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27/03/2020

China’s Xi offers Trump help in fighting coronavirus as U.S. faces wave of new patients

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump during a phone call on Friday that he would have China’s support in fighting the coronavirus, as the United States faces the prospect of becoming the next global epicentre of the pandemic.

The United States now has the most coronavirus cases of any country, with 84,946 infections and 1,259 deaths. Hospitals in cities like New York and New Orleans struggle to cope with the wave of patients.

Xi’s offer of assistance came amid a long-running war of words between Beijing and Washington over various issues including the coronavirus epidemic.

Trump and some U.S. officials have accused China of a lack of transparency on the virus, and Trump has at times called the coronavirus a “China virus” as it originated there, angering Beijing.

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In the call, Xi reiterated to Trump that China had been open and transparent about the epidemic, according to an account of the conversation published by the Chinese foreign ministry.

Trump said on Twitter that he discussed the coronavirus outbreak “in great detail” with Xi.

“China has been through much & has developed a strong understanding of the virus,” Trump said. “We are working closely together. Much respect!”.

The World Health Organization has said the United States, which saw 17,099 new coronavirus cases and 281 deaths in the past 24 hours, is expected to become the epicentre of the pandemic.

CHINA CUTS FLIGHTS

Like U.S. hospitals now, China’s medical system struggled to contain the coronavirus just two months ago, but draconian city lockdowns and severe travel restrictions has seen China dramatically ease the epidemic.

Mainland China on Friday reported its first local coronavirus case in three days and 54 new imported cases, as Beijing ordered airlines to sharply cut international flights, for fear travellers could reignite the coronavirus outbreak.

The 55 new cases detected on Thursday were down from 67 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said on Friday, taking the tally of infections to 81,340. China’s death toll stood at 3,292 as of Thursday, up by five from a day earlier.

The central province of Hubei, with a population of about 60 million, reported no new cases on Thursday, a day after lifting a lockdown and reopening its borders as the epidemic eased there.

The commercial capital of Shanghai reported the most new imported cases with 17, followed by 12 in the southern province of Guangdong and four each in the capital Beijing and the nearby city of Tianjin.

Shanghai now has 125 patients who arrived from overseas, including 46 from Britain and 27 from the United States.

In effect from Sunday, China has ordered its airlines to fly only one route to any country, on just one flight each week. Foreign airlines must comply with similar curbs on flights to China, although many had already halted services.

About 90% of current international flights into China will be suspended, cutting arrivals to 5,000 passengers a day, from 25,000, the civil aviation regulator said late on Thursday.

From Saturday, China will temporarily suspend entry for foreigners with valid visas and residence permits, in an interim measure, the foreign ministry added.

Before the new curbs, foreign nationals made up about a tenth of the roughly 20,000 travellers arriving on international flights every day, an official of China’s National Immigration Administration said last week.

As commercial flights dwindle, Chinese students from wealthy families are paying tens of thousands of dollars to fly home on private jets.

International demand for chartered and private flights into China increased 227% in March from a year earlier, said Shanghai-based private jet service provider iFlyPlus.

Notably, requests for flights from the United States to China rose 10-fold in late March, iFlyPlus told Reuters.

Source: Reuters

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19/03/2020

Rich world pumps aid to fight coronavirus, epicentre Europe reeling

LONDON/BEIJING (Reuters) – The world’s wealthiest nations poured unprecedented aid into the traumatized global economy on Thursday as coronavirus cases ballooned in the current epicentre Europe even as they waned at the pandemic’s point of origin, China.

With almost 219,000 infections and more than 8,900 deaths so far, the epidemic has stunned the world and drawn comparisons with painful periods such as World War Two, the 2008 financial crisis and the 1918 Spanish flu.

“This is like an Egyptian plague,” said Argentinian hotelier Patricia Duran, who has seen bookings dry up for her two establishments near the famous Iguazu Falls.

“The hotels are empty – tourist activity has died.”

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Tourism and airlines have been particularly battered, as the world’s citizens hunker down to minimize contact and curb the spread of the flu-like COVID-19. But few sectors have been spared by a crisis threatening lengthy global recession.

