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TRAVELERS CALL FOR CHANGE AS TOURISM RECOVERS FROM PANDEMIC, FACES UNCERTAINTY: FUTURE TOURISM SURVEY

TRAVELERS CALL FOR CHANGE AS TOURISM RECOVERS FROM PANDEMIC, FACES UNCERTAINTY: FUTURE TOURISM SURVEY
Canada NewsWire
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, June 2, 2022

44% of public want new rules and technology to ease travel, YouGov poll of 11 countries finds3…

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2 years ago

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TRAVELERS CALL FOR CHANGE AS TOURISM RECOVERS FROM PANDEMIC, FACES UNCERTAINTY: FUTURE TOURISM SURVEY

Canada NewsWire

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, June 2, 2022

  • 44% of public want new rules and technology to ease travel, YouGov poll of 11 countries finds
  • 34% want travel to be more sustainable and 29% call for planet and health to come before profit
  • Amid economic uncertainty 42% of people still plan international holidays in next 6 months
  • 64% do not expect to travel for business reflecting concerns of a global slowdown

JEDDAH,  Saudi Arabia, June 2, 2022 /CNW/ -- Travelers want the global tourism sector to learn the lessons of the pandemic, and to change for the better, a brand-new global survey has found.

The Future of Tourism Survey explored attitudes to travel and the expectations of consumers in 11 countries around the world. It found that:

  • 44% of respondents called for greater harmonization of health protocols and the use of technology to enable seamless travel.
  • 34% wanted to see greater sustainability at the heart of tourism.
  • 29% wanted to see health and sustainability prioritized over profits for the travel sector.
  • 33% called for greater financial protections for travelers – likely in response to the experience of the pandemic.

People from China, India, and South Korea were most in favor of greater harmonization of safety protocols and use of technology to make travel simpler.

Conducted by YouGov and commissioned by the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, almost 14,000 people were polled, across China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, South Korea, Spain and Sweden.

His Excellency Ahmed Al Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia said: "The pandemic has a profound impact on the global tourism sector. It has shown us all – travelers, tourists, businesses and governments, that we can do things differently.

"The Future of Tourism Survey shows that the public want us to learn the lessons of the pandemic and to make changes that put health, sustainability, and the better use of technology, at the heart of future tourism."

The Survey found that the travelers' attitudes have changed following two years of pandemic and lock downs which have constrained travel. 55% of respondents are now more likely to travel domestically. And 32% of people are more willing to make an international trip than they were before COVID.

Economic uncertainty and rising prices have damped enthusiasm for travel over the next 6 months. Globally, 42% of people are either likely or very likely to travel internationally for a holiday, compared with 39% who are either unlikely or very unlikely to do so.

The biggest impact, however, has been on business travel. Just 18% of respondents consider themselves likely or very likely to travel for internationally for business.

Chinese, Japanese and Americans were least optimistic about the prospect of international travel. By contrast British, Indians and Saudis considered themselves most likely to travel internationally in the next 6 months

The Future of Tourism Survey was released ahead of the 116th meeting of the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), which will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia next week, hosted by the Saudi Ministry of Tourism.

Strengthening the tourism sector and adapting to future demands for greater sustainability and resilience are high on the agenda.

Prior to the pandemic, Travel and Tourism (including its direct, indirect and induced impacts) accounted for 1 in 4 of all new jobs created across the world, 10.3% of all jobs (333 million), and 10.3% of global GDP (US$9.6 trillion).

His Excellency Ahmed Al Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia said: "Saudi Arabia is a brand-new tourism destination. We opened our doors to international tourism just before the pandemic, and because of that we are willing and able to think and act in new and different ways.

"By aligning vision, leadership and resources we have been able to create a new model for tourism which is more resilient and more sustainable by design. We look forward to sharing our insights and to working with our international partners to build a brighter future for tourism."

