Travellers scrambled to rebook flights and global markets reeled on Thursday after US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping restrictions on travel from Europe, hitting battered airlines and further straining ties with the continent.

Trump ordered travel from Europe to the United States restricted for 30 days, responding to mounting pressure to take action against a rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak disrupting nearly all corners of US daily life.

“We are marshalling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people,” Trump said in a prime-time televised address from the Oval Office on Wednesday.

“This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history.”

The travel order, which starts at midnight on Friday, does not apply to Britain, or to Americans undergoing “appropriate screenings,” Trump said.

After triggering confusion by suggesting trade with Europe would also be suspended, Trump clarified that “trade will in no way be affected.”

“The restriction stops people not goods,” he said on Twitter moments after his speech.

The surprise restrictions sent financial markets tumbling, with Euro Stoxx 50 futures plunging 8.3 percent to their lowest levels since mid-2016. US stock futures were down more than four percent.

“Already we know the economic impact is significant, and with this additional measure on top it’s just going to multiply the impact across businesses,” said Khoon Goh, head of Asia Research at ANZ in Singapore. “This is something that markets had not factored in … it’s a huge near-term economic cost.”

Trump said his government had been in frequent contact with US allies about the restriction, but European Union officials were not notified about it ahead of time, said one diplomat.

“There was no heads-up, no coordination as the president claimed,” said the diplomat, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The restrictions will heap more pressure on airlines already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, hitting European carriers the hardest, analysts said.

FINANCIAL RELIEF

Washington, DC, resident Michelle Cravez, 30, who is visiting her brother in Prague, quickly rebooked a ticket home.

“It quickly became apparent that demand was pushing costs up and seats were going fast,” she said in a Twitter conversation with a Reuters reporter. “Shortly after, we find out that this ruling may not apply to citizens.

“Still, with everything so fluid – who knows whether flights start getting cancelled – we decided to bite the bullet and book a new itinerary that got us home before the deadline.”

In an effort to lessen the economic impact of the outbreak and the restrictions, Trump instructed the Treasury Department to defer tax payments without interest or penalties for certain business and individuals hit by the health crisis.

The president also said he would take emergency action to provide financial relief for workers who are ill, quarantined or caring for others due to coronavirus. And he said he was directing the Small Business Administration to provide capital and liquidity to firms affected coronavirus, including low-interest loans.

In Australia, the government said it would pump A$17.6 billion ($11.4 billion) into the economy to try to stop the coronavirus outbreak triggering a recession.

A senior ruling party lawmaker in Japan said it must brainstorm plans for dealing with cancelled or postponed Tokyo Olympic Games, even if that is unlikely.

SPORTS, SCHOOLS DISRUPTED

Trump’s travel order, which applies to 26 European countries, capped a day of mounting upheavals on the domestic front from the highly contagious respiratory illness, also known as Covid-19.

In the hard-hit Seattle area, the largest public school district in Washington state announced an unprecedented two-week suspension of all classes.

The greater Seattle area is the epicentre of the deadliest, and one of the largest, clusters of coronavirus infections in the United States, accounting for the bulk of at least 38 US fatalities from the disease.

Washington state has documented 373 coronavirus cases, including 30 deaths. There were 1,311 cases in total in the United States, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.

The city of San Francisco banned non-essential social events of 1,000 people or more, and major sports competitions were affected.

The National Basketball Association said it was suspending the season until further notice after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the coronavirus while the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) said its wildly popular “March Madness” basketball tournament games would be played in arenas without fans.

Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks announced on Twitter that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had tested positive for coronavirus in Australia, where he was on a film shoot.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the annual St Patrick’s Day parade would be postponed, following several other cities that have likewise scrubbed their March 17 holiday celebrations.

Source: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/news/world/Trump-restricts-travel-from-Europe-over-coronavirus/4259366-5488114-ixvuin/index.html

The cancellation of major international conferences slated for this month over fears of coronavirus (Covid-19) has dealt a major blow to the tourism sector.

This is coupled with lower arrival numbers for Moi International Airport (MIA), the country’s tourism hub, in December last year, sending the sector into panic.

The latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that arrivals at the Mombasa airport slumped by more than 6,000 passengers during the December 2019 peak season compared to the previous year.

Tourism stakeholders are now warning of worse projections this year due to the virus threat globally.

Arrivals at MIA, Kenya’s second-largest airport, dropped from 18,403 in 2018 to 12,373 in 2019. The numbers are expected to drop even further in the first two months of this year, as travellers call off plans over the illness.