On markets, investors have dumped assets everywhere, many switching to U.S. dollars as a safe haven. Other currencies hit historic lows, with Britain’s pound near its weakest since 1985.

Policymakers in the United States, Europe and Asia have slashed interest rates and opened liquidity taps to try to stabilise economies hit by quarantined consumers, broken supply chains, disrupted transport and paralysed businesses.

The virus, thought to have originated from wildlife on mainland China late last year, has jumped to 172 other nations and territories with more than 20,000 new cases reported in the past 24 hours – a new daily record.

Cases in Germany, Iran and Spain rose to over 12,000 each. An official in Tehran tweeted that the coronavirus was killing one person every 10 minutes.

LONDON LOCKDOWN?

Britain, which had sought to take a gradual approach to containment, was closing dozens of underground stations in London and ordering schools shut from Friday.

Some 20,000 military personnel were on standby to help and Queen Elizabeth was due to leave Buckingham Palace in the capital for her ancient castle at Windsor. Britain has reported 104 deaths and 2,626 cases, but scientific advisers say the real number of infections may be more than 50,000.

Italian soldiers transported corpses overnight from an overwhelmed cemetery in Europe’s worst-hit nation where nearly 3,000 people have died. Germany’s military was also readying to help despite national sensitivities over its deployment dating back to the Nazi era.

Supermarkets in many countries were besieged with shoppers stocking up on food staples and hygiene products. Some rationed sales and fixed special hours for the elderly.

Solidarity projects were springing up in some of the world’s poorest corners. In Kenya’s Kibera slum, for example, volunteers with plastic drums and boxes of soap on motorbikes set up handwashing stations for people without clean water.

Russia reported its first coronavirus death on Thursday.

Amid the gloom, China provided a ray of hope, as it reported zero new local transmissions in a thumbs-up for its draconian containment policies since January. Imported cases, however, surged, accounting for all 34 new infections.

The United States, where President Donald Trump had initially played down the coronavirus threat, saw infections close in on 8,000 and deaths reach at least 151.

Trump has infuriated Beijing’s communist government by rebuking it for not acting faster and drawn accusations of racism by referring to the “Chinese virus”.

“EXTRAORDINARY TIMES”

In a bewildering raft of financial measures around the world, the European Central Bank launched new bond purchases worth 750 billion euros ($817 billion). That brought some relief to bond markets and also halted European shares’ slide, though equities remained shaky elsewhere.

“Extraordinary times require extraordinary action,” ECB President Christine Lagarde said, amid concerns that the strains could tear apart the euro zone as a single currency bloc.

The U.S. Federal Reserve rolled out its third emergency credit programme in two days, aimed at keeping the $3.8 trillion money market mutual fund industry functioning.

China was to unleash trillions of yuan of fiscal stimulus and South Korea pledged 50 trillion won ($39 billion).

The desperate state of industry was writ large in Detroit, where the big three automakers – Ford Motor Co (F.N), General Motors Co (GM.N) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCHA.MI) (FCAU.N) – were shutting U.S. plants, as well as factories in Canada and Mexico.

With some economists fearing prolonged pain akin to the 1930s Great Depression but others anticipating a post-virus bounceback, gloomy data and forecasts abounded.

In one of the most dire calls, J.P. Morgan economists forecast the Chinese economy to drop more than 40% this quarter and the U.S. economy to shrink 14% in the next.

There was a backlash against conspiracy theories and rumours circulating on social media, with Morocco arresting a woman who denied the disease existed.

And in Brazil, where President Jair Bolsonaro initially labelled the virus “a fantasy”, more members of the political elite fell ill. At night, housebound protesters banged pots and pans, shouting “Bolsonaro out!” from their windows.

Source: Reuters

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12/03/2020

Coronavirus pandemic “could be over by June” if countries act, says Chinese adviser

BEIJING (Reuters) – The global coronavirus pandemic could be over by June if countries mobilize to fight it, a senior Chinese medical adviser said on Thursday, as China declared the peak had passed there and new cases in Hubei fell to single digits for the first time.

