If you had the chance to travel to Barbados and work by the beach, would you?

Five months ago, working outside the office, even just temporarily, was a pipe dream for most employees. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit. Businesses remain shuttered around the globe to enforce social distancing, and working remotely has become the newand, for some, newly permanentnormal. Once encumbered by long and expensive commutes, employees now find themselves untethered from a traditional workplace, taking Zoom meetings from their living rooms instead. According to Global Workplace Analytics, an estimated 25 to 30 percent of the worlds workforce will be working from home multiple days a week by the end of 2021.

But if theres one takeaway from spending months quarantined at home, its that staring at the same four walls can grow old very quickly. More than ever, telecommuters are dreaming of shaking things up and escaping life for a little while. In fact, Barbados is banking on it.

On July 24, the country opened applications for its new 12-month Barbados Welcome Stampa special visa for remote workers who want to trade home for island life for up to a year at a time.

The visa program comes in direct response to current COVID-19 travel restrictions, in which lengthy, mandated quarantines restrict short-term travel. "[With the Welcome Stamp,] we have a mechanism that allows people who want to take advantage of being in a different part of the world, of the sun, sea, and sand, and a stable society; one that functions well," says Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

And the application to live and work in Barbados for up to a year? It's not that complicated.

To apply, you'll need to submit documents like passport photos and a copy of your birth certificate on the dedicated website, and answer questions about the work that you will be doing on the island. (As a reminder, you can do remote work for your existing company, but can't be employed in Barbados on this visa.) The program is open to anyone with an expected income of at least $50,000 in the next 12 months. If you're considering applying with your spouse or children, you'll have to pay $3,000 for the family bundle and submit the same paperwork mentioned above for them too, otherwise, it'll cost $2,000 if you're applying solo. And you won't have to wait long to find out if you can relocate beachside, as the government says it should take under seven days to get approval for the Welcome Stamp.

The prospect of working from a beach is more than tempting. Being by the ocean has been proven to boost your mood and your healthboth of which can suffer under self-isolation. At the same time, the stamp would also help jump-start the islands economy by bringing in additional tourism dollars for local businesses. Barbados is among the top 20 countries most dependent on travel and tourism as a source of GDP, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Its worth noting that this new opportunity to work remotely has appeal beyond cabin fever. As the Black Lives Matter movement grows across the U.S., Black Americans are increasingly looking to move abroad to escape the institutional racism and discrimination still so persistent in America. It remains to be seen whether Barbados will market this opportunity specifically to Black Americans to capture a portion of their massive spending power, but theres no question that tourism boards play a large role in making travel more accessible and inclusive.

Barbados began welcoming international travelers back on July 12, with JetBlue and American Airlines are resuming commercial flights from the U.S. on July 25 and August 5, respectively.

This article was originally published on July 9, 2020. It has been updated with new information. Additional reporting by Meredith Carey.

We're reporting on how COVID-19 impacts travel on a daily basis. Find all of our coronavirus coverage and travel resources here.

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Applications for the Barbados Welcome Stamp Are Open - Cond Nast Traveler

NORTHFIELD Jul 29, 2020 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Mondelez International Inc earnings conference call or presentation Tuesday, July 28, 2020 at 9:00:00pm GMT

Mondelez International, Inc. - Chairman & CEO

Mondelez International, Inc. - Executive VP & CFO

Mondelez International, Inc. - VP of IR

Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., LLC., Research Division - Senior Analyst

Evercore ISI Institutional Equities, Research Division - Senior MD & Fundamental Research Analyst

* Jason M. English

* Kenneth B. Goldman

Good day, and welcome to the Mondelez International Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is scheduled to last about 1 hour, including remarks by Mondelez management and the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) I'd now like to hand the call over to Mr. Shep Dunlap, Vice President, Investor Relations for Mondelez. Please go ahead, sir.

Shep Dunlap, Mondelez International, Inc. - VP of IR [2]

Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us. With me today are Dirk Van de Put, our Chairman and CEO; and Luca Zaramella, our CFO. Earlier today, we sent out our press release and presentation slides which are available on our website.

During this call, we'll make forward-looking statements about the company's performance. These statements are based on how we see things today. Actual results may differ materially due to risks and uncertainties. Please refer to the cautionary statements and risk factors contained in our 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filings for more details on our forward-looking statements.

As we discuss our results today, unless noted as reported, we'll be referencing our non-GAAP financial measures which adjust for certain items included in our GAAP results. In addition, we provide our year-over-year growth on a constant currency basis unless otherwise noted. You can find the comparable GAAP measures and GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations within our earnings release and at the back of our presentation.

In today's call, Dirk will provide a business update, then Luca will take you through the financials and our outlook. We'll then close with Q&A. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Dirk.

Dirk Van de Put, Mondelez International, Inc. - Chairman & CEO [3]

Thank you, Shep. Let me start off by sharing an overview of our Q2 performance on Slide 4. Overall, we are pleased with our results, our business has been resilient, and our execution has been strong. Our first priority remains the safety and well-being of our colleagues and our communities as we navigate COVID-19. Because there still are areas of high risk, we are preparing the reopening or already have opened some of our offices around the world. And it is clear that the situation will remain volatile for at least the remainder of the year.

Our second priority also remains business continuity. I'm very proud of what our colleagues have and are doing to keep our operations running well. Here also, we need to remain vigilant because with the growing number of cases, the risk of business disruption continues to exist around the world.

Our overall results for Q2 are good. Despite the fact that COVID has impacted various markets in quite different ways. Our portfolio of trusted brands as well as excellent execution have helped us to weather the high volatility reassuring us that our business fundamentals are solid. Particularly our execution in supply chain as well as our commercial operations have been superior in a very challenging environment. For instance, today, approximately 90% of our plants are running in line or above historical performance. Although we had already good market share momentum going into the crisis, this combination of the strength of our brands and our superior execution have helped to drive unprecedented gains.

While the business environment globally remains very volatile, our strategy has proven to be a strength in these difficult circumstances, so we don't see a need to make changes, but we do see opportunities to double down and accelerate certain areas. For instance, due to our current momentum, some overall cost savings and our market share momentum, we are increasing investments in our brands in H2. That virtuous cycle of investment in our brand is an anchor stone of our strategy.

Looking at the second half, we expect to see volatility continuing but we are well positioned for several reasons. Overall snacking tends to be a very resilient category, even in times of recession, meaning we are generally in the right categories. Our brands are some of the most preferred brands in our categories, both local and global. Our geographical footprint is diversified, meaning that while COVID might impact one location, others might be doing better. And finally, our people are responding very well with agility and resilience, and our local-first culture is an advantage in this environment where decision-making needs to be fast and made with the local consumers in mind.

Switching to Slide 5. Despite serious challenges caused by COVID effects on trade channels and consumers, we delivered solid results across the board, giving us confidence for sequential improvement in the second half as well as confidence to maintain the course of the strategy we announced almost 2 years ago. Our revenue growth was 0.7% in Q2 and is 3.7% for the first half. I consider this pretty good given that during the quarter, at one stage or another, every country and many trade channels were in lockdown.

There are parts of our business that have slowed down significantly, such as the gum category, world travel retail, away-from-home and the traditional trade channel in some key emerging markets. At the same time, the grocery business in most of the world is well above normal trend. The combination of these 2 extremes give an almost 1% growth as an average, which we feel good about given the circumstances.

Emerging markets were more affected than developed markets and declined in Q2. The good news is that they showed a sequential improvement during the quarter, and they exited the quarter with growth. We are maintaining or gaining share in markets, representing around 85% of our revenues in year-to-date 2020. This is driven by a number of key reasons. We are seeing consumers turning to brands and products they trust. We have many of these trusted brands around the world. Within our category, there is also a shift to segments that are better fit for at-home consumption. So we are stronger in these segments like tablets versus pralines or bars in chocolate. And our supply chain has kept functioning quite well throughout a shortage of labor or lockdowns providing us with a competitive advantage.

Our adjusted EPS grew 16.1% in Q2 or 8% for the first half. Luca will provide the details, but despite the extra COVID-related costs, our operating income fell only marginally. Thanks to some offsetting cost-containment activities. We generated very strong cash flow. In the first half, free cash flow was $1.1 billion, and we raised our quarterly dividend by 11%.

Transitioning to Slide 6, as mentioned, our long-term strategy does not change. But seeing our current momentum, we are accelerating some initiatives which will allow us to emerge even stronger from this crisis. As it relates to growth strategies, we are planning a significant increase in investments behind working media in the second half, capitalizing on the strength and demand for our brands and built on our increased market share. We are also making adjustment to some of our advertising copy and campaigns to make them more relevant in the current context.

Seeing the fact that the consumer is driven more to our core offerings, it is an ideal moment to simplify our portfolio as well as our innovation pipeline to focus on our value-driving core. So we are removing 25% of SKUs which will simplify our supply chain, reduce our cost and inventories and increase our sales in -- and our customer service. With the consumer probably focusing more on value, we are amplifying and accelerating our efforts on revenue growth management, and we believe there is significant potential to capitalize on the increase in e-commerce, particularly with many first timers buying their groceries online.

In execution, we were always very cost conscious, but we're taking a fresh look at cost opportunities, reducing in areas like travel and office costs. Costs also benefits from a smaller number of projects and initiatives as well as the reduction of our inventory levels. Out of an abundance of caution, we've decided to only invest CapEx this year in essential projects. And we are accelerating a number of key supply chain initiatives which are aimed at improving our efficiency.

Finally, all of these changes are enabled and underpinned by the continued evolution of our culture. Our local-first approach is enabling agile decision-making and adaptation in market. We also see we can evolve the way our people work, helping them with a better balance of life-work. For instance, going forward, we see more people working more time from home.

Some of the changes due to COVID will be permanent. So we're redeploying resources to the areas with the highest return opportunities and areas that will be critical post COVID, as an example, e-commerce.

Now moving to Slide 7. Despite the current volatile and unpredictable environment, we believe ESG is as important as ever, if not more so, and we remain committed to making progress in this space. In terms of social impact, we have now made cash and in-kind donations of more than $25 million related to COVID-19, through product donations but also cash support as actions by brands and teams to donate PPE and other essential items. Our responsibility, the communities we operate in has also been highlighted by the recent attention on the racial justice and equality movement. Without question, there is no place for racism in our company or in our society, and it's critically important that we, along with other companies, show measurable action in helping to redress some of the injustices that exist in our society.

My leadership colleagues and I have spent time listening to our employee resource groups and colleagues across the business. We've heard that colleagues want actions that are sustainable, impactful and generally make a difference. We want to build on our historical efforts in this area, and so we've organized ourselves across 3 pillars: colleagues, culture and communities.