Last week the World Economic Forum released its Travel and Tourism Development Index. Saudi Arabia moved up 10 places to 33rd in the world overall.  The independent index benchmarks 117 countries on 17 pillars crucial to the development and resiliency of their travel and tourism industries.

Saudi moved from 43rd in 2019 to 33rd in 2021, the second largest rise in rankings, as a result of improvements across almost all indicators.  This was the first report to be produced since Saudi opened for international tourism in September 2019.

The UNWTO Executive Council will meet in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 7-8 June.

NOTE TO EDITORS

About the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Tourism leads the Saudi Tourism ecosystem, with support from the Saudi Tourism Authority and the Tourism Development Fund. The Ministry sets the Kingdom's tourism sector strategy and is responsible for the development of policies and regulations, developing human capital, gathering statistics, and attracting investment.  It works in partnership with the Saudi Tourism Authority, which promotes Saudi Arabia as a global tourism destination, and the Tourism Development Fund, which executes the Ministry's investment strategy by providing funding for the sector's development.

Headed by His Excellency Ahmed Al Khateeb, the Ministry was founded in February 2020, following the opening of Saudi Arabia to international leisure tourists for the first time in its history in 2019. Saudi Arabia aims to welcome 100 million tourism visits by 2030, increasing the sector's contribution to GDP from 3% to 10%. Digital initiatives, providing technical solutions for tourism promotion, research and development to improve the tourism sector, innovation for emerging technologies.

About the United Nations World Tourism Organization

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UNWTO promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

YouGov Polling: Methodology:

  • Online interviews via YouGov's proprietary panel + partner panels

Target Profile:

  • Residents of markets listed below
  • Males & females aged 18+ (general population sample)

Sample Size:

Country                                               

Sample  

Representation

US

1000

Nat rep

UK 

2000

Nat rep

Spain

1000

Nat rep

India

1000

Urban rep

China

1000

Online rep

KSA

1000

Urban rep

Mexico

1000

Urban rep

Germany

2000

Nat rep

Japan

1000

Nat rep

South Korea

1000

Nat rep

Sweden

1000

Nat rep

TOTAL

13,000


Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1830563/YouGov_tourism_survey.jpg
PDF - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1830562/Future_tourism_survey.pdf

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/travelers-call-for-change-as-tourism-recovers-from-pandemic-faces-uncertainty-future-tourism-survey-301560371.html

SOURCE YouGov

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Five Below makes checkout changes shoppers may not like

The value retailer is discouraging theft at the checkout counter.

Published

30 mins ago

on

March 22, 2024

By

Huge retail chains like Walmart  (WMT) , Target  (TGT) , CVS  (CVS) and others have faced a high amount of retail theft, or what they call inventory shrink, since 2020 and have been implementing measures to eliminate those costly losses.

Among the most common measures used by Walmart, Target and some others has been locking up popular items behind glass cases to prevent shoplifting. Customers shopping at these stores have encountered a lot of their favorite products, such as cosmetics, shampoo, over-the-counter drugs and even laundry detergent locked up in those cases.

Related: Target limits self-checkout, makes a change customers will love

Shoppers need to either push a button near the product to alert a worker to unlock the case or, in some situations, run around the store looking for a worker with the proper key to open the case. It's a very inconvenient problem for shoppers, and not all stores are consistent with their lockup policies.

For example, one Walmart store might lock up some of their instant coffee products, while another cross-town Walmart location, or even a Target competitor, doesn't lock up any coffee.

Retail stores have also implemented new self-checkout rules to discourage inventory shrink, but again, stores are inconsistent with their rules. Walmart stores have a 20 items or less rule for their self-checkout lanes to try to steer shoppers with more items to checkout clerks that might help reduce the occurrence of theft. But neither customers, nor workers seem to be observing that rule. Target on March 17 implemented a new 10 items or fewer rule in its self-checkout lanes, but we'll see if anyone enforces it.

These self-checkout requirements are also supposed to speed up the checkout process, but that only works if all the self-check registers are working and an adequate amount of checkout clerks are working registers as well.