Around two-thirds of global cases of the coronavirus have been recorded in China’s central Hubei province, where the virus first emerged in December. But in recent weeks the vast majority of new cases have been outside China.

Chinese authorities credit strict measures they have taken, including placing Hubei under near total lockdown, with preventing big outbreaks in other cities, and say other countries should learn from their efforts.

“Broadly speaking, the peak of the epidemic has passed for China,” said Mi Feng, a spokesman for the National Health Commission. “The increase of new cases is falling.”

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Zhong Nanshan, the government’s senior medical adviser, told reporters that as long as countries take the outbreak seriously and are prepared to take firm measures, it could be over worldwide in a matter of months.

“My advice is calling for all countries to follow WHO instructions and intervene on a national scale,” he said. “If all countries could get mobilized, it could be over by June.”

Speaking to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, President Xi Jinping similarly expressed confidence, state television reported.

“After hard work, China has shown a trend of continuous improvement in epidemic prevention and control,” the report cited Xi as saying.

“I am confident that the Chinese people will be able to overcome this epidemic and achieve their intended economic and social development goals.”

Zhong, an 83-year-old epidemiologist renowned for helping combat the SARS outbreak in 2003, said viruses in the same family typically became less active in warm months.

“My estimate of June is based on scenarios that all countries take positive measures.”

Later on Thursday, Zhong held a teleconference with a group of U.S. medical experts, including from Harvard University, state television reported.

Zhong and his team shared their experiences of quickly testing and containing the virus, difficulties in treatment, and cooperation in clinical research, the report added.

The United States is now facing its own virus crisis as the number of infected people rises.

BUSINESSES REOPEN

With the marked slowdown of the spread of the virus in China, more businesses have reopened, with authorities cautiously easing strict containment measures.

Hubei province announced a further loosening of travel restrictions and will also allow some industries to resume production.

Hubei’s economy, driven by manufacturing and trade, including a sizable auto sector in the provincial capital, Wuhan, had been virtually shut down since Jan. 23.

While the virus is spreading quickly globally, its progress in China has slowed markedly in the past seven days. In all, 15 new cases were recorded in mainland China on Wednesday, down from 24 the day before. Seven of the new cases were outside Hubei, including six imported from abroad.

While only 85 of the cases in China have come from abroad, the rising number of such incidences has prompted authorities to shift their focus on containing the risk of imported cases.

The total number of cases recorded in mainland China was 80,793. As of Tuesday, 62,793 people had recovered and been discharged from hospital, or nearly 80% of the infections.

In Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, 34,094 patients had been discharged from hospitals, but over half were still under observation at so-called “recovery stops” – quarantine venues repurposed from hotels and student dormitories.

Hubei’s health authority said the post-discharge quarantine was a precautionary measure, after a few discharged patients tested positive again.

As of the end of Wednesday, the death toll in mainland China had reached 3,169, up by 11 from the previous day. Hubei accounted for 10 of the new deaths, including seven in Wuhan.

China is focusing on restarting factories and businesses hit by the containment policies. Factory activity plunged to its worst level on record in February, and while more businesses have reopened in recent weeks as containment measures have been eased, analysts do not expect activity to return to normal until April.

Airlines have been hit particularly hard. China’s airlines reported total losses of 20.96 billion yuan ($3 billion) in February. The total number of airline passengers fell 84.5% year-on-year last month, China’s aviation regulator said.