In our supply chain, we continue to advance our work on creating a sustainable supply of critical ingredients. One of the biggest challenges in this space is deforestation, and the result impact -- or the resulting impact on CO2. This quarter, we have launched as part of the Consumer Goods Forum, the Forest Positive Coalition with other CPG companies encouraging our suppliers to be more transparent on the land used to grow our ingredients. And finally, we are on track to meet our 2025 goal of 100% recyclable-ready packaging.

I'm proud of the fact that we've been continuing to work on these critical long-term ESG topics throughout this crisis. And with that, I hand it over to Luca.

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Luca Zaramella, Mondelez International, Inc. - Executive VP & CFO [4]

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Thank you, Dirk, and good afternoon. Second quarter performance was solid in terms of growth, share gains, earnings and cash flow given the circumstances. We delivered positive revenue growth through a combination of resilient categories and superior execution despite facing significant disruptions and operating restrictions from the crisis.

Our developed market continued to perform well, with strength in North America and Europe mass retail, confirming elevated momentum as seen in Q1. Emerging markets were significantly impacted by broad lockdowns, especially during April and into May. Despite this dynamic, we are doing well on a relative basis compared to peers as we are gaining share.

I would like to unpack our top line cadence to give you some context of how we ended the quarter, as that might be more indicative than the pure Q2 number. Prior to COVID, we were seeing strong momentum in both developed and emerging markets, and that was both due to snacks categories, momentum and share gains. Once we move into late March and for the month of April, we saw significant divergence between developed and emerging.

In developed markets, we saw a spike in consumption. And despite some challenges, our ability to operate was still okay. On the flip side, we enforced lockdowns and curfews in emerging markets. We encountered significant operating restrictions. These markets were most impacted in April with double-digit top line declines as high percentage of outlets were inaccessible to consumers and to us. As a result, total revenue declined low single digits in April. As we moved into May, things began to improve. And in June, our emerging market turned positive and posted low single-digit growth. We expect this trend of improving growth to continue into July as the majority of these markets are on better footing. We also expect strong demand in North America and Europe mass retail, albeit not as elevated as in H1, but total company is trending better in July than in Q2.

Turning to Slide 11. You can see that Q2 revenue growth was driven by positive volume and pricing. This comes despite some significant mix headwinds presented by lower revenue from world travel retail and gum. Biscuits is seeing elevated demand and led growth at more than 9%. Chocolate declined slightly, but this includes 3 points of headwinds from world travel retail. In addition, chocolate was also impacted by lockdowns in emerging markets, mostly India. It is worth noting that India was nearly flat in May and posted positive growth in June. Gum and candy declined double digit, primarily driven by gum as it skews towards away-from-home consumption and convenience. This channel has seen significantly reduced traffic during the crisis.

Turning to category and share highlights on Page 12. Consistent execution, preferred brands and our investments in brands and capabilities continue to drive strong share results. Year-to-date, we have held or gained share in 85% of our revenue base, and our overall share is as high as it has ever been. Biscuits and chocolate drove the overall outcome. More specifically, we gained share in the latest 3-month period across a number of our biggest markets including U.S. biscuits, Europe, with U.K. and Russia and France standing out; in EMEA, China and Vietnam biscuits, but also Australia, New Zealand and India chocolate; in Latin America, we saw some improvement in Brazil chocolate and powder beverage share, along with Mexico.

Our categories held up relatively well with the exception of gum. However, it is important to note that year-to-date category growth of 4.5% doesn't reflect unmeasured channels, such as convenience and world travel retail or the lag effect of some emerging market readings.

Now let's review our profitability performance on Slide 13. As expected, our estimated COVID-related costs during the second quarter were more than $100 million, including over time, protective equipment, frontline bonuses, incremental logistics costs and lower cost absorption in emerging markets. Ex this cost, gross profit would have shown solid growth in line with last year's growth rate. In fact, volume leverage in both North America and Europe as well as cost containment efforts across the business enabled us to offset much of this on a gross profit basis as it declined less than $10 million versus previous year.

Operating income declined 3.8% for Q2 due to the decline in gross margin, which was partially offset by lower A&C and higher overhead due to COVID as well as the other line impacted by some legal accruals. We continue to expect COVID-related costs in the second half, however, we believe improved leverage and cost mitigation efforts will more than offset these dynamics as we progress through the second half. Especially in Q4, with Q3 still somewhat impacted.

Moving to regional performance on Slide 14. North America grew 11% driven by strong share gains and elevated biscuit consumption. Our DSD network continued to demonstrate its value in keeping shelf stock and enabling significant share gains. Gum was down double digits. North America operating income increased by more than 20%. North America will continue to grow above the historical rates, but we expect lower growth than Q2 as we move throughout the year.

Europe revenue declined 1.2% in the quarter. Headwinds from world travel retail, which was a drag of 2.5 percentage points as well as gum and the instant consumption channels drove this dynamic. We saw strength and good execution in several key markets, including mass retail which grew high single digits, and in chocolate, where we posted significant share gains in the U.K., in France, in Russia and Benelux. Although we expect continued challenges in world travel retail, we are more constructive on the state of convenience and traditional trade, which are expected to be much less of a headwind in the second half. We saw improved exit rate in June and good growth into July. Overall, we expect EU to return to growth in Q3, unless there is a material COVID relapse.

Adjusted OI dollars declined as a result of significant COVID costs and unfavorable mix. These results should improve as we progress through the second half of the year.

EMEA declined 3.1% with conditions that vary greatly by market. China continued to recover, growing double digits. Southeast Asia grew mid-single digits. India declined double digit due to significant lockdowns and store closures in April and May before it turning to mid single-digit growth in June. As we move into the second half, and based on the dynamics we see today, we are expecting this improvement to continue, unless there are additional shutdowns in key markets.

AMEA operating income dollars declined by approximately 5%, due primarily to lower-than-typical volume leverage and additional coverage-related expenses. AMEA executed well on cost containment actions.

Latin America decreased 11% due to traditional trade disruptions in most of the key markets, while Argentina posted growth due to inflation-driven pricing. Ex Argentina, Latin America declined by 15%. Mexico declined low double digits due to a significant decline in gum and candy. In Brazil, we declined high single digits due to significant disruptions in traditional trade. Our Western Andean countries, which were among the most impacted by COVID, also declined. We did see improving share trends in several notable markets.

Adjusted OI dollars in Latin America declined by 78%, primarily due to headwinds associated with negative mix, under absorption and an accrual for a legal-related matter that accounted for 1/3 of the decline versus previous year. We expect the environment in Latin America to remain challenging in the second half given the restrictions in place in most markets and the impact that those restrictions are having on economic growth. We remain focused on what we can control, which is executing our plans and driving better share performance.

Now turning to earnings per share on Slide 18. Q2 EPS grew 16%. Operating gains in the quarter were impacted by COVID costs, which were north of $100 million which means more than $0.07 impact.

I'll now move on to our free cash flow on Slide 19. We delivered free cash flow of $1.1 billion in the first half. Strong working capital discipline was a big driver as we improved our cash conversion cycle by eight days. We also had deferred tax payment for more than $200 million, which will mostly reverse in the second half as well as lower CapEx and cash restructuring. Our priorities for the remainder of the year stay clear, and we will continue to be disciplined.

I wanted to provide some thoughts on our joint ventures, specifically our participation in the successful IPO of JDE Peet's. Prior to transaction, we exchanged our JV investments for an investment in JDE Peet's. JDE Peet's then went public for EUR 31.50 per share at the end of May. The stock now trades at around EUR 38 per share, which places the value of our stake at approximately $5 billion. This was a great result as it provides more flexibility and a public bar for this financial investment.

Moving to Slide 22. As previously disclosed, due to the COVID pandemic, visibility remains limited at this time in a number of key markets. As a result, we are not providing a full year financial outlook. However, we continue to expect the following for 2020: an effective tax rate in the low to mid-20s; adjusted interest expense of approximately $380 million; and we now expect exchange translation to negatively impact our reported revenue by 3% and EPS by $0.05 based on current market rate. Although we're not providing full year guidance at this time, I wanted to share some thoughts regarding how the second half will play out.

We expect improving conditions in many markets that experienced significant store closures in late Q1 and Q2. In-home consumption is expected to be at elevated levels, which is helpful in developed markets such as North America. And we expect to make critical investments behind our brands to continue to drive momentum on a relative basis. On the flip side, we expect the negative impact to continue in some emerging markets, mostly in Latin America. World travel retail is expected to continue its negative trend. And although there is no way to know exactly how the pandemic will evolve, there will always be a potential for a second wave of shutdowns. In aggregate, we expect positive revenue and the sequential improvement in the third quarter based on what we see through month 1 of Q3.

With that, let's open it up for Q&A.

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Questions and Answers

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Operator [1]

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(Operator Instructions) And your first question is from the line of Ken Goldman with JPMorgan.

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Kenneth B. Goldman, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Senior Analyst [2]

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Two for me, if I can. I wanted to first touch on your share gains. Some of these gains, I think, are due to your North America supply chain, which obviously is quite advantaged and some perhaps due to your competitor struggles globally. But you did highlight some brand strength, other positive factors in your prepared remarks. So just as you think about your expectations for market share in the back half of the year, can you walk us through what you think some of the more sustainable drivers are. I'm guessing higher marketing spend is one of them. And maybe what drivers could back off a little bit versus the first half.

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Dirk Van de Put, Mondelez International, Inc. - Chairman & CEO [3]

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Ken. Yes, sure, with pleasure. If I maybe explain where are the share gains happening and then go a little bit into the drivers and then in what we think will happen. First of all, as we said in the presentation, we've gained share in 85% of our revenue base, so it's very broad-based. It is in biscuits. It's in chocolate. It's across the geographies, I would say, almost in every single market around the world and certainly not important markets. We see significant market share increase. For instance, biscuits China, biscuits U.S., biscuits in France, but also chocolate in the U.K., chocolate Australia, chocolate India. And we also see it across smaller categories. So it's very widespread. And on top of it, we see that it's our global and our local brands. It's not just one brand. It's across our brand. And one of the interesting factors that our penetration of our brand is increasing overall, and also that we see some very good repeat of those new users.

So what is the reason? I think fundamentally, during the COVID crisis there, there are 3. First of all, as you alluded to, we have had a very good performing supply chain around to market. You could sort of say that not only in the U.S., but in other markets, we increased our share of the distribution points. Not so much because we increased our distribution, but customer service level and our on-shelf availability was better than our competition. And so for instance, in the U.S. or in other markets around the world, DSD is a key advantage.

The other one is that we usually have sort of the strongest brands in our categories around the world. And consumers have been going back to the brands they know and trust. And so an Oreo, as an example, or a Milka or some of the other local brands that we have, have clear consumer trust. And we see -- that's why we see all of them increasing their share also.

And then within snacking, if you look at it sort of category by category, we are in those segments within the categories that are benefiting from at-home consumption. For instance, tablets in chocolate do better than bars or better than pralines. And in biscuits, it's your more traditional biscuits that is a segment where the consumer is going to.