Three major conferences planned for this month in Mombasa and Diani have been called off, prompting over 600 cancellations, even after advance preparations had been initiated. This has led to uncertainty in the hospitality industry.

Apart from the cancelled meetings, others have been postponed and the fate of other conferences is yet to be known.

With virus denting returns in the hospitality sector, hotel owners now want the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) to be flexible to all the businesses that have loans.

Hosting prestigious global events could have cushioned them during this low season, the players said.

Pride Inn Paradise Beach Resort and Spa in Shanzu was set to host the 63rd Airport Council International (ACI) from March 14 to 20. But the 400-guest event was cancelled at the last minute.

ACI is a non-profit organisation representing the world’s airports.

The delegates from more than 20 countries, including Canada, Morocco, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Madagascar, Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, Dubai and Mozambique, were expected to troop to Mombasa to discuss the air transport industry.

Senegal and South Africa have reported cases of Covid-19. Nigeria has also confirmed cases of the virus, which has affected more than 90,000 people and killed over 3,000 globally.

“We have had a few cancellations and postponing the meetings especially those involving international delegates due to the virus,” Pride Inn managing director Hasnain Noorani said.

Speaking to the Nation by phone, Mr Noorani said his hotel had received cancellations of “other, small meetings” due to the government’s directive.

Lower revenues

Mr Noorani said his hotel has witnessed about four or five lunch meetings cancelled.

“Cancelling the meetings translates to reduced revenues. The fact that the meetings were slated for March and we had done much of our planning, puts us in uncertainty, we don’t know how to handle things,” he said.

Mr Noorani says he had planned the costs, and put up security and software in place. He said this was a hard time in the industry.

He said a meeting stakeholders had with Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala on Friday last week was to mitigate the financial repercussions.

Mr Noorani urged journalists to be sensitive when reporting on the coronavirus threats.

“In the meeting, we discussed how we can involve the KBA to see how they can reduce or be flexible to all businesses that have loans. We are also trying to work with the government to sensitise the masses on the disease,” Mr Noorani added.

Serena Beach Hotel and Spa general manager Herman Mwasaghua said the virus has caused a crisis in the hospitality sector.

“That meeting involving foreigners was expected to be a boost as the delegates had booked a number of hotels outside the venue. This is a big blow, it is biting — the effect is so significant because a number of cancellations have been witnessed. We have lost three groups of business people from China and South Africa who have cancelled their meeting” he said.

‘Tough scenario’

Mr Mwasaghua said delegates to the forums had booked over 50 rooms at his hotel.

“Others just cancelled yesterday, we have had to adjust but it is a tough scenario for us. We were to have a group of about 40 people from different countries, who were to stay here for almost a week but they have cancelled until further notice,” Mr Mwasaghua said, adding that Africa is lucky the infection has not been widespread, giving hope to industry players.

Mr Mwasaghua said some of his clients said their airlines are flying airplnes half-empty.

Other delegates who were expected in the meeting are Mr Alex Gitari, acting managing director for Kenya Airports Authority; Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia; his Tourism and Wildlife counterpart Najib Balala; Dr Dirk Glaesser, the director of the Department of Sustainable Development of Tourism; Capt Gilbert Kibe, director-general of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority; and other aviation experts from more than 10 countries.

But the Hoteliers, led by Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers executive officer Sam Ikwaye, said the cancellations will affect businesses and the airline sector because conferences support other businesses, including airlines.

Meanwhile, the government has set up more than 100 hospital beds in preparation for possible coronavirus cases.

Health ministry Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has assured the public that health workers are well prepared to stop the spread of the virus. No case has tested positive for the virus.

“We have trained over 1,100 health workers, we have deployed them to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and other areas. We are also sensitising and cascading this training all the way to the community levels. We have procured sufficient personal protective equipment,” Mr Kagwe said.

Mbagathi Hospital has set up 120 beds for potential cases.

The virus’ slow arrival to Africa has given governments more time to set up testing and treatment centres, with the help of the World Health Organization and other groups.

The deadly virus is believed to have emanated from an outdoor food market in the city of Wuhan, China.

Source: https://www.nation.co.ke/news/Coronavirus–Tourism-sector-feels-pinch/1056-5486418-v97vtw/index.html

As the world grapples with the spread of coronavirus, Uganda will require travellers from worst hit countries to stay in quarantine for two weeks at their cost.

Health minister Jane Aceng on Sunday said the order affects both foreigners and citizens.