Source: Reuters

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26/02/2020

Coronavirus: China’s airlines offer domestic flights for as little as US$4 as industry struggles amid outbreak

  • Around two thirds of the total number of flights scheduled every day in February were cancelled, placing huge financial pressure on airlines and airports
  • China’s aviation industry has also been affected by a series of restrictions by other countries and airlines, with British Airways extending its suspension until mid-April
The cancellation of around 10,000 flights a day, or around two thirds of the total number of flights scheduled every day in February, has placed huge financial pressure on airlines and airports. Photo: Kyodo
The cancellation of around 10,000 flights a day, or around two thirds of the total number of flights scheduled every day in February, has placed huge financial pressure on airlines and airports. Photo: Kyodo

A one-way air ticket from the coastal economic hub of Shanghai to the inland municipality of Chongqing, a journey of over 1,400km (870 miles), now costs less than a cup of coffee, with Chinese airlines slashing prices in a bid to boost weak domestic demand amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The cancellation of around 10,000 flights a day, or around two thirds of the total number of flights scheduled every day in February, has placed huge financial pressure on airlines and airports.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a notice on Tuesday that flights should resume gradually as part of the country’s efforts to return economic and social life back to normal, but passengers are still reluctant to fly with the deadly outbreak still not fully under control.

The one-way flight from Shanghai to Chongqing is being offered for just 29 yuan (US$4.10) by China’s biggest low-cost carrier, Spring Airlines, as a special offer for its frequent flyer club members, while a tall caffe latte at Starbucks in China costs 32 yuan (US$4.5).

Many Chinese carriers do receive subsidies for operating key domestic routes, so this also skews the economics as well Luya You

A one-way ticket from Shanghai to Harbin, the capital of the northern Heilongjiang province, a distance of over 1,600km (994 miles), costs just 69 yuan (US$9.80).

Shenzhen Airlines, a division of state-owned carrier Air China, is also running special offers to Chongqing, with a one-way ticket for the 1000km (621 miles) journey from Shenzhen costing just 100 yuan (US$14), around 5 per cent of the standard price of 1,940 yuan (US$276).
Chengdu Airlines, a unit of Sichuan Airlines, which counts China Southern Airlines as a shareholder, is also offering cheap one-way flights from Shenzhen to Chengdu, a distance of over 1,300km (808 miles), for just 100 yuan.
“Considering lower average costs of operating in mainland China, carriers could potentially offer deeper discounts while making slim profits or just breaking even,” said Luya You, an aviation analyst with Bank of Communication International. “As outbreak numbers stabilise or even decline, carriers will likely adjust their fares as well, so these low fares will not last if the situation quickly turns for the better.

“Many Chinese carriers do receive subsidies for operating key domestic routes, so this also skews the economics as well. If it is a key route, for example, the carrier may choose to continue operating regardless of fares or loads as the route constitutes a major link in the domestic network infrastructure.”

China’s aviation authority confirmed earlier this month that between January 25 and February 14, which included the Lunar New Year holiday, the average daily passenger traffic in China was just 470,000, representing a 75 per cent drop from the same period last year.

China’s aviation industry has also been affected by a series of restrictions by other countries and airlines, with British Airways last week extending its suspension of flights to China until after the Easter holiday in mid-April following travel advice from the British government.

The novel coronavirus, which causes the disease officially named Covid-19, has infected more than 78,000 people and killed 2,700 in China. In recent days, South Korea, Italy and Iran have all reported a surge in new cases, raising fears over the spread of the coronavirus.
“The flight suspensions will track the outbreaks, but not likely lead them. If there are more outbreaks, expect more flight suspensions,” said Andrew Charlton, managing director of Aviation Advocacy.
Source: SCMP

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21/02/2020

Airlines suspend China flights due to coronavirus outbreak

(Reuters) – Airlines have been suspending flights to China or modifying service in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Below are details (in alphabetical order):

AIRLINES THAT HAVE CANCELLED ALL FLIGHTS TO MAINLAND CHINA

** American Airlines – Extends suspension of China and Hong Kong flights through April 24

** Air France – Said on Feb.6 it would suspend flights to and from mainland China for much of March

** Air India – Suspends flights to Shanghai, Hong Kong until June 30

** Air Seoul – The South Korean budget carrier suspended China flights from Jan. 28 until further notice.

** Air Tanzania – Tanzania’s state-owned carrier, which had planned to begin charter flights to China in February, postponed its maiden flights.