I would say these are the 3 big drivers. When will they go away? Well, it's difficult to say. Supply chain, I assume that everybody is catching up on their supply chain. Although with what we are seeing in the U.S. and some other places around the world, having your supply chain perform is not as simple as it might sound. I do think that this trend to go to bigger brands and more known brands is here to stay for a while. And then the mix with the in-home consumption, I think that's going to last for a while, too. We are now clearly talking about this change to our lives continuing well into 2021.

I would also like to point out that we have momentum before the crisis. We were already increasing our market share before this started. And so underlying, there is a fundamental share increase that was taking place. I also think the repeat rates of our brands of the new users, that's important to notice. And then I talked about that increase in working media with significant increases in the second half of the year, which should also give a good pull on our brand.

And then I think what we're doing with our business, simplifying everything, eliminating SKUs, going to fewer innovations, all that will give us even more strength in execution. So overall, I'm pretty optimistic. I think that a big part of this market share will stick.

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Kenneth B. Goldman, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Senior Analyst [4]

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That's helpful. And then quickly on my follow-up, speaking of the higher marketing spending, you talked about in the third quarter -- I know you're not giving guidance today, but I wanted to poke it a little bit into what you were talking about to make sure I understood. You talked about better revenue into the third quarter, and you've talked about some simplification of the business. But you've also talked about ramping up your marketing spending, like I said. So just trying to get a sense among all these factors and maybe some that I'm missing. Is it reasonable to expect improved operating income in the third quarter as well in addition to better revenue. And the reason I'm asking is The Street's modeling an increase year-on-year in your third quarter EBIT. Is this reasonable given what you know right now? Or is it really just too early to say?

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Luca Zaramella, Mondelez International, Inc. - Executive VP & CFO [5]

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I can maybe -- I'll...

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Dirk Van de Put, Mondelez International, Inc. - Chairman & CEO [6]

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Maybe, Luca, you want to take this one? Yes.

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Luca Zaramella, Mondelez International, Inc. - Executive VP & CFO [7]

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Yes. I'll -- welcome back, Ken. Nice to have you again on the line. Yes. Look, I believe it is a little bit premature to give you a precise number here, but we gave you a few indications in the prepared remarks for Q3 enough to -- simply said, we expect North America to continue with increased momentum. Certainly, we are not going to see as high of a number as we saw in Q2. Having 11% top line was fairly exceptional and 20-plus percent OI. Europe is expected to return to growth overall despite world travel retail. And I would expect, for sure, better profitability and better leverage. Some of the COVID costs will subside. AMEA as well is expected to return to growth in Q2 -- in Q3. And there should be, again, lower COVID cost and better volume outcomes.

Latin America is, quite frankly, expected to meaningfully improve, particularly on the OI line into Q3, but we are not going to see necessarily a positive year-on-year profit. So I would say that overall top line for Mondelez in Q3 is expected to be better than Q2. As we look at July, we see good numbers coming in at this point in time. But obviously, I have to make a disclosure here, which is -- that is absent a material relapse or issue in one of the biggest market or in more than one.

As far as bottom line is concerned, I think there will be a sequential improvement in Q3 from where we see today. Whether it will be all the way to bright, I am not sure as there will still be some COVID-related cost and all the actions we are putting in place actually will come into full fruition in Q4. So you will see some improvements in Q3, but you will see even more in Q4 from what we see today.

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Operator [8]

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And your next question is from the line of Andrew Lazar with Barclays.

Continue reading here:

Edited Transcript of MDLZ.OQ earnings conference call or presentation 28-Jul-20 9:00pm GMT - Yahoo Finance

(CNN) For 14 years, nothing could stop road warriors Karen Catchpole and Eric Mohl. The New York couple with a bad case of wanderlust had rattled in their trusty Silverado from the top of the Western Hemisphere in Alaska to the bottom of South America and a host of places in between on an epic road trip.

They were in the vast wilderness of Patagonia in western Argentina when the microscopic kibosh came down: Covid-19.

The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus was a pandemic. Argentina quickly closed its borders. There were no flights out. "We were locked down like everyone else here," says Catchpole.

As veteran travelers, they were used to roadblocks and things not going as planned, but this was not the normal detour. With travel shut down for who knows how long, should they pack it up and go home?

They decided to hunker down in a good place to be in a pandemic, the wine district of Mendoza in western Argentina in the foothills of the Andes, where they had a longstanding invite to house- and pet-sit for a friend.

Eric Mohl and Karen Catchpole have paused their 14-year, trans-Americas road trip.

Eric Mohl

"From the beginning, we felt safe here," says Catchpole. "Argentina's reaction to the pandemic was one of the most serious quarantines in the world. Social distancing was enforced in supermarkets and pharmacies, where only a few customers were allowed in at a time, and no children were allowed at all. Soon shopping for food or medicine was restricted to specific days of the week based on your ID number. Masks were mandatory."

Argentina has fared better than its neighbors Chile and Brazil in managing the virus, although cases recently have been spiking. Argentina had about 167,000 cases (376 per 100,000 people) and 3,000 deaths (7 per 100,000 people) by the end of July.

In Brazil, there were about 2.4 million infections (1,166 per 100,000 people) by the end of July and about 88,000 deaths (42 per 100,000 people). Chile had nearly 350,000 cases (1,868 per 100,000 people) by the end of July and more than 9,000 deaths (49 per 100,000 people).

Still living their dream

Their travels are their job as well, as they file freelance pieces on their discoveries along the expedition. They are working on stories from places they have already visited, as they wait for the a safer time to get back on the road.

Catchpole, a former editor and writer for Cond Nast, and Mohl, an attorney who wanted to be a photographer, support their adventures by filing stories for publications and websites around the world. "We are living our dream, but we spend 60% of our time working," says Catchpole.

The couple's travels have included scenic alpaca encounters in the Andes of Peru.

Eric Mohl

As the pandemic hit, the couple was returning from one of their most expansive "field offices," Patagonia, the massive realm of wilderness, mountains, middle-of-nowhere ranches and ice that sprawls 402,000 square miles across the lower half of Chile and Argentina.

"Patagonia was so stunning -- just amazing mountains, glaciers. We saw four different pumas!" says Mohl.

"That never happens," chimes in Catchpole. "Most people who live in Patagonia have never seen a puma."

It was one of those moments Catchpole and Mohl live and travel for, one of the stumble-upon happenings that leaves you in thrall to the wonder in your world. The vistas of glacial ice-calving, towering peaks and the natural world in Patagonia so overwhelmed the senses they could hardly take it all in.

"By the time we left, we could not absorb any more of the amazing intensity," recalls Mohl.

An ambitious itinerary, exponentially extended

They got hooked on long-haul travel when they backpacked around Southeast Asia for four years in the late 1990s, trekking in Borneo and the Himalayas. It was the dawning of the Internet caf age.

As an editor and journalist, Catchpole had helped create Sassy and Jane magazines for Cond Nast. What if she could write about their travels and Eric could photograph them, and they could post from the road? They sold a few stories to travel magazines, and the seed was planted.

They went back home to work, saved money, and eventually developed a plan for a three-year trip through the Americas. "From Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, we're all Americans," says Mohl. The mission of their Trans-Americas Journey was to understand their own backyard and neighbors better. They set out in 2006.

Since then, they have racked up 220,000 miles, 17 nations and 14 flat tires. They have driven the equivalent of nine times around the world in their mud-specked Silverado. The three-year journey turned into 14 and counting.

Mount Fitzroy in Argentina's Patagonia region is another stunning landscape along their meandering route.

Eric Mohl

They have bumped down potholed roads in Guatemala, crunched across salt flats in Bolivia and slalomed through jungle terrain in Ecuador and Brazil. On a long jaunt to the border of Peru and Bolivia, two tires split apart.

"We were headed to the border because our visas were about to expire along with the Temporary Importation Permit for our truck," recalls Catchpole. "And Peru is very serious about not overstaying. The country actually has the right to confiscate your vehicle if you overstay. We had two tires delaminate (break apart from their casing), so we couldn't get to the border in time."

Border agents didn't buy their story about mechanical issues even though they had a date/time stamped photo of a local policeman helping them with the tire. With visions of being stranded without wheels, they found an ally, a local Chevy dealer, who stepped in and resolved the issue with the police.

It was just one of many times complete strangers would go out of their way to help them in a crunch.

'Having time to let it all happen is key'

Getting beyond the surface of tourism and making a connection with local people is their goal, and their strategy to do that is slow travel. Lingering is the builder of conversations and friendships and director of serendipities that are missed when we rush through a place.

Catchpole recommends talking to your restaurant server and other locals about the town you're in. "If you go through a place quickly, it will wind up like your preconceived notion of it. Having time to let it all happen is key."

Their travels have taught them to stay open, and when someone invites them to a place in a direction they are not going, they say yes.

The pair attended the annual Chacu festival in Peru during which wild vicuna are rounded up to be sheared.

Eric Mohl

Using the common sense we use to avoid trouble in a big American city, they say they have never been mugged or felt afraid. They had a stove and cooler pinched at a campground in Guatemala, but locals got everything back before breakfast.

Their in-depth approach has led them to a trove of immersive experiences. In Peru, they visited the annual Chacu festival, which features the traditional vicuna roundup. Vicunas are part of the llama and alpaca family except sleeker -- "the super-model version," says Catchpole.

She and Mohl were invited by locals to see this ancient ritual.

"Dozens of people fan out into the vicuna's range, all holding on to a very, very long rope with small flags and bits of fabric," Catchpole explains. "They stretch the rope and walk slowly behind groups of vicuna to herd them in the direction of a temporary holding pen."

There the locals perform a traditional Incan ceremony and then shear each animal, whose coats are used for expensive clothing and blankets. "The day was full of fascinating moments, including the chance to see the vicuna up close and see a not-for-tourists Incan ritual," she notes.

Experiencing the kindness of strangers

They've roved many places -- from the looming staircase temples of the Mayan city of Copan, Honduras, to culinary finds, such as Restaurante El Chato in Bogota, Colombia. They've found the relatively undiscovered tropical beach haven of Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica and ridden the old Patagonian Express train in Argentina. One of the highlights was the city of Zacatecas, in the highlands of Mexico -- "like Europe in our backyard, 12 hours from Texas."

The time the couple spends getting to know their surroundings allows them to uncover destinations not on the usual tourist map, such as Bonito, a town on the edge of the Pantanal wetlands in southwestern Brazil, with crystal-clear spring waters and waterfalls. It's like swimming in an aquarium.

While in Bonito, Catchpole started to have pain in her abdomen. The owner of the small hotel they were staying at, Maria Pires, of the Pousada Galeria Artes, went with them to a local clinic, since they didn't speak Portuguese, the language of Brazil, only Spanish (present tense only).

Car trouble comes in inconvenient locations such as a salt flat in Peru.