The most affected countries are China, Spain, France, Italy, Iran, Germany and South Korea.

Uganda’s order comes in the wake of Saudi Arabia imposing a temporary lockdown on its eastern Qatif province, which has population of more than 600,000, to prevent spread of coronavirus.

At the same time, some 70 people were on Sunday trapped under a collapsed five-storey coronavirus quarantine facility in China, the State Media reported.

Four people died after the hotel collapsed in Quanzhou. By dawn on Sunday, 47 individuals had been rescued, according to state media outlet People’s Daily.

Uganda’s Aceng further added that the move to quarantine travellers will shield Uganda from covid-19 spread.

A local daily reported the minister as having said “Uganda remains at high risk of importation of coronavirus from the affected countries. This is mainly due to travel, trade and social linkages with affected countries as Uganda maintains an open border policy.”

The World Health Organisation has called the spread of the coronavirus ‘deeply concerning’.

Todate, some 3,483 have died and 101,828 people infected with coronavirus.

The symptoms include a cough, flu and respiratory complications.

After 14 days without exhibiting further symptoms of coronavirus, one is declared free of it.

Uganda, like Kenya, has suspended international conferences to stop covid-19 spread.

The Ugandan government will check mass gatherings including burials and weddings, but the Health minister did not expound how that would be undertaken.

On March 6, the Health ministry led by CS Mutahi Kagwe resorted to sending coronavirus information via SMS.

It is still unclear how often text messages will be sent out in future and whether subscribers other than Safaricom will receive the SMS.

The national government has banned all conferences of international nature with more than 15 people for 30 days as a precautionary measure against Coronavirus.

The move is part of the government’s plan to improve preparedness through heightened surveillance.

The Health ministry has also temporarily lifted the ban on Italian flights to Kenya to evacuate Italian Citizens from Kenya.

Kenya has investigated 23 alerts involving 31 suspected cases that have all tested negative for Covid-19.

Government spokesman Cyrus Oguna on Sunday said a patient who had been suspected to be infected by the coronavirus and died tested negative for the virus.

The unidentified patient died in an isolation ward at  MP Shah Hospital.

Oguna said the government is further nvestigating how the patient’s details were leaked to the public.

“The Ministry of Health will continue to respond to any alerts as they are reported through the various established channels.”

CS Kagwe said so far a National Contingency Plan to guide response activities has been established in all counties.

He also announced that there will be mandatory screening at all entry points to ensure the country is free from coronavirus.

Source: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001363408/uganda-to-quarantine-travellers-at-their-own-cost-to-stop-coronavirus-spread

British Airways said it has cancelled its flights to Italy on Tuesday after the country implemented a lockdown to control the deadly coronavirus epidemic.

Asked by AFP to confirm reports that it had axed all of its Italy flights for Tuesday, a BA spokeswoman replied: “Yes, today we have.”

BA added in a statement that it had “contacted all customers who are due to travel today”.

The company, which is owned by London-listed International Airlines Group, said passengers could rebook flights scheduled up to April 4.

Budget airline Ryanair followed suit announcing that all international flights to and from Italy would be cancelled from Saturday until April 9th.

Any passengers needing to return home can do so if they switch to a flight operating before Saturday.

British rival EasyJet added that it was in the process of cancelling “all of its existing scheduled flights touching Italy between 10 March and 3 April” following the restrictions by the Italian authorities.

“We will be operating rescue flights for passengers wishing to travel for essential, work, health or repatriation reasons to and from Italy,” it added.

French flag carrier Air France said it was suspending all flights to Italy from March 14 to April 3 due to the coronavirus outbreak in France’s neighbour.

The company said in a statement that it would be maintaining one flight a day to all its destinations in Italy up until March 14 to allow customers to travel if they needed.

Ryanair blamed the Italian government’s decision taken on Monday night to put the whole country under lockdown.

“Ryanair apologises sincerely to all customers for these schedule disruptions, which are caused by national government restrictions and the latest decision of the Italian government to lock down the entire country to combat the Covid-19 virus,” a statement from the airline said.

The Italian government has imposed unprecedented nationwide restrictions on its 60 million people as it desperately attempts to halt the progress of the fatal COVID-19 disease.

Source: https://www.thelocal.it/20200310/british-airways-and-ryanair-cancel-flights-to-italy

BARCELONA – Mind Analytics, a Spanish start-up specialising in data analytics to optimise decision making in the tourism industry, has launched the first tool in the travel industry that combines AI, Machine Learning and Big Data, designed to improve the conversion of hotel distribution wholesalers. The Travel Intelligence Engine (Travel/ie) solution captures, processes and analyses data in real time and uses that knowledge to improve distribution, detect errors and behaviour patterns, in order to improve the distribution of available product inventory and adapt offers to your customers.