** Air Mauritius – Suspended all flights to China and Hong Kong

** Austrian Airlines – until end-February.

** British Airways – Jan. 29-March 31.

** Delta Airlines – Feb. 2-April 30

** Egyptair suspended flights on Feb, 1, but on Feb. 20 said it would resume some flights to and from China starting next week.

** El Al Israel Airlines – Said on Feb. 12 it would suspend its Hong Kong flights until March 20 and reduce its daily flights to Bangkok. It suspended flights to Beijing from Jan. 30 to March 25 following a health ministry directive.

** Iberia Airlines – The Spanish carrier extended its suspension of flights from Madrid to Shanghai, its only route, from Feb. 29 until the end of April.

** JejuAir Co Ltd – Korean airline to suspend all China routes starting March 1

** Kenya Airways – Jan. 31 until further notice.

** KLM – Will extend its ban up to March 28

** Lion Air – All of February.

** LOT – Extends flight suspension until March 28

** Oman and Saudia, Saudi Arabia’s state airline, both suspended flights on Feb. 2 until further notice.

** Qatar Airways – Feb. 1 until further notice.

** Rwandair – Jan. 31 until further notice.

** Scoot, Singapore Airlines’ low-cost carrier – Feb. 8 until further notice.

** United Airlines – Feb. 5-April 23. Service to Hong Kong suspended Feb. 8-April 23.

** Vietjet and Vietnam Airlines – Suspended flights to the mainland as well as Hong Kong and Macau Feb. 1-April 30, in line with its aviation authority’s directive.

AIRLINES THAT HAVE CANCELLED SOME CHINA FLIGHTS/ROUTES OR MODIFIED SERVICE

** Air Canada – Extended the suspension of its flights to Beijing and Shanghai until March 27. It also suspended its Toronto to Hong Kong flights from March 1 to March 27, but its Vancouver to Hong Kong route remains active. [bit.ly/39zgmI0]

** Air China – Said on Feb. 12 it will cancel flights to Athens, Greece, from Feb. 17 to March 18

** Air China – State carrier said on Feb. 9 it will “adjust” flights between China and the United States.

** Air New Zealand – Suspended Auckland-Shanghai service Feb. 9-March 29. Reduced capacity on Shanghai route throughout April and Hong Kong route throughout April and May.

** ANA Holdings – Suspended routes including Shanghai and Hong Kong from Feb. 10 until further notice.

** Cathay Pacific Airways – Plans to cut a third of its capacity over the next two months, including 90% of flights to mainland China. It has encouraged its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave in a bid to preserve cash.

** Emirates and Etihad – The United Arab Emirates, a major international transit hub, suspended flights to and from China, except for Beijing.

** Finnair – Cancelled all flights to mainland China and decreased the number of flights to Hong Kong until March 28.

** Hainan Airlines – Suspended flights between Budapest, Hungary, and Chongqing Feb. 7-March 27.

** Korean Air Lines Co. – The national flag carrier suspended eight routes to China and reduced services on nine Chinese routes between Feb. 7 and 22.

** Philippine Airlines – Cut the number of flights between Manila and China by over half.

** Qantas Airways – Suspended direct flights to China from Feb. 1. The Australian national carrier halted flights from Sydney to Beijing and Sydney to Shanghai between Feb. 9-March 29.

** Royal Air Maroc – The Moroccan airline suspended direct flights to China Jan. 31-Feb. 29. On Jan. 16, it had launched a direct air route with three flights weekly between its Casablanca hub and Beijing.

** Russia – All Russian airlines, with the exception of national airline Aeroflot, stopped flying to China from Jan. 31. Small airline Ikar will also continue flights between Moscow and China. All planes arriving from China will be sent to a separate terminal in the Moscow Sheremetyevo airport. Aeroflot reduced the frequency of flights to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou until Feb. 29.

** Nordic airline SAS – Extended its suspension of flights to Shanghai and Beijing until March 29.

** Singapore Airlines – Suspended or cut capacity on flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xiamen and Chongqing, some of which are flown by regional arm SilkAir.