Eric Mohl

The doctor didn't think it was appendicitis, but Maria didn't buy it.

"She contacted a professor of surgery four hours away who told us to go there immediately," says Catchpole. "Maria left her hotel and came with us. We found out it was appendicitis, and she stayed with us through the surgery in the operating room."

"Stuff like this happens all the time. We have been very lucky to meet people who go way out of their way to help us," says Catchpole.

What does the future hold for Catchpole and Mohl? They have taken a financial hit along with the whole travel industry. Ad dollars that support publications have dried up and resulted in slashed budgets for travel stories.

They think they might go to Paraguay or Uruguay next, where the virus has not rampaged. They have more questions than answers about what pandemic travel might look like.

Their style of travel will have to adapt to a new tourism, which includes things such as wearing masks.

"For us, as non-native Spanish speakers, masks are making it harder to converse well in Spanish. The masks muffle the voice and conceal facial expressions. It's hard to make a connection as a stranger with a mask on," says Catchpole.

"We really miss seeing people's smiling faces, since that's an element of travel that adds so much to every interaction."

It's a long, strange trip ahead for us all.

The Galapagos draws visitors with its amazing diversity of wildlife -- including the blue-footed boobie.

Eric Mohl

Top finds on the Trans-Americas Journey

Instead of the Inca Trail in Peru, try the Ausangate trek -- more beauty, more mountains and fewer people.

In Argentina, the northern wine region of Cafayate and the provincial capital, Salta, has wineries, gauchos, culture and great food in some of the most gorgeous natural beauty in the country.

The Amazon basin in Ecuador around Cuyabeno wins for animal sightings, fewer people and much lower prices than the most accessible Amazon regions.

The Pantanal region of Brazil is where you have the greatest chance of seeing a jaguar in the wild, plus macaws, anteaters, capybaras and many more.

More here:

Epic 14-year road trip stalled in South America - CNN

Its a cloudless day and I feel like Im in a sauna instead of on a hiking trail.

My thighs feel like Silly Putty, Im panting like an old mare and Im regretting having had that second helping at the breakfast buffet.

But I continue to plod upward, toward the craggy peak, where a stunning panorama will be my reward.

Hiking boots werent included when I packed my bags for this Alaska cruise, but they sure would have come in handy while hoofing the hills of Juneau.

Mount Roberts towers like a sentinel over the states capital city and is just one of the many scenic stops we make during this fabulous seven-day excursion.

This view takes my breath away, I gasp, while trekking along the well trodden route.

Although the landlocked city and sliver-thin Lynn Canal sprawls far below, I can hardly blame my huffing and puffing on the ascent.

The vertical gain by my Nikes has only been 325 metres.

Access to the surrounding 160 kilometres of groomed trails has been made easy with the convenient tram ride that has whisked us from sea level to mid mark in under five minutes.

At the top, theres a restaurant, gift store and Chilkat Theatre where a half-hour award-winning flick, Seeing the Daylight, provides an overview of history and the Tlingit (thling-get) people.

Local artists and actors are often on stage here as well.

Whether its sharing a story or carving a totem pole, a piece of the past comes alive through their gifts.

Instead of retracing the steps of time, we check out the pathways of the present. We wind through the montane forest, a zone choked with small hemlock and spruce, then elevate to the sub-alpine, carpeted with wildflowers.

Flaming fireweed and salmon-berries thrive next to herbal blends and perennials. There are alpine azalea, ground-hugging blueberries and even some corn lily, a medicinal plant thats used in the treatment of asthma.

I wonder how effective it is as I wheeze on by.

The vegetative landscape not only creates a pretty picture, but is also a popular picnic ground for forest habitants.

Our dusty byway is pocketed by protective burrows where hoary marmots hide out. Although none are showing their grizzled faces today, a few are serenading us with their

shrilling call.

Panoramas are interspersed along the way. Check out our cruise ship, I comment, while taking time to catch my breath on one of the lookout platforms.

Our floating hotel in the silt-laden aquamarine waters below looks no larger than a Tinkertoy.

The adjacent downtown core of Juneau is also dwarfed while nestling between the Gastineau Channel and lush Tongass National Forest.

Its hard to believe that just an hour ago wed been sauntering along the citys colourful streets, picking up souvenirs and peering into popular attractions.

While ogling over St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church (1897) and the Red Dog Saloon, a popular gold rush watering hole, other cruise passengers were opting for adventure tours.

The Mendenhall Glacier, just a few miles from town, is one of the states top attractions.

The impressive translucent blue mass cloaks the gouged out valley and is conveniently close to viewpoints and an information center.

Icebergs that calve away from the glacial spectacle float ominously on Mendenhall Lake like chunks of styrofoam. Spawning salmon swim wildly up the adjacent Steep Creek.

From protective boardwalks visitors can check out a few bears enjoying their daily catch.

Our footpath traverses the steep mountainside, bisects thickets of low-lying alder, and shares expansive mountain vistas from every angle.

I stop on a sturdy bluff to drink in the beauty and slow my respirations. Granite peaks create the scenic backdrop to flower-laden meadows. Their riveted craggy faces are dotted with glacial remains and fringed with evergreens.

On the far hillside are more hiking pathways that have been carved into the verdant thickets.

My husband Brent trys to convince me for one my venture but Ive had enough trekking for one day.

I check my watch and glance down toward the ship.

With any luck Ill get back to our luxury liner in time for lunch.

Travel Writers Tales is an independent travel article syndicate. For more information, go online to travelwriterstales.com.

The rest is here:

Travel: Trekking above the world on Mount Roberts - Kamloops This Week

As if things couldnt get worse. According to a new study from the travel website Asher & Lyric, the United States is the second worst place in the world to raise a family. The country came in at a shockingly low 34th place out of 35 countries, only beating out crime-ridden Mexico. Topping the list of best places to raise a family were countries like Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland (which was recently named the happiest country in the world for the third year in a row).

READ MORE:Want To Escape From America? 12 Countries Where You Can Buy Citizenship (And A Second Passport)

This study has been eye-opening for me, says Los Angeles-based journalist Lyric Fergusson, who runs the site with her husband Asher and is a mother of two. Even as a well educated, thoughtful individual,I had become so numb to the countrys inadequacies that I must have simply disregarded my personal experience for the rhetoric of the nation.

In a new study, the US was named the second-worst place in the world to raise a family.

The husband-wife journalistswho are known for mapping out data-driven travel lists like the most dangerous places for women travelers and the most dangerous places for gay travelerscreated the Raising a Family Index torank 35 countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). We only used OECD countries because they have reliable data in a wide range of key topics useful for this study, notes Fergusson.

To rank the most and least family-friendly countries, the journalists looked at 30 critical statistics from trusted international sources broken down into six categories that identify favorable conditions for raising a family, including safety, happiness, cost, health, education and time.

The best country in the world in the Raising a Family Index:Iceland, which was also the safest country in the world and number four when it came to cost. (Sweden was the best priced country to raise a family.) Iceland achieved top-10 rankings in all categories and was number one in safety, says Fergusson, who points out that Iceland is also a world leader in human rights. No matter the origins of a child or who they turn out to be, Icelands constitution ensures they will be treated unequivocally as an equal.

Iceland was named the best country to raise a family.

Mexico came in at the bottom of the list as the worst country to raise a family. The country ranked poorly in categories like safety (it was the most dangerous in the world), health (the worst), education (also the worst) and happiness (the fifth least happy country).

But the United States didnt fare much better, coming in at the bottom of the list at number 34, barely above Mexico. Fergusson says that she was surprised by the results and couldnt believe what she saw when she reviewed the data. I went one-by-one into each of the six categories, she says. What I discovered, in many instances, was quite shocking.

Safety severely impacted the United Statess ranking. According to the data, it was the second-worst after Mexico. The US has 6.12 reported homicides per 100,000 (bested only by Mexico), whereas most countries on our list are around one or less, says Fergusson.

The US also scored poorly in the human rights category, coming in at fourth worst. Our systemic racism is just one example, which has been recently exposed during the Black Lives Matter protests, says Fergusson. It has become strikingly clear that people of color do not feel safe in America.

Cost was another contributing factor. The US gets an F in our cost section, says Fergusson. In the overall cost index, the US placed last, performing twice as poorly as New Zealand, which finished just ahead of the US. Parents with average household income have to spend31.79% of their income on childcare costsalone, says Fergusson. Compare that to Scandinavian countries, where households only have to spend 4% to 10% of household income to raise a well-rounded child.

One shocking fact that the journalists uncovered: American mothers are twice as likely to die in childbirth here as in Canadaeven though it will cost us three times as much for a standard hospital birth, says Fergusson.

Also sobering: America ranked worst for time. Americans work very long hours per year with zero government-mandated paid maternity, paternity, sick leave or vacation time, says Fergusson. No other country in our study gives zero paid maternity leave or zero paid vacation time.

The US also ranked poorly in happiness: The journalists point out that one in five Americans suffer from mental health issues each year and the suicide rate has increased by 33% between 1999 to 2017. And the country ranked poorly in education (its the 12th worst country) and health (its the eighth worst country).

Fergusson says that the study led her to the conclusion that America is a deeply challenged and troubled countrybut she has hope. My aspiration is that something will substantially change in my childrens lifetime.

In a new study, the US was named the second-worst place in the world to raise a family.

Read on for the list of the35 best and worst places in the Raising a Family Index.You can see entire list and read more about the rankingshere.

Best and Worst Countries for Raising a Family

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35 Best And Worst Countries To Raise A Family (You Wont Believe Americas Ranking) - Forbes

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Global Ecotourism Market Projected to Reach USD XX.XX billion by 2025- Expedia Group, Priceline Group, China Travel, China CYTS Tours Holding,...

The Algarve in southern Portugal has been chosen to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix for the first time this autumn.

The event will take place on the weekend of October 23rd-25th at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao.

The last time Portugal hosted a Grand Prix was 24-years ago at Estoril near Lisbon.

There will be spectators, promised Portugal tourism minister Rita Marques.

We are working on a number of scenarios depending on the health situation.

The capacity of the venue is 100,000, but attendance is likely to be far below the maximum possible.

Additional events and venues were announced after the races in the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Canada were cancelled this year due to the coronavirus.

Joo Fernandes, president of Algarve Tourism, commented: We are delighted and proud of this decision.

Formula 1 has been absent from Portugal for 24-years and it is a prestigious international sporting event that we have been very keen to have back for a long time.

In addition to the projection of the Algarve brand worldwide, the event is expected offer a lifeline to tourism in the region, with organisers hoping it can bring in around 40 million.

More Information

The Algarve is considered Europes Leading Beach Destination by voters at the World Travel Awards.

See the article here:

Algarve to welcome first Formula 1 Grand Prix | News - Breaking Travel News

Reykjavik, Iceland (CNN) It was a casual hug from an old friend and yet it proved to be so traumatizing. I had arrived back in my native Iceland the day before and now armed with a negative Covid-19 test from the airport, here I was in a bustling cafe in Reykjavik.