The next step for retailers in addressing inventory shrink at self-checkout would be to eliminate self-check altogether.

Shopping in a Five Below store.

Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Five Below cuts back on self-checkout lanes 

After finishing the fourth quarter of 2023 with a "higher-than-planned shrink," or higher level of theft than expected in its stores, value retailer Five Below  (FIVE)  has implemented associate-assisted checkout in all of its stores for 2024, CEO Joel Anderson said on the company's earnings call on March 20.

"In addition, in our high-shrink stores, the primary option for checkout is more of the traditional, over-the-counter associate checkout," Anderson said. "We expect to have 75% of our transactions chain-wide assisted by an associate with a goal of 100% in our highest shrink, highest-risk stores to be fully transacted by an associate."

The retailer also checks receipts and adds guards

"Additionally, in those stores, we’re implementing further mitigation efforts, including receipt checking, additional store payroll and guards. We intend to measure progress as soon as Q2 when we perform a limited number of store counts," Anderson said.

Five Below tested several inventory shrink mitigation initiatives late in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter of 2023, which included product-related tests, front-end initiatives and guard programs, Anderson said in the earnings call. He said the most significant change the Philadelphia-based company made across most of the chain was to limit the number of self-checkout registers that were open, while positioning an associate upfront to further assist customers.

Anderson said he is confident the company's measures will help it over time, but the company has not included any financial impact for shrink reduction in its 2024 guidance. The company, however will aggressively pursue returning to pre-pandemic levels of shrink or offsetting the impact over the next few years, he said.

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After 625 Days, The Longest Yield Curve Inversion In History

After 625 Days, The Longest Yield Curve Inversion In History

Today is a historic day, as last night – DB’s Jim Reid reminds us – we quietly…

Published

3 hours ago

on

March 21, 2024

By

After 625 Days, The Longest Yield Curve Inversion In History

Today is a historic day, as last night - DB's Jim Reid reminds us - we quietly passed the longest continuous US 2s10s inversion in history. After the 2s10s first inverted at the end of March 2022, it has now been continuously inverted for 625 days since July 5th 2022. That exceeds the 624 day inversion from August 1978, which previously held the record.

As regular readers are aware, an inverted yield curve has been the best predictor of a US downturn of any variable through history: the yield curve has always inverted before all of the last 10 US recessions, with a lag that is usually 12-18 months, but some cycles - certainly this one - take longer.... much longer.

In fact, the lack of a recession so far has prompted Red to ask - in his latest Chart of the Day note - if the inverted yield curve recession indicator has failed this cycle?

"Possibly", the DB strategist responds, "but in many ways the yield curve has already accurately predicted many of the drivers that would normally lead to a recession. However, these variables haven't then created recessionary conditions as they normally would have done." He explains:

It led, as it always does, the very sharp deterioration in bank lending standards, and led the declines in bank credit and money supply that are almost unique to this cycle. It was also at the heart of why we had some of the largest bank failures on record with SVB, Signature Bank and First Republic collapsing. A significant part of their failure was a big carry trade that went wrong when the curve inverted.

However, even with the above, a recession - according to the highly political "recession authority" known as the NBER - hasn't materialised. This is perhaps because of the following.

  • When lending standards were at their tightest, the borrowing needs of the economy were low relative to previous cycles.
  • Excess savings have been unusually high in this cycle (and were revised higher with the GDP revisions last September), so consumers haven't been as exposed to tight credit as they normally are.
  • The Fed unveiled a huge series of measures to ensure the regional bank crisis didn't naturally unravel as it would have done in a free market or perhaps in many previous cycles.
  • Whilst the Fed’s tightening has been reducing demand, the supply-side of the economy has bounced back strongly from the pandemic disruption, which has further supported growth and made this cycle unique.

