Guyanese Online
No flights will be allowed into Guyana, except for cargo flights, planes that have to make technical stops and special authorized flights.
(Caribbean360) – GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Tuesday March 17, 2020 – Guyana’s major ports of entry will be closed from midnight tomorrow as authorities try to stem the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) which has resulted in one death in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nation. Continue reading
In normal times a sudden drop in the price of oil would elicit a collective sigh of relief among Caribbean governments and Central Bankers. However, these are not normal times.
The aviation industry may not fully recover from the effects of the pandemic
IT IS NO surprise that the industry clobbered hardest by the covid-19 pandemic is the one responsible for helping spread it to the four corners of the Earth. But the speed and depth of the nosedive which airlines have taken is nevertheless breathtaking. In a memo to staff on March 13th, entitled “The Survival of British Airways”, the carrier’s boss, Alex Cruz, spoke of “a crisis of global proportions like no other we have known” (for more coverage of the pandemic, see our coronavirus hub). Most of the industry should pull through if the situation lasts one or two quarters. Any longer, and the future of air travel could be altered for good. Continue reading
MSC Meraviglia
(Caribbean 360) KINGSTON, Jamaica, Wednesday February 26, 2020 – As the Caribbean seeks to keep the deadly new Coronavirus (COVID-19) at bay, a cruise ship carrying more than 4,500 passengers was denied entry to Jamaica yesterday and the Cayman Islands today, after it was discovered that a crew member had flu symptoms.
The MSC Meraviglia, carrying over 4,500 passengers and more than 1,600 crew members on a Caribbean cruise, was first denied entry to the port in Ocho Rios when it arrived at 8:30 a.m. yesterday.
Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness said that during an inspection, port health officials learned that the sick crew member was in insolation on the vessel. Continue reading
Professor, Law and Economics of Tourism, University of Guelph
China’s tourism sector has been devastated by the latest coronavirus outbreak, but the impact is being felt around the world and in many industries
The spread of infectious diseases is invariably linked to travel. Today, tourism is a huge global business that accounts for 10.4 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 10 per cent of global employment.
Nothing seems to slow its growth as year-over-year increases outpace the economy. The United Nations World Tourism Organization is predicting further growth of three per cent to four per cent in international tourist arrivals for 2020, with international departures worldwide particularly strong in the first quarter of this year.
But that was before a new coronavirus (formally known as 2019-nCoV) hit China and then very rapidly started spreading to the rest of the world with 20 countries and counting isolating cases. Continue reading
Ariveting piece of cinema has captured the world’s attention, sparking endless debate about the perils of life under capitalism. No, not Parasite, but a 30-second video of an altercation on an airplane posted to Twitter. Like the Oscar-winning film, it reminds us how the baked-in incentives of greed and competition pit us needlessly against one another, robbing us of our humanity in turn.
The video, which has swiftly marshalled partisans on either side of a longstanding and heated debate about the relative merits of ethical reclining, was shared widely after being posted by a reporter from a Fox news station in Washington on Wednesday.
A team from JetBlue Airways Corporation (JetBlue) met with the Director General, Lt. Col. (Ret’d) Egbert Field and his team at the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) on January 28, 2020 to discuss the carrier’s application for commencement of non-stop scheduled air services on the Georgetown to New York route from April 2, 2020. Continue reading
The history of past pandemics augurs badly for the travel industry
Feb 3rd 2020 – Graphic detail – The EconomistSTOCK MARKETS IN China fell by nearly 8% on February 3rd—the largest single-day fall since 2015—as fears about the economic impact of the Wuhan coronavirus increased. Of the industries affected by the epidemic, perhaps none will be hit as hard as travel.
In recent weeks, hotel occupancy in China has fallen by 45% year-on-year, according to analysts at Citigroup, a bank. Shares in China’s three biggest airlines—Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines—have fallen by more than 20% since the first person died from the new strain, known as 2019-nCoV, on January 9th. The death toll in China has risen to 361. And the first death from the strain has been reported abroad, in the Philippines.
Investors in Chinese aviation are right to be nervous. Some previous pandemics have caused huge drops in airline traffic. Continue reading
I already know that the worst among you will hit the delete key before you get halfway through this email. But if you do so, feel free to acknowledge to yourself that you truthfully don’t really give a pinhead of a damn about your own people, locally or regionally.
In Jamaica, aviation is growing, with one new airline in process and another (still confidential) about to launch.
https://www.craneforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=29366
But in the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean, including the Bahamas but especially in the eastern Caribbean, aviation has been stifled, restricted, actually attacked by the Civil Aviation Authorities and Departments and bound in red tape to the point where it is almost non-existent – all the while allowing foreign carriers and even private
pilots with illegal small aircraft to rape the local and regional carriers into bankruptcy.
BUSINESS: The Hardest Hit Companies of the COVID-19 Downturn are ‘BEACH’ Stocks
The ‘BEACH’ Stocks —booking, entertainment, airlines, cruises, and hotels
The market’s latest storm has plunged the global travel industry into uncharted territory.
Since the S&P 500 market high on February 19, 2020, market capitalizations across BEACH industries—booking, entertainment, airlines, cruises, and hotels—have tumbled. The global airline industry alone has seen $157B wiped off valuations across 116 publicly traded airlines.
BEACH Stocks: $332B in Value Washed Away by March 24, 2020
Investor confidence in cruise lines has also dropped. Between Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, over half of their market value has evaporated—equal to at least $42B in combined market capitalization. *All numbers as of market close on March 24, 2020
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