"Hello you, long time no see!" Two friends greeted me and one gave me a warm embrace but my natural reaction was to step back from them, and I found it hard to keep up a conversation standing so close. Their natural ease, which six months ago would have felt so normal, now felt uncomfortable and stressful. I felt tongue-tied, and my manners and chutzpah seemed to have deserted me.

I mumbled something to my old friends and then went to seek sanctuary in a cup of tea. There I pulled myself together, gathered my thoughts and went back for another round of gossip. And it felt liberating to have normal conversations again.

Iceland has been praised for its handling of the crisis after an initial spike in cases in February. The government then changed tactics, started testing and tracing, closed the borders and introduced restrictions. I suppose you could argue the chances of success are far higher on an island with a population of around 360,000 people. There's been less than 2,000 cases and 10 deaths recorded.

It also helps that Icelanders showed great faith in the government and sat glued to media briefings being provided not by politicians but by chief scientists and the police, following their every advice.

I've joined most of the country in downloading an app that traces your movement. It's designed to help the authorities track and notify anyone that might have been in contact with or been affected by the virus. What follows is testing and possibly quarantine.

All of this has resulted in the people here being able to go about their lives in relative normality. I've been a regular at our popular swimming pools, attended soccer matches, dined with friends and been to parties where the conversation has been dominated more by the recent Will Ferrell Eurovision movie about Iceland than Covid-19.

The bars and restaurants in Reykjavik are full too and there's not a mask in sight. The only reminder that things are not quite normal are the hand sanitizers you find everywhere and the early closing time of 11 p.m., which is usually the time that Icelanders are just getting the party started.

The biggest economic casualty of the coronavirus has been tourism. Last year, almost 2 million tourists visited and that number has now been reduced to a trickle, but the locals have responded by indulging in staycations. Social media feeds are full of spectacular pictures from friends traveling around the island, and hotels and camping sites around the country are full to capacity.

The government is also encouraging this trend by providing every resident with a 10,000 IKR ($74) voucher to spend in restaurants, hotels and attractions.

But as the biggest travel weekend of the summer approaches everyone will be reminded that this is a year like no other. This last long weekend of the summer holidays would normally mean big festivals all over the country -- but with bans in place on gatherings of more than 500 people they are all canceled.

Big events like the Westman Island jht party are off, the first time it has been canceled since WWI. Not even the big volcanic eruption in 1974 stood in the way of that celebration. But, with typical Icelandic optimism, they are already selling tickets for 2021.

There is still a healthy amount of fear and nobody is complacent -- many are worried that people are being too relaxed and that it can only lead to another spike -- especially with the border restrictions easing and more tourists coming in. It's a sign that people here aren't taking their privileged position for granted but also their desire to maintain their way of life.

It hasn't taken me long to adapt to the freedom here, so when I bumped into my cousin who had just arrived from Miami I went in for a hug but much like my first reaction a couple of weeks earlier -- he stepped back.

He also faces stricter rules because he arrived from the US, whose citizens are still banned from entering Iceland, so he had to wait at least five days and get two negative test results before he can give anyone here a hug.

Listening to friends here I'm reminded not only of the ability of this country to cope with adversity but also of Iceland's unofficial slogan: "etta reddast" which roughly translates to "It will all be OK in the end." It's helped us through a global financial meltdown, a volcanic eruption which grounded flights around the world and hopefully it will stay true again for the coronavirus.

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Iceland is an outpost of normality amid Covid pandemic - CNN

A health worker takes a patient's temperature at a Covid-19 testing site in Los Angeleson July 24.

Photographer: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

Photographer: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. governments top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, said he was cautiously optimistic that the world will have answers about a vaccine by late fall after drugmakers reported progress on their shots. Florida reported a record number of deaths and hospitalizations.

Following a steady rise in cases in tourism-reliant Spain, Madrid reacted with anger to travel curbs imposed by the U.K., which is now considering ways to scale back the rules following the backlash.

Beijing confirmed a new case after going weeks without any, while Hong Kong is considering a delay in legislative elections. Malaysia and Tokyo also saw an increase in cases and Vietnam is battling a flare-up.

Subscribe to a daily update on the virus from Bloombergs Prognosis team here. Click CVID on the terminal for global data on coronavirus cases and deaths.

Madrid is joining other regions of Spain in ordering the use of face masks in public spaces, including in bars and restaurants. Gatherings in the region that includes the Spanish capital will be limited to 10 people, and capacity in eateries will also be reduced.

With more than 8,400 Covid-19 deaths since beginning of the pandemic, Madrid was perhaps the countrys hardest-hit region in sheer numbers, although Catalonia has caught up in infections.

Florida reported a record 186 new Covid-19 deaths among residents Tuesday, bringing the cumulative total to 6,117. Hospitalizations also rose by a record 585 to a cumulative 24,917, according to the health department report, which includes data through Monday. The state reported 441,977 Covid-19 cases, up 2.1% from a day earlier, compared with an average increase of 2.6% in the previous seven days.

The U.K. is considering ways to scale back its quarantine rules after restrictions on trips to Spain provoked a backlash from tourists, airlines and the government in Madrid.

Plans being examined by officials in London include abandoning the blanket rules applying to travel across whole countries in favor of regional restrictions, and reducing the number of days passengers arriving back home in Britain will need to stay in quarantine, according to Transport minister Charlotte Vere.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez responded angrily to the U.K. ratcheting up its travel curbs to include popular Spanish holiday islands. He urged the U.K. to find the correct balance based on the data.

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I dont believe they need to stop, but we just need to follow this and see what happens with other teams on a day-by-day basis, Fauci said in an interview on ABCs Good Morning America. After 12 Miami Marlins players and two coaches tested positive for Covid-19, according to ESPN, the team canceled its home opener.

You just have to watch this, it could put it in danger, Fauci said of the Miami team outbreak and the baseball season. Asked if the NFL will have to operate in a bubble, Fauci said thats possible.

Fauci also said he was cautiously optimistic that when we get into the late fall we will have an answer about a vaccine. He agreed with the Food and Drug Administrations guidance that hydroxychloroquine isnt effective against the virus.

Cases have been rising at a higher rate in the Netherlands. The number increased by 1,329 between July 22 and July 28, according to the RIVM Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. Thats up from 987 added in the previous week.

The reproduction number rose to 1.40 from 1.29 the week before. At the same time, fatalities have risen at a much slower pace - 6,160 as of the latest update on Tuesday, up from 6,124 a month ago, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News.

Health authorities in the Philippines warned that hospitals and infirmaries risk getting overwhelmed as coronavirus-related admissions are rising.

Covid and non-Covid beds are close to 50% capacity nationwide, falling into the Health Departments warning zone, Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a virtual briefing. The Philippines added 1,678 new cases, bringing the total count to 83,673, the second-highest in Southeast Asia.

Greece reintroduced compulsory wearing of masks from July 29 in all stores, banks, doctors surgeries, elevators, hairdressers and beauty salons as well as in all customer service offices of utility companies, Deputy Citizen Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias said.

Irans daily death toll from the virus hit a new high of 235, up from the previous record of 229 on July 21. Total deaths reached 16,147, while the number of infections rose by 2,667 to 296,273.

Russia begun clinical testing of a second potential Covid-19 vaccine, the head of the countrys public health watchdog, Anna Popova, said in an online conference. The vaccine, developed by the Novosibirsk-based Vector lab, is synthetic and therefore should minimize negative reactions, according to Popova.

The lab started Phase 1 and Phase 2 testing simultaneously on Monday, she said. Phase 3 testing of a vaccine made by the state-run Gamaleya Institute in Moscow and the Russian Direct Investment Fund is scheduled to begin in Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates next week.

Hong Kongs government is considering postponing the upcoming legislative elections, the Hong Kong Economic Times reported, after a sudden surge in coronavirus cases raised new questions about the September vote.

Authorities reported 98 local infections on Tuesday, a slight ebb after the city found more than 100 local cases for six consecutive days. Among these local cases, about half -- 50 -- are of unknown origins, showing that hidden chains of transmission are still surfacing.

The Asian financial hub is implementing its strictest-ever social distancing rules amid the growing outbreak. The city will ban all dine-in service at restaurants and public gatherings of more than two people not from the same family starting Wednesday.

People wearing protective masks walk past market stalls in the Sham Shui Po district in Hong Kong, July 24.

Malaysia reported the highest daily increase in new cases in six weeks, days after the government took steps to prevent a resurgence.

The country confirmed 39 new infections on Tuesday, the most since June 15, of which more than half were local transmissions, according to the health ministry. Nineteen of the new cases were found in the eastern state of Sarawak, which is imposing limits on peoples movements from Aug. 1 to 14 to curb the spread.

The European Central Bank extended a de facto ban on banks returning capital to shareholders and urged them to show restraint on bonuses amid the coronavirus outbreak, dealing a blow to some lenders that had lobbied to resume business as usual. Separately, the Bank of England said it will also conduct a review at the end of the year of any plans by Britains biggest banks to pay dividends or resume buybacks.

Both central banks had told lenders in March to conserve capital as lockdowns to combat the pandemic brought the economy to a standstill. While the move was painful for some companies and their investors, the ECB indicated it was a trade-off for unprecedented regulatory relief it had granted them to weather the crisis.

The European Central Bank extended a request that banks hold off on returning capital to shareholders and show moderation in setting bonuses amid the coronavirus outbreak. Nicholas Comfort reports on Bloomberg Surveillance.

The recent uptick in German cases is a major cause for concern and sticking to hygiene and distancing rules remains crucial, according to Lothar Wieler, the head of the nations public health institute. There have been more than 3,600 new cases in the past seven days, taking the total to more than 206,000, Wieler said Tuesday at a news conference. That compares with a daily increase of almost 7,000 at the height of the outbreak at the end of March.

The latest trend in Covid-19 infections is very worrying for me, and for all of us at the Robert Koch Institute, Wieler said.

Spains national statistics agency said the nations unemployment rate rose in the second quarter, with the number of jobless increasing by 55,000 to 3.37 million workers. That pushed up the unemployment rate to 15.33% from 14.4% in the prior three months.

Spain's unemployment rate is going to spike again this year

Source: INE, Bloomberg surveys

Shoppers spurned luxury goods and snapped up disinfectants last quarter as the pandemic shuttered high-end shops across Europe and North America and raised concerns about hygiene. French luxury giant LVMH -- owner of the Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior brands -- reported earnings that missed analysts estimates even as sales in China rebounded. Moncler SpA, known for its high-end ski jackets, also fell short of forecasts.

Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, the maker of Dettol and Lysol, saw rising demand for its cleaning products lift revenue above estimates. Delivery Hero SE raised its full-year guidance as orders for home food delivery jumped.

