and longer. Thailand, which depended on tourism for more  than 20% of its GDP in 2019, is will admit tourists. But the condition is that they stay for at least 90 days. More countries will follow suit.

A second change is distance. Domestic tourism will boom in 2021. Big destination countries are trying to make up for the shortfall in international visitors by encouraging citizens to holiday at home. In America, airlines are betting on Hawaii. Singapore is giving its citizens $75 US dollars to spend on local ­attractions. Even Airbnb’s home page encourages its customers to “go near”. Holidaymakers will not be difficult to persuade. Going abroad, although possible, will remain a hassle: countless forms, the need for covid-19 tests and the risk of being stranded will all discourage foreign travel.

The third change will be in the nature of the holiday. As trips get fewer and longer, those who can work from home will find an attractive alternative in working from somewhere-a-lot-nicer-than-home, and with fewer restrictions on movements.

  Many of these changes will persist long after a vaccine has been widely         deployed. Travellers will get used to longer trips, more flexibility and combining      work with leisure. International tourism will eventually recover to its 2019     levels. But, starting in 2021, it will look rather different.

 

From The Economist (edited)

Filmmaker remembers Diego Maradona (audio)

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Amazon under fire in France

PARIS - Amazon is under fire in France, where a number of elected officials, union leaders and NGOs want to boycott the U.S. company for Christmas. Critics accuse the technology giant of taking advantage of COVID lockdowns and of engaging in unfair competition with small shop owners. The company says it is generating many jobs in France.

“Dear Santa Claus, this year, we want to celebrate Christmas without Amazon” - that is the beginning of a petition that signed by almost 25,000 people in France as of Thursday. 

The mayor of Paris, Greenpeace, and some famous French writers have all added their names to the petition. 

Critics accuse the U.S. company of tax evasion, social dumping and not being environmentally friendly. Among their biggest complaints is that Amazon continues to operate and make huge profits amid the pandemic while local shop owners remain closed due to the health restrictions in France.

Matthieu Orphelin is the French lawmaker who initiated the call to boycott Amazon for Christmas.

“We invite people to purchase their Christmas gifts from local merchants," Orphelin said. "All around the world, Amazon is killing the local economy thanks to their aggressive business model. We do not fight against innovation, but we want to protect our welfare state, our planet, our local economy from predators like Amazon.”

Labeled as non-essential, gift shops and many others are in distress. Small businesses fear they might not recover from the second lockdown and blame what they say is unfair competition from Amazon.

Francis Palombi is the head of the French federation of small retailers.  He says Amazon has been accumulating sales over the past months in France while small shops remain closed for a second time due to the pandemic.

The online retail giant has seen a sales boost in the range of 40 to 50 percent according to Fredric Duval, director of Amazon in France. Duval went on French public radio and said he is sorry that opponents describe Amazon as the villain while the American company has developed business in France and has invested roughly $11 billion dollars  in the country since 2010. Duval also says that Amazon creates direct and indirect jobs and 130,000 people in France work thanks to Amazon.

Under COVID guidelines, small shops will soon reopen according to tentative, unconfirmed plans by the French government.  President Emmanuel Macron will speak in the coming days to confirm whether the government plans to lift the lockdown.

From VOA (edited)