This is technology developed in Spain which combines the advantages of advanced descriptive analytics, artificial intelligence and automated learning. The combination of these three functionalities allows you to better understand the tourism market and give an immediate response, optimising conversion by up to 30%.

Thanks to  the analysis of customers and supplier data in real time, Travel/ie is a powerful tool to optimise the management of products offered by wholesalers.  For example, it allows you to know the most requested destinations and dates, analyse the remaining rooms and, in turn, measure the infrastructure performance in detail or even detect integration and data mapping errors through an alarm system.

In this way, distributors can identify when a product is not being displayed correctly, detect a problem with a customer’s request for a reservation, even a failure in network performance, and act immediately to avoid losing revenue.

For Joaquin Orono, CEO of the company, “Decisions based on real data are key to addressing the challenges of the tourism industry. Up to now, this process of analysis and interpretation of the data offered by Travel Intelligence Engine was done manually, an inefficient practice in terms of resource consumption that also generates errors. Therefore, we wanted to develop a state-of-the-art technological product that was the lever that companies in the tourism industry needed to optimise their profitability.”

Mind Analytics has developed Travel/ie so wholesalers such as bed banks can manage large volumes of data. However, the data intelligence platform is expected to diversify to other segments of the travel industry such as hotels, travel agencies, car rental companies and airlines.

Integration with the company system
The implementation of Travel/ie is carried out in a short time frame and does not affect each distributor’s individual platform. Therefore, it integrates naturally with the system. First, the information relevant to the company is identified and a data collector is set up. Travel/ie obtains only the data necessary to optimise the business and does so in a non-invasive way, so that a panel adapted to the needs of the company is created.

To develop the integration, comparison and analysis of data, Travel/ie uses market leading technologies such as Google Cloud and Looker.

Source: https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/mind-analytics-creates-the-first-technology-platform-for-the-travel-industry-that-combines-ai-machine-learning-and-big-data

The Corona Virus that has so far claimed over 3, 300 lives and infected over 98, 000 others has caused an unprecedented disruption in the aviation and travel industry, The Kenya Association of Travel Agents Chairman Mr. Mohammed Wanyoike has said.

The virus, he said, has led to cancellation of flights and rescheduling of passenger travel in the recent months, therefore affecting business.

He was speaking during a press conference held at the KATA offices in Westlands on Wednesday where he pointed out that there has been a 6 percent decline in passenger bookings in February and 10 percent to date in March.

“We are expecting this number to continue to increase in the short term as travel restrictions come in to effect to key markets and destinations as witnessed to China, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Italy. Governments, corporates, NGO’s, traders and travellers in general are currently reconsidering non-essential travel globally, hence impacting the above inter-continental travel. Intra-Africa travel appears to remain stable. We anticipate the travel restrictions and advisories to be temporary measures to help contain the novel Covid-19,” he said.

He added, “We have also observed a cancellation of major conventions and events in major cities, leading to a major decline in passenger numbers and revenues for the Travel Agents in Kenya.”

He assured the public that the association will continue providing factual information and support to travellers as they keep monitoring the situation closely.

Travel agents, he further stated, are assessing the situation on a case by case basis and providing recommendations for either Re-routing the travel itinerary to an alternative destination or Re-booking to an alternative travel date. Travel Agents are also offering the option of cancellation of pre-booked travel arrangements.

KATA CEO Ms. Agnes Mucuha urged travellers to visit the KATA website for regular updates on the virus. “KATA has a close working relationship with airlines that ensures that we receive reliable, timely and factual information that is later disseminated to the traveller,” she said.

Mr Wanyoike further urged the public to ignore the numerous fake stories circulating on the social media platforms and instead engage directly with KATA certified travel agents for factual information and clarifications.

Kenya’s tourism industry is growing steadily after absorbing global shocks GDP growth projected at 5.5 per cent this year.

A latest report by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales’ (ICAEW) shows the country’s economic outlook is moderately positive and the medium-term tourism prospects remain muscular despite the coronavirus outbreak. None of the suspected cases in Kenya tested positive.

“Kenya’s economic diversification strategies are increasingly buffering its economy from global shocks. More African countries are prioritising the promotion of tourism as part of this plan,” ICAEW regional director Michael Armstrong said.