Niklas Ostberg, chief executive officer at Delivery Hero SE, discusses the companys record growth in the second-quarter, the impact of coronavirus on his business and the industry and his expansion plans. He speaks on Bloomberg Markets: European Open.

Chinas bat woman lashed out at Donald Trump, saying the U.S. president owes her country an apology as she again denied assertions that the novel coronavirus is linked to the Wuhan lab where she works.

Shi Zhengli, deputy director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, said in an interview published in Science magazine that she and her colleagues encountered the virus in December last year, when reports of the disease first emerged in the city. She said the lab hadnt seen or studied the virus before that.

Tokyo confirmed about 270 new cases of coronavirus Tuesday, Nikkei reported, citing an unidentified person. Thats more than twice the 131 cases the Japanese capital found Monday.

Aichi prefecture in central Japan, home to companies including Toyota Moto Corp., confirmed 109 coronavirus cases Tuesday, NHK reported in a flash headline, a daily record for the area.

New York health authorities will investigate a Hamptons charity concert opened by Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon and headlined by the Chainsmokers after footage showed crowds of partiers, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo said he was appalled by egregious social distancing violations seen in videos of the Saturday night event in Southampton. We have no tolerance for the illegal & reckless endangerment of public health, Cuomo said, noting the Department of Health will lead the inquiry.

New York health authorities will investigate a Hamptons charity concert opened by Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon and headlined by the Chainsmokers after footage showed crowds of partiers not social distancing, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo. Su Keenan reports on Bloomberg Markets: Asia.

Masks are back on in Vietnam as the government scrambles to contain an unexpected flare-up in community infections after officials reported 15 new cases in three days from the central coast region.

The startling news, which began on Friday with a suspected case and carried over into the weekend with four new patients, underscored the unrelenting nature of the pathogen. Vietnam had all but claimed victory over the virus, having gone almost 100 days without a new local patient.

Beijing reported one new coronavirus case on Tuesday, its first in 21 days, reflecting the fragility of the Chinese capitals success at stamping out infections earlier this month.

The new case is linked to the outbreak in the northeastern port city of Dalian, where more than 40 people have become infected. The cluster, which first started from a man working at a seafood processing plant, has also spread to other northeastern provinces as well as Chinas southern Fujian province.

The infection threatens to undercut Beijings efforts that brought new cases to zero after a local outbreak that started last month infected over 300 people. Authorities had started to relax restrictions in the capital after aggressive testing and targeted lockdown measures, but resurgences elsewhere in China may now pose a threat to normalization.

With assistance by Mark Schoifet, Iain Rogers, Jinshan Hong, Jake Rudnitsky, Paul Tugwell, Arsalan Shahla, Kathleen Miller, Andre Janse Van Vuuren, Michael Smith, and Thomas Gualtieri

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

Continued here:

Coronavirus Outbreak: Live Updates and News for Jul. 28, 2020 - Bloomberg

During a virtual news briefing today, the World Health Organizations (WHO) director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the worlds nations must do more to stop the spread of COVID-19 within their own borders because bans on international travel simply cannot remain in place indefinitely.

Only through strict adherence to preventive health and safety measures, such as mask-wearing and social distancing, will the world manage to beat the pandemic, he said, adding, Where these measures are followed, cases go down. Where they are not, cases go up, Reuters reported.

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He held up places like Canada, China, Germany and South Korea, where outbreaks and community spread have been brought under control, as good examples for the rest of the globe to follow.

Emergency program head for WHO, Mike Ryan, called it unrealistic for the worlds countries to continue sealing off their borders indeterminately. It is going to be almost impossible for individual countries to keep their borders shut for the foreseeable future. Economies have to open up, people have to work, trade has to resume, he said. What is clear is pressure on the virus pushes the numbers down. Release that pressure and cases creep back up.

Ryan commended Australia and Japan for achieving, good success in containing the disease, but cautioned that they could expect to see a resurgence of the contagion in areas with ongoing active transmission if they ease current restrictions or allow for increased mobility.

And, that is what has essentially occurred in many countries, is that in nightclubs, other situations, dormitories, other environments in which people are close together can act as amplification points for the disease and then it can spread back into the community. We need to be hyper-alert on those, he stated.

His point, essentially, is that containment measures only work if theyre applied consistently, and remain in force long enough to be effective, and fully accepted and adhered to by the public. What we need to worry about is situations where the problems arent being surfaced, where the problems are being glossed over, where everything looks good, Ryan added.

The U.K. has just re-imposed a fourteen-day quarantine on travelers returning from Spain after a surge of new cases appeared there amid European summer vacation season, which is already meeting with much resistance from those who say that the policy will further weaken both countries economies, and stifle the tourism industrys fledgling reopening efforts.

Referring to that situation, Ryan stated that Spains current conditions are nowhere near as bad as they were during the pandemics peak in that region and that he expects outbreaks will soon be brought under control, though the process could take weeks.

The more we understand the disease, the more we have a microscope on the virus, the more precise we can be in surgically removing it from our communities, he asserted.

See the original post here:

WHO Says Travel Bans Aren't the Answer to COVID-19 - TravelPulse

When Carnival Corp. chief Arnold Donald reached out to the head of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) about cohosting a summit on Covid-19, his idea was not to focus on cruise, or even on travel.

"It's actually societal focused, because this [crisis] is not just about travel and tourism," Donald said. "It's about: How do we in society deal with Covid-19, given the best knowledge and information available?"

The Covid Science Summit, being held on July 28, will share the latest scientific knowledge and evidence-based best practices related to prevention, detection, treatment and mitigation of Covid-19.

Donald said the logic behind the event's focus is clear.

"Once the world is able, by the world's own standards, to comfortably social gather, then you have a basis for travel and tourism," Donald said."It's about how we live with this virus, and under what circumstances we live with it, and what is the science behind it, and what can we all do to mitigate the spread. That is the foundation that has to exist for people to feel comfortable to even think about traveling or socially gathering."

The summit is meant to bring together the best science and knowledge around Covid-19 and package it into a 3-hour program. It will feature a series of panels, each focusing on an area of science surrounding Covid-19 and will include best practices from different industries and global regions on how to control and limit the spread of the disease.

"What are the myths? What are the controversial things that are still unresolved? What are the known things?" Donald said of some of the topics that may be covered. "And given that backdrop, in what context can people begin live comfortably with Covid-19 with a reasonable level of confidence? And if not, what will it take for them to feel that way?"

People can register for the free event here. Donald said that the idea was to always make the summit free and open to everyone.

"We all share what we hear and what we learn and work on, and ultimately we'll all be sharing our various perspectives of how the experts have informed our protocol development," he said.

And while many cruise industry stakeholders want to know what those protocols will be and how they will impact the cruise experience, Donald said although the summit is meant to contribute to the knowledge needed to design those changes, it is not intended to lead to any decisions.

Donald is a member of the WTTC Executive Committee and its vice chair for North America.

WTTC CEO Gloria Guevara said that the organization hoped the event "can contribute to the urgent debate to find practical ways forward about how we live in the 'new normal' of a world with Covid-19 and offer adaptable science-based solutions.

"It is crucial we have a clearer understanding about how we can better manage this international crisis," she said, adding that "the world is crying out for leadership to win the battle against Covid-19," something she thinks can be accomplished with the kind of public-private partnerships WTTC has long fostered.

"Working together with Carnival, WTTC aims to ensure we share insights and best practice with governments, WTTC members, destination partners and trade and private businesses," she said. "A safe return to business can only happen if businesses and governments work together, hand in hand. And that can only come about if we can better understand the impact of coronavirus, which will help us determine how to live with the virus and put in place safe and practical evidence-based practices for mitigating its impact."

The WTTC worked with its contacts at organizations, including the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, to find medical experts around Covid-19. The list of participants can be found here.

See more here:

Carnival CEO says Covid summit will go beyond travel and tourism - Travel Weekly

Jul 27th 2020

VENETIANS HAVE long complained that a surfeit of tourists has turned their city into a historical Disneyland. As if to prove them right, in 2018 the city council erected turnstiles to control the 40m or so holidaymakers swarming in every year. In 2019 La Serenissima went a step further and announced plans to charge visitors coming through those gates up to 10 ($11.50) a day.

Now Venices problem is not too many tourists, but too few. The covid-19 pandemic has caused a collapse in international travel. The OECD, an intergovernmental think-tank, forecasts that international tourism will fall by 60% globally in 2020 and by up to 80% if second waves of the pandemic delay economic recovery. So several governments, including Italys, are trying a radical new method of reviving their tourism industries: paying subsidies directly to holidaymakers. But with a recent spike in covid-19 across European tourism hotspots, increasing the risk of suddenly imposed quarantine rules that could wreck holidays, doubts are growing as to whether this is a sensible way to splurge taxpayers' money.

Governments have long sought to help the industry indirectly, with handouts for airlines, subsidies for airports and other infrastructure, or lower value-added tax (VAT) rates for hotels and restaurants. Handing visitors cash or spending vouchers is a new departure for most, but the idea has caught on rapidly.

In June Italy unveiled a holiday bonus scheme costing 2.4bn, under which Italian families on low incomes receive up to 500 towards domestic holidays. To lure both foreigners and mainlanders, Sicilys regional government recently approved spending 75m on vouchers, redeemable for accommodation, guided tours, museum tickets and more. Voucher schemes are also being implemented in Iceland, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Tackling wary travellers fears head-on, Cyprus has promised to meet the quarantine, health-care and holiday costs of any visitor who contracts the virus. And perhaps most ambitious and costly of all is Japans Go To Travel, which was launched on July 22nd. The government will pay for discounts of up to half the cost of trips within the country, reimbursing hotels and travel agents at a potential expense of 1.3trn ($12.6bn).

It is easy to see why politicians want to prop up the tourist trade. It is a big employer. Over the past five years, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, an industry body, the sector created one in four net new jobs globally. Tiffany Misrahi of the WTTC calculates that if international travel falls by half this year, 121m jobs will be lost and global output worth $3.4trn forgone. Politicians may also think that subsidies for domestic tourism will be popular with voters jaded after months of lockdown.

Why are tourist subsidies suddenly so popular? Politicians have not abandoned old policies entirely. They are finding billions to stop ailing airlines going bust, but that will do nothing to stimulate demand. And although VAT cuts have been used to pep up the industry in past downturns, these are now regarded as a blunt tool, notes Jane Stacey of the OECD. When Britain cut VAT economy-wide in 2008, for instance, much of the stimulus quickly leaked out of the economy, as imports were boosted by more than activity at home. Aiming VAT cuts precisely at tourist spending is difficult. With vouchers, that is easier to do. The Resolution Foundation, a British think-tank, argues that their terms can be changed to help an area or sector in particular need of speedy help.