** UPS – Cancelled 22 flights to China because of the virus and normal manufacturing closures due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

** Virgin Atlantic – Extended its suspension of daily operations to Shanghai until March 28.

** Virgin Australia – Said it will withdraw from the Sydney-Hong Kong route from March 2 because it was “no longer a viable commercial route” due to growing concerns over the virus and civil unrest in Hong Kong.

Source: Reuters

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30/01/2020

Coronavirus: turbulent times ahead for air travellers as carriers cancel China flights

  • Lufthansa, British Airways, Air Canada among several big name airlines to halt flights, while others reduce services
  • Travel agents expecting slump in sales amid rising uncertainty over how epidemic will play out
Many airlines have cancelled flights into mainland China because of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: AP
Many airlines have cancelled flights into mainland China because of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: AP
International air travellers and ticketing agents are in for a turbulent time in the weeks ahead as airlines around the world react to the coronavirus epidemic by cancelling or limiting flights to and from the Chinese mainland.
Lufthansa, British Airways, Air Canada and Indonesia’s Lion Air have 
cancelled all of their flights

, while United Airlines, American Airlines, IndiGo, Finnair, Delta Air Lines and Jetstar Asia have significantly reduced their services.

“It’s going to be pretty bad for travel agencies. We’ve had a lot of cancellations. Everyone is afraid of coming to China,” said Annabelle Auger from Travel Stone in Beijing.
“Many of our European clients are very worried because of the media coverage they’ve seen. Still, people are willing to wait and see for a few weeks to see how things go,” she said.
For foreigners looking to leave China, Auger said they should contact their embassy to find out about repatriation flights.

“The situation is very unclear, so it’s difficult to give any general recommendations,” she said.

Already this week, the embassies of the United States, Japan, South Korea and Britain have cleared flights to evacuate their nationals from Hubei, the central China province at the heart of the outbreak.

Auger said she and her colleagues had been busy rearranging flights for China-based foreigners who had gone away for the holidays.

“The schools are closed, so families with children abroad are thinking, ‘OK, let’s extend our stay for another week’,” she said.

Politics may have stalled information in coronavirus crisis, scientist says

30 Jan 2020
The Beijing government said on Monday it would extend the Lunar New Year
holiday until Sunday to help stop the spread of the disease, while school breaks have also been extended.

Another travel agent in Beijing, who asked not to be named, said the virus outbreak had yet to have a significant impact on business but concerns were growing.

“We are a bit worried that things may get difficult in the coming months,” she said. “But we trust that the government is doing all it can and will take the appropriate measures to solve the problems.”

Zhu Tao, director of the flight standards department at the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), said at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday that the relevant authorities were working closely with airlines to help Chinese nationals trapped overseas to get home.

The government had already chartered flights from Japan, Myanmar and South Korea to bring Chinese nationals back to Hubei, he said.

While all flights out of Hubei have been suspended since last week, Zhu said air transport was playing its part in fighting the disease.

As of Wednesday, the CAAC had sent 86 flights carrying 5,129 medical workers and 115,000 items of equipment and other supplies into Wuhan, he said.

Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said that efforts to prevent the coronavirus spreading outside the country had been successful, as only about 1 per cent of the confirmed infections were outside China.

Despite the flight cancellations, Beijing’s Capital International Airport was operating as normal on Thursday.

Andre Muchanga, a student from Abu Dhabi at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said he made a late decision to fly home.

“I decided to buy my ticket last night,” he said. “At school, our dormitory is almost completely empty. I knocked on a friend’s door last night and found there was no one there, so I decided I better just go home and spend some time with my family.”

He said he decided not to buy a return flight as it he did not know when his classes would resume.

Signs at check-in counters reminded passengers who had travelled to Hubei or had a Hubei address to put themselves in isolation for 14 days.

While flights out of Hubei have been stopped, there was still plenty of inbound traffic.

“The number of domestic inbound travellers seems pretty normal for this time of year,” a man working on an information desk at Capital airport said.

“It’s the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. Lots of people have to return to work.”