So far so good, however, an inverted yield curve should ultimately be a significant headwind for an economy, as capitalism works best when there is a positive return for taking more risk with lending and investments further out the curve. As such, Reid notes, "the rational investor should be prepared to keep more of their money at the front end, or not lend long-term when the curve is inverted" as you are not giving up yield for being able to sleep at night.

So thanks to a historic flood of fiscal stimulus and a daily orgy of new record debt as discussed earlier...

... which means that the US is now running a 6.5% deficit with unemployment near "historical lows", an unheard of event....

... the economy has not succumbed to the inverted yield curve to date, but while it remains inverted the Fed is encouraging more defensive behavior at some point if sentiment changes. As such, the DB strategist concludes that "the quicker we get back to a normal sloping yield curve the safer the system is."

Tyler Durden Thu, 03/21/2024 - 22:20

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Another major retailer cracks down on self-checkout at its stores

The value retailer is discouraging theft at its self-checkout counters by introducing more associate-assisted checkout transactions in its stores.

Published

5 hours ago

on

March 21, 2024

By

Huge retail chains like Walmart  (WMT) , Target  (TGT) , CVS  (CVS) and others have faced a high amount of retail theft, or what they call inventory shrink, since 2020 and have been implementing measures to eliminate those costly losses.

Among the most common measures used by Walmart, Target and some others has been locking up popular items behind glass cases to prevent shoplifting. Customers shopping at these stores have encountered a lot of their favorite products, such as cosmetics, shampoo, over-the-counter drugs and even laundry detergent locked up in those cases.

Related: Target limits self-checkout, makes a change customers will love

Shoppers need to either push a button near the product to alert a worker to unlock the case or, in some situations, run around the store looking for a worker with the proper key to open the case. It's a very inconvenient problem for shoppers, and not all stores are consistent with their lockup policies.

For example, one Walmart store might lock up some of their instant coffee products, while another cross-town Walmart location, or even a Target competitor, doesn't lock up any coffee.

Retail stores have also implemented new self-checkout rules to discourage inventory shrink, but again, stores are inconsistent with their rules. Walmart stores have a 20 items or less rule for their self-checkout lanes to try to steer shoppers with more items to checkout clerks that might help reduce the occurrence of theft. But neither customers, nor workers seem to be observing that rule. Target on March 17 implemented a new 10 items or fewer rule in its self-checkout lanes, but we'll see if anyone enforces it.

These self-checkout requirements are also supposed to speed up the checkout process, but that only works if all the self-check registers are working and an adequate amount of checkout clerks are working registers as well.

The next step for retailers in addressing inventory shrink at self-checkout would be to eliminate self-check altogether.

Shopping in a Five Below store.

Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Five Below cuts back on self-checkout lanes 

After finishing the fourth quarter of 2023 with a "higher-than-planned shrink," or higher level of theft than expected in its stores, value retailer Five Below  (FIVE)  has implemented associate-assisted checkout in all of its stores for 2024, CEO Joel Anderson said on the company's earnings call on March 20.

"In addition, in our high-shrink stores, the primary option for checkout is more of the traditional, over-the-counter associate checkout," Anderson said. "We expect to have 75% of our transactions chain-wide assisted by an associate with a goal of 100% in our highest shrink, highest-risk stores to be fully transacted by an associate."

The retailer also checks receipts and adds guards

"Additionally, in those stores, we’re implementing further mitigation efforts, including receipt checking, additional store payroll and guards. We intend to measure progress as soon as Q2 when we perform a limited number of store counts," Anderson said.

Five Below tested several inventory shrink mitigation initiatives late in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter of 2023, which included product-related tests, front-end initiatives and guard programs, Anderson said in the earnings call. He said the most significant change the Philadelphia-based company made across most of the chain was to limit the number of self-checkout registers that were open, while positioning an associate upfront to further assist customers.

Anderson said he is confident the company's measures will help it over time, but the company has not included any financial impact for shrink reduction in its 2024 guidance. The company, however will aggressively pursue returning to pre-pandemic levels of shrink or offsetting the impact over the next few years, he said.

Read More

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