Despite their apparent political appeal, the subsidies are not proving universally popular. Some see them as unfair: wealthier folk are likelier than poorer ones to be able to take time off work and to have spare cash for holidays. To avoid subsidising the rich, schemes eligibility can be limited. In Italy, only households with incomes of under 40,000 a year qualify. In South Korea the government is paying extra vacation bonuses to employees of small firms who take time off.

Some intended beneficiaries oppose the schemes, too, fearing that travellers could bring covid-19 to remote tourist spots hitherto little affected by the disease. Go To Travel is especially unpopular. In a poll for Nikkei Asian Review, a Japanese newspaper, published on July 20th, 80% of respondents said it was too early to launch the policy; only 15% said it was appropriate. Residents of Tokyo, where infections have risen in recent weeks, were excluded from the scheme at the last moment to calm country-dwellers worries of being overrun by coronavirus-carrying staycationers.

If the politics of holiday handouts are not clear-cut, nor are the economics. Many people who are staying at home can doubtless afford a trip. Household savings have been rising rapidly in both America and Europe, as people have spent less on commuting and eating out. Lower prices, and even state handouts, may not tempt them to venture out on holiday. They may fear catching the virus while travelling (even in Cyprus). And they are increasingly worried about getting stuck abroad in renewed lockdowns or unexpected quarantines on their return. British holidaymakers in Spain, for instance, received just five hours notice on July 25th that they will need to self-isolate for 14 days when they arrive home. Compounding these problems, it is still difficult to buy travel insurance that covers covid-19.

And vouchers or no vouchers, some over-visited cities are wondering whether they really want all the tourists back. This is the moment to consider other alternatives, declares Paolo Costa, a former mayor of Venice and president of the citys port authority. Jobs in tourism tend to be low-skilled, poorly paid and seasonal. Developing a tech cluster from the universities that Venice hosts, or developing its port as a trans-shipment hub between central Europe and the Far East, could produce better, more stable employment. But obtaining seed money for this from the central government is harder than getting yet more subsidies for tourism. Why? The tourism lobby is bigger than the Venice lobby group, Mr Costa sighs.

Editors note: Some of our covid-19 coverage is free for readers of The Economist Today, our daily newsletter. For more stories and our pandemic tracker, see our hub

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Why governments are paying people to go on holiday - The Economist

Analysis: the skies above our heads are teeming with disease-causing microbes which are being transported around the planet

ByPredrag Slijepcevic, Brunel University London

Microbes are the truly dominant group of lifeforms. These invisible pieces of biogenic matter have been running Earth's affairs for billions of years. Plants and animals popped up as the by-products of microbial mergers relatively recently in our planet's history.

Understanding microbes is not easy. It took us some time to learn about the existence of the human microbiome, the collection of viruses, bacteria and fungi inside and outside our bodies that connects us to the rest of the microbial cloud that exists everywhere life can survive.

We are now learning that there is even a microbiome high in the sky. These are microbes that are swept into and then reside in the lower parts of the atmosphere. This includes the mid and upper troposphere at altitudes of between 8km and 12km above the ground, and the lower stratosphere at altitudes of up to 15km. What's more, by joining the planetary wind systems, these lifeforms create microbial highways in the sky that transport them across the world.

From RT Radio 1's Today With Sarah McInerney, Sam McConkey from RCSI and John Wenger from UCC on the airborne spread of the Covid-19 virus

Scientists first reported the existence of sky-bound bacteria in a couple of pioneering studies published in 2013 and 2018. These were not isolated microorganisms found by chance. Instead, bacterial communities straddle the sky in large numbers, in the region of hundreds of thousands of bacteria for each cubic metre of air in the troposphere.

Between 60% and 100% of the bacteria in collected samples were alive and they typically lived in the sky for longer than five days. Analysing their genetic material confirmed the presence of dozens of different bacterial species. However, the tropospheric bacterial communities were less complex than some of Earth's terrestrial habitats.

But bacteria are not the only tiny lifeforms in the sky. We now know this microbiome includes viruses and even fungi. The lower atmosphere appears to be alive and teeming with microbes.

These microbes are well adjusted to their new environment. Only bacteria that already have mechanisms for coping with UV radiation, lack of water and high levels of dangerous oxidants such as ozone survive the journey into the sky, where they feed on the carbon compounds available in the atmosphere. Given this harsh environment, researching bacterial behaviour in the sky may be useful for understanding microbial survival in space.

Bacteria also actively grow in clouds and play an important role in the processes behind the Earth's atmospheric chemistry. For example, some airborne bacteria encourage water in the air to freeze. This may occur in a similar way to how some plant bacteria use specialist proteins to enable ice to form on and damage leaves, opening a way for the bacteria to infect them. The airborne bacteria and the ice particles that some of them can carry can even become the nuclei needed to form clouds.

Understanding the atmospheric microbiome and its highways in the sky could also help us learn how disease-causing microbes are transported around the planet. In a recent study, scientists found viruses falling from the sky in large numbers, like invisible snowflakes covering the Sierra Nevada mountains in Spain where viral detectors were placed. Thanks to the microbial highways in the sky, genetically identical viruses may be found at different and distant locations across the planet.

This kind of route might be responsible for the spread of the mysterious Kawasaki disease, which can cause heart problems in children but whose exact cause is unknown. A group of Japanese scientists has produced evidence that it may be due to a fungal toxin carried through the sky over long distances from China to Japan. Analysis of air samples over Japan during the time of year when Kawasaki disease is most common found that the most dominant microbial species was the fungus Candida. Laboratory experiments have shown this fungus can produce a Kawasaki-like condition in mice.

Now the whole world is watching the saga of the Covid-19 pandemic. We know the virus spreads through human contact, but a group of doctors has recently warned the World Health Organization that the viral particle may be travelling through the air. Some scientists have even speculated that the Covid-19 virus may have been carried between countries at similar latitudes by a jet stream through the atmosphere.

As we've only just begun to understand the role of microbes down here on Earth, it seems likely there is a huge amount more to discover about those that live above our heads.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Predrag Slijepcevicis a Senior Lecturer in Biology atBrunel University London

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RT

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How bacteria and viruses travel the world on highways in the sky - RTE.ie

Star Warssuper fans and Galaxys Edge enthusiasts, it looks like you may have something exciting to look forward to at the Disney Parks. A new book by Lucasfilm and Walt Disney Imagineering suggest that a few new festivals could be coming to the theme parks in the future.

The Travelers Guide to Batuu will serve as an in-world travel guide to the Black Spire Outpost village on the Star Wars planet of Batuu. And, according to local southern California news source the OC Register, the book contains some valuable information about what may be celebrated at Galaxys Edge in the future.

OC Register says that, according to theTravelers Guide to Batuu,there are threelocal Batuuan festivals in the Spring, Fall and Winter, which are major annual holidays with unique traditions.

Related: Watch This Stunning Proposal at Galaxys Edge, Surrounded by Lightsabers

Black Spire Day is celebrated every year on May the Fourth. Unfortunately, this year, both Galaxys Edge lands at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort were closed on May 4, 2020, so we didnt have the chance to see what all the fun was about on Black Spire Day on Batuu. But heres a bit more about it:

On this happy holiday locals decorate the outpost with pieces like colorful tarps, ribbons and flowers. Locals sing traditional songs, feast and tie wishes to the Trilon tree. Sometimes the evening ends in a procession through the outpost with a fireworks display.

Every fall, the Batuuan Harvest Festival is said to take place, as stated in theTravelers Guide.The book says that it honors the gold dust, the Batuu planets most valuable resource.

Only during this festival does crime boss Oga Garra consider allowing her valuable commodity of golden lichen to be used in special drinks and dishes. The outpost itself is decorated in golden hued banners streamers and locals have been known to enhance their garb with similar colors.

The third festival described in the book is called Life Day:

On Batuu, locals celebrate the ideals of peace, harmony and freedom for all beings no matter how different they may appear. Festive decor can be seen throughout Batuu and at the close of Life Day everyone gathers around the black spire to sing songs and spread good cheer to one another.

Note that right now, we dont yet know what it will be like to experience these events at Black Spire Outpost in Galaxys Edge. Since the lands opened in 2019, these festivals havent been celebrated. However, as theTravelers Guide to Batuuis a new book being published, we wouldnt be surprised if Disney made the decision to celebrate these three festivals in the theme parks annually. It would serve to further establish the theme of the land and the culture of the people who live there.

Related: Stormtroopers Surprise Disney Springs Guests for World of Disney Reopening

Well definitely keep our eyes peeled for any upcoming events coming to Star Wars: Galaxys Edge at the Disney Parks! Disney hasnt yet made any announcements for what we can expect when it comes to possible Galaxys Edge festivals at Disneyland and Hollywood Studios, but this new book sure does spark our curiosity.

Related: Disneyland After Dark: Star Wars Nite Officially Postponed

We also reported this week that Disney has announced another new book (The Art of Star Wars: Galaxys Edge) that details the creation of Star Wars: Galaxys Edge, the most recent land that opened at Disneyland in California and Disneys Hollywood Studios in Florida.

Disney Parks Blog says that the book which was created in collaboration with Walt Disney Imagineering and Lucasfilm, just like Galaxys Edge features never before seen artwork as well as exclusive interviews about the lands creation from artists at Walt Disney Imagineering, Lucasfilm and many others, this book offers an inside look at what goes into making an immersive Star Wars destination.

Click here to book a trip to Galaxys Edge for yourself! Visit Disneyland in California or Disney World in Florida and be among the first to stay in the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser when it opens!

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Are 'Star Wars' Festivals Coming to the Disney Parks? - Inside the Magic

In 2019, travel and tourism contributed $9.25 trillion to the global economy. That number was projected to grow in 2020. The International Air Transportation Association (IATA) expected the upward trend of free-to-roam world travel to eventually produce 8.2 billion air travelers by the year 2037 more than the entire global population in 2020. And then the world spun into a pandemic. Borders closed, economies were very literally shut down, and leisurely travel around the globe something thats a completely modern phenomenon and experience instantly ceased to exist.

According to IATA now, it wont be until 2023 when flight traffic returns to pre-pandemic numbers. And now that leisure travel has slowly started to creep back as an option for some citizens of the world, albeit with major restrictions and health guidelines to follow in response to COVID-19, new statistics are starting to help researchers understand what to project for post-pandemic global travel.

Some of their observations are fascinating when imagining a day when surf trips can be planned again if ever at least in terms of international travel. If we are to believe The Economist,we all may want to get comfortable with the idea of our surf trips excluding airport security and baggage fees for a while. A majority of travel right now is executed domestically, meaning road trips are the new norm whether your activity is surfing, skiing, backpacking, or just a weekend holiday with the family. In May, for example, 80 percent of Airbnb reservations were made domestically. And that is actually one major upside, of course, knowing that carbon emissions from commercial flights accounted for 2.4 percent of the worlds fossil fuel emissions in 2018.