An Air China employee, surnamed Hu, said that the airport had stepped up its disinfecting and general cleaning work. Body temperature checks had been installed at all access points and employees had been told to wear masks, he said.

“I don’t mind working during the Lunar New Year holiday,” he said. “I’m not afraid of the virus, I’m here to serve the people.”

SOurce: SCMP

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25/01/2020

China’s travel industry counts cost of coronavirus

A Chinese police officer at a Beijing railway station.Image copyright GETTY IMAGES

As public health concerns rise over a new virus, the impact is being felt by China’s travel and tourism sector.

More than 400m Chinese were expected to travel over the Lunar New Year which starts today, normally one of the busiest periods for airlines, hotels and tourist attractions.

Instead, flights and hotels are being cancelled as people face travel restrictions or choose to stay home.

The virus has already taken 25 lives, with more than 800 cases globally.

Many airlines have agreed to refund fares or let passengers rebook free of charge if affected, while major hotel chains are now following suit as more travel restrictions are announced.

After the Civil Aviation Administration of China announced that airlines should give refunds for cancelled flights, the country’s three major airlines, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and China Air all saw their share prices take a dive. China Eastern Airlines has seen its value fall about 13% this week.

Hong Kong’s national carrier Cathay Pacific was among the first airlines to allow passengers scheduled to fly to or from Wuhan to reschedule for free while, at the same time, allowing cabin crew to wear surgical masks on flights.

Wuhan is where the first cases in the outbreak were reported. The flu-like virus has since spread to several our parts of China and internationally with cases being confirmed in Singapore, Thailand and the US among others countries.

China’s biggest online travel agency, Trip.com, is also waiving cancellation fees on all hotels, car rentals and tickets for tourist attractions to Wuhan and is ”actively monitoring the situation to ensure the safety of all travellers”.

Hotels and casinos hit

Hotel groups are also paying out refunds to tourists who want to cancel trips to Wuhan and other parts of China.

Both InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Hyatt will allow guests to change or cancel stays at the majority of their Chinese hotels over the Lunar New Year holiday. IHG has 443 hotels in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan under different brands, with four in Wuhan.

Casino operators have also seen shares fall, particularly those with businesses in Macau. The city is home to casinos owned by Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts.

The release of seven movies over the Lunar New Year has also been postponed.

Blow to economy

Tourism has become an increasingly important part of the Chinese economy and is estimated to contribute about 11% of China’s economic growth and employ about 28 million people.

In 2018, 62.9 million tourists visited China, ranking it the fourth most popular tourist destination behind France, Spain and the US, according to the UN’s World Tourism Rankings.

Outside of China, luxury goods brands are also likely to take a battering as Chinese tourists stay at home rather than travel overseas for shopping sprees. LVMH, which owns the Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Hermes brands, saw its value slide this week.

Source: The BBC

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18/04/2019

Cambodian, Chinese entrepreneurs meet to explore business opportunities

PHNOM PENH, April 18 (Xinhua) — A Cambodian and Chinese entrepreneurs meeting was held here on Thursday, aiming at exploring opportunities for trade and investment, officials said.

The meeting brought together nearly 20 entrepreneurs from southwest China’s Sichuan province and about 20 Cambodian business executives.

Ek Sam Ol, president of the Cambodia-China Friendship Association, said that currently, many enterprises from Sichuan have been doing businesses in various sectors in Cambodia.

“The forum is a good opportunity for the entrepreneurs from both sides to exchange experiences and to explore opportunities for investments or business partnerships,” he said.

Sam Ol said China is currently the top foreign investor in Cambodia and Chinese investments have importantly contributed to socio-economic development in the country.

He said Chinese investments have focused on a variety of sectors including transport infrastructure, hydropower plants, industrial zones, garment and footwear factories, banking and finance, real estate and construction, agriculture, tourism, and airlines.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in agriculture, airlines, banking and finance, Cambodia, China alert, Construction, Ek Sam Ol, garment and footwear factories, hydropower plants, industrial zones, president of the Cambodia-China Friendship Association, real estate, sichuan province, Tourism, transport infrastructure, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

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