The number of tourist arrivals in Kenya increased to 132,019 in December from 121,070 in November last year.

The East Africa region has maintained its status as the continent’s growth hots-pot in the first quarter of 2020. Output has slightly decelerated to six per cent, being kept stable by the fact that the region boasts some of the fastest-growing economies globally, the report stated.

Although the report is upbeat about the growth in the regional tourism sector, the coronavirus is bad news in the global tourism sector, including Kenya.

With the outbreak in Italy, many Italians are choosing not to visit Malindi, for example.

Last week, France which is the world-leading tourism destination, indicated that sector profits had declined by 30 to 40 per cent, attributed in large part to the coronavirus.

The virus has global tourism firmly in its grip with a major impact being felt across the Asian continent, where leisure and business travel contributed $884 billion to GDP, the latest data compiled by the World Travel and Tourism Council shows.

The global airline industry is also facing huge financial losses and its first traffic decline in more than a decade.

Globally there have been more than 94,000 cases and 3,220 deaths according to a Reuters tally.

(Edited by V. Graham)

Source: https://www.the-star.co.ke/business/2020-03-06-tourism-industry-grows-despite-coronavirus/

A statement on Flybe’s website said the company had entered administration and could not arrange alternative flights for its passengers.

“All flights have been grounded and the UK business has ceased trading with immediate effect,” said the airline, which avoided going bust in January only after being granted a tax holiday by the UK government.

Flybe, which employs 2,000 people, had failed to turn around its fortunes since being purchased by the Connect Airways consortium last year, initially owing to weak demand and fierce competition.

That has now been compounded by the coronavirus, with a slew of airlines cancelling flights and warning profits would take a hit from decreased demand.

The announcement came hours after British media reported that the airline could collapse following its failure to secure a £100 million ($129 million, 115 million euros) state loan to help stabilise the business.

The COVID-19 virus’ impact on travel “has made a bad situation much worse”, sources told the BBC, while Bloomberg News reported Thursday that no agreement could be reached on a virus-related bailout.

Small British airlines have suffered recently from volatile fuel costs and a weak pound.

Flybe is the biggest operator of UK domestic flights. The no-frills airline carries around eight million passengers annually and flies from 43 airports across Europe and 28 in Britain.

Its owner, the Connect Airways consortium, is led by Virgin Atlantic and also includes investment firm Cyrus and infrastructure specialist Stobart.

Following Flybe’s tax deferral earlier this year, rival companies including British Airways-parent IAG complained to the European Union that it was receiving unfair state aid.

The government has said its assistance does not breach EU rules and that help is based on the importance of the company’s domestic services and regional economic reliance on them.

However, that contrasted with the fate of British holiday giant Thomas Cook, which collapsed without government assistance last September, causing the loss of 22,000 jobs worldwide and stranding 600,000 holidaymakers abroad.

Source: https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2020/03/british-airline-flybe-collapses-as-virus-hits-flights-worldwide/

Kenya is considering suspending flights between Nairobi and Rome a day after it took a similar move on flights from northern Italy cities of Milan and Verona.

Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia told the joint National Assembly and Senate committee on Health that flights between Kenya and Iran had also been cancelled.

“Kenya does not have direct flights to and from Iran. We are also monitoring Kenya Airways flights to Rome and Milan because, as you know, Italy has been hit hard by the virus in Verona,” Mr Macharia told the committee.

Italy and Iran have reported the highest number of deaths from the coronavirus outbreak outside of China with 79 and 54 deaths respectively as at Tuesday.

Latest reports indicate that Italy is currently considering closing all its schools and universities up to mid-March to tame the spread of the deadly virus.

Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, who appeared before the committee alongside Mr Macharia, however, said the government had not traced the 239 people who arrived in the country last week from China.

The High Court had ordered the State to track and isolate them in a military isolation camp days after they landed in Nairobi aboard a China Southern Airlines plane.

“We have contacts of the 239 but then we have not been able to mobilise them into the KDF facility as directed by the court,” Dr Kibicho told the committee.

The two had been summoned alongside Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, who skipped yesterday’s session. Some committee members criticised what they termed Mr Kagwe’s casual approach to the disease outbreak that has now spread to over 60 countries.

“The CS who is away should be mentioned on the floor of the House. It is a shame he is not here and selfish that he is not making time yet this is a global pandemic,” Wajir South Member of Parliament Mohamud Sheikh said.

Source: https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/ea/Kenya-mulls-suspending-Nairobi-Rome-flights/4552908-5478868-sjm7r0/index.html