But the global travel footprint is probably the only clear positive for outdoor sports travelers right now. Weve all grown used to booking trips to remote destinations to get our fix in the water or on the hill and at least for the foreseeable future, the entire segment of our industry that relies on international travel is on indefinite hold. So if youre itching to get away, it may be years before flying is your best option. For now, we might just have to embrace the idea of domestic surf or snow trips.

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COVID-19: This Is a Fascinating and Informative Look at the Future of Travel - TheInertia.com

The recent cyclone, Amphan, that ravaged through parts of West Bengal left a sore experience for the Sundarbans. In the midst of a terrific catastrophe, residents in this natural paradise worshipped Bon Bibi, goddess of these mangrove forests. No human intervention could possibly save them from the destruction of a natural disaster. On World Conservation Day, the world needs a reminder as to why the Sundarbans is a gift to mankind, and why it should get our attention.

Why is the Sundarbans important?

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve is a world renowned mangrove forest spreading across India and Bangladesh. A hotbed for biodiversity, it is currently going through numerous challenges. From rising sea level, to cyclones, the area, its people, and animals are constantly living in the fear of getting wiped out. Of course, its most famous resident, the majestic Royal Bengal Tiger is finding it increasingly difficult to survive. Repeatedly, ravaged by cyclones, the mangroves are depleting, and hence its famous tigers are losing their homes.

Not just the Bengal tiger, but Irawadi dolphins, estuarine crocodiles and Batagur baska, are all on the verge of extinction. It is also home to 260 bird species and the Indian python.

Fate of the Sundarbans

Much of the Sundarbans and its human and animal residents are now abandoned, left to their fate. The residents dearly call the mangrove area their Ma, and you learn to love her. Flooding is commonplace, so are natural disasters. Villages are on the verge of disappearing, livelihoods are on the verge of collapsing. The climate is ever-changing, the population is growing, and there is now a realisation that the trees of the forests actually protected the residents all these years. But these trees were mistreated, owing to the natural instinct of humans.

In a major catastrophe five years ago, all the barriers in the eastern side of Sagar Island broke, thus destroying thousands of farmlands and homes. Even though the soil here is very fertile, you are always on the verge of losing it all.

A divine interventionThe deity of the forest, Bon Bibi is oftentimes remembered during hard times. Especially by those who enter the forest for their daily work, such as the honey hunters.

From saving residents at the hands of tigers to protecting the homes during cyclones, when all else fails, residents remember Bon Bibi. Irrespective of religious beliefs, Bon Bibi is the prime protector of all. It is said that you enter the forest on your own accord, but you leave only if Bon Bibi wants you to. You will find temples dedicated to the goddess all across the islands. The goddess is famously mentioned in Amitav Ghoshs novel, The Hungry Tide. Here, in the Sundarbans, you will find Bonbibir Palagaan, which is a traditional performance to get the blessing of the goddess. Translated from Bengali to English, Palagaan means singing in turns, or taking turns to sing. The performing troupes include both Hindus and Muslims.

Some may say that nature will take its way, so yes, cyclones and natural disasters cannot be stopped. But the residents and trees of this beautiful mangrove forest can be helped. Through minimum human intervention, building a coastal land-use plan that is well-balanced, and helping the local communities. Deforestation should be a strict no-no, and tourism (if at all), must be well-monitored.

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World Conservation Daya sinking Sundarbans & the goddess of the forest - Happytrips

Asia and Pawe Poterski spent two years driving around the world in their 1990s Fiat 125p car. dookolafiata.pl/Facebook

A couple from western Poland have proved that at least some things designed under communism were made to last after they drove a Soviet-era Fiat 125p around the world.

The couple set out in October 2018 in their car, which rolled off the production line in 1990, for a journey that they thought would only take nine months.dookolafiata.pl/Facebook

Asia and Pawe Poterski completed their epic journey, which lasted two years and covered 45,000 car-crunching kilometres, when they parked their heroic Fiat at their home in Gorzw Wielkopolski this summer.

The couple set out in October 2018 in their car, which rolled off the production line in 1990, for a journey that they thought would only take nine months, but in the end took somewhat longer as they drove through a succession of countries, including Slovakia, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia.

Asia and Pawe drove through a succession of countries, including Slovakia, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand and Malaysia.dookolafiata.pl/Facebook

They even shipped the car across the Pacific so it could experience the highways of Canada and the United States.

The couples epic journey in the Soviet-era vehicle generated media interest worldwide, with articles on the Poles appearing in The New Straits Times, a Malaysian paper, and CTV News from Calgary in Canada.

The Gorzw couple decided to return to their home town after Asia became pregnant.dookolafiata.pl/Facebook

Although the Fiat 125p may not have the best reputation in the world when it comes to reliability its rudimentary construction and, the couple explained, the expectation that something will fail, meant that they were ready and able to fix most problems with basic tools.

After covering 45,000 kilometres the couple had just about run out of road to drive on, but they also had a more pressing reason to wind up their journey.

The couples epic journey in the Soviet-era vehicle generated media interest worldwide, with articles on the Poles appearing in The New Straits Times, a Malaysian paper, and CTV News from Calgary in Canada.dookolafiata.pl/Facebook

Asia got pregnant on the road and had to come back to Poland to give birth.

The journey has made them local celebrities with the Gorzw council praising the couple for helping to put the town on the map.

Read the original post:

They did it! Gorzw couple travel 45000km around the world in old PRL car - The First News

Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg

Photographer: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg

Four of the biggest airlines in the U.S. and Europe are pressing for an international accord on coronavirus testing to allow broad trans-Atlantic travel.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG and commercial ally United Airlines Holdings Inc. joined with British Airways owner IAG SA and partner American Airlines Group Inc. to seek a U.S.-European Union testing program that would replace restrictions that prevent the recovery of commercial air travel. The U.S.-Europe market is the biggest for high-profit business trips.

Given the unquestioned importance of trans-Atlantic air travel to the global economy as well as to the economic recovery of our businesses, we believe it is critical to find a way to re-open air services between the U.S. and Europe, the carriers said in letter to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Ylva Johansson, the European commissioner for home affairs. The letter, released Tuesday, was signed by the chief executive of each carrier.

The U.S. to Europe market leads the way in high-paying passengers

Source: OAG

Air France-KLM and part owner Delta Air Lines Inc., the two other major airline groups in the EU and the U.S., didnt sign the letter.

The World Travel & Tourism Council said separately Wednesday that country-wide border closures in response to second spikes in the virus should be resisted, urging governments to introduce localized measures instead. The group said it backs so-called air corridors permitting unhindered travel between financial centers such as London, Frankfurt and New York.

The EU has continued to bar visits by U.S. residents after relaxing a ban on non-essential travel from 15 countries with lower coronavirus infection rates. Britain requires that people arriving from the U.S. spend 14 days in self-imposed quarantine. U.S. rules, meanwhile, essentially prevent travel to the country by most Europeans.

British Airways owner IAG is most exposed on U.S. to Europe flights

Source: OAG

The International Air Transport Association warned on July 1 that its estimate for a 36% drop in traffic this year could worsen to 53% if curbs on trans-Atlantic travel remain in place.

The WTTC estimates that travel and tourism supports 10% of all jobs and provides the same proportion of global GDP.

(Updates with tourism council comments starting in fifth paragraph)

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

See the article here:

U.S. and European Airlines Seek Virus Testing to Open Up Travel - Bloomberg

[Editors Note: We came across this study which surveyed 1045 U.S. travelers (55%+ were millennials) about their behaviors and attitude towards travel amid COVID-19. Some of the results were surprising, yet encouraging, and we thought others would be interested to see the results as well. Heres a snapshot of some of the more surprising results:

Related to this, we also wrote an article titled Business Travel After COVID-19 which covered 5 things to take into consideration for employers, business travelers, and the travel industry. Enjoy.]

As of May 26, 2020, the total number of coronavirus casesreached over 5.5 million worldwide, with the U.S. being the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, representing 1.7 million of the total number of COVID-19 cases.

Since it first emerged in Wuhan, China last December 2019, countriesimplemented total partial or complete lockdownand travel restrictions which madea huge dent in the travel industry. The damage is so huge that it was estimated by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) that there will beover 100 million job lossesin the travel and tourism sector.

Moreover, the2020 tourism industry revenueisrestatedto 447 million U.S. dollars, down from theoriginal 2020 forecast, which is711 million U.S. dollars. In 2019, the travel tourism industry revenue earned 685 million U.S. dollars in revenue.

Its been over 5 months now, so how are the US travelers holding up? We conducted a survey involving 1,045 US frequent travelers to see the impact COVID-19 has on travel habits.

We specifically asked our survey participants to indicate their age so we can see which generation travelers belong to.

Major Takeaways:

Major Takeaways:

Major Takeaways:

Major Takeaways:

Major Takeaways:

Major Takeaways:

Since the coronavirus outbreak, the thought of traveling seems impossible to happen anytime soon. But earlier in May 2020, Australia announced a three-stage plan to reopen its economy, including tourism, which could be atravel recovery modelfor other countries.

Are people willing to follow strict protocols/protection while traveling amid the COVID-19 outbreak these days?

Major Takeaways:

By the end of March 2020, over3million unemployment claims were filed. This means the budget will have to be cut deeply to stillbe able to travel and keep up with the essentials amid the global pandemic.

Major Takeaways:

Major Takeaways:

According tothe World Economic Forum, We will travel again, but it will not be the same. So we asked our participants which type of travel platform would they prefer after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Major Takeaways:

To ensure that the above-mentioned data is only from frequent travelers in the U.S., we launched a survey on MTurk and set the qualifications to only U.S. citizens that travel frequently.

We also included attention-check questions somewhere in the survey to ensure our participants are not just answering the survey questions randomly.

Also, the surveys results do not, in any form and way, reflect the opinions of our editors and writers.

Originally posted here:

COVID-19 Impacts on Travel Habits: New Study of 1045 US Travelers - TheWiseMarketer.com

Usually I email Sen. Susan Collins and ask her to resign, which Im sure shed do if she ever read those emails. But today, in this letter, I want to publicly thank Sen. Collins.

I want to thank her for being right about Donald J. Trump. He has learned his lesson, as she hoped. He has learned that he can do anything he pleases because the senator and her colleagues in the Republican Party will let him.

I want to thank her for allowing a man known for his lack of business sense and for his blatant racism to remain in office. I want to thank her for backing a bold leader who has not only put the entire nation at risk during a pandemic and destroyed the economy but also brought the Third World to America while trashing the Constitution. Now I no longer have to travel to China, the Philippines or Turkey to live under a brutal dictator because we are working toward that goal here in this country.

Good thing, too, what with travel restrictions limiting my access to so many nations. I dont have to go to Russia. Russia is coming to me.

Thank you, Sen. Collins.

Linda PankewiczRaymond

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Letter to the editor: No need to travel Collins ensures that 'Russia is coming to me' - Press Herald