Results for:

Asian countries step up social distancing, extend lockdowns as virus toll spikes

Governments across Asia are tightening the screws on social distancing and travel restrictions, with many announcing the extension of travel bans and lockdowns, in a bid to stem the Covid-19 spread.

Jakarta imposes partial lockdown and tighten social-distancing rules; aerial view of South Jakarta CBD pictured

Indonesia

Local authorities in Greater Jakarta have imposed large-scale social restriction (PSBB) to further limit people’s movement beginning Friday (April 10), in response to a spike in confirmed Covid-19 cases and fatalities in the region, which includes […]

Read more

Why flying will not be the same again

SYDNEY – Aviation veteran Christoph Mueller has paid tribute to airline executives for the amazing job they have done, building up networks that allowed people to fly everywhere, earning dividends for investors and shareholders and paying bonuses to staff for the past 25 years.

“To see it all melting away like snow in the Sahara is a personal tragedy,” said the airline executive, also dubbed as “crisis CEO” for the roles he’s held with numerous airlines such as Malaysia Airlines and […]

Read more

Dispatches from the frontine: Bali

BALI – In Indonesia an estimated 700 hotels have closed, 169 of them in Bali. Most businesses in Sanur and Bali, including hotels, restaurants, beach bars, cafes, shops, dive centres, co-working space and spas are closed.

Less than 15 hotels in Sanur, including Hyatt Regency, remain open.

How are we coping with coronavirus?
By minimising operations – we closed Omang Omang restaurant, save energy and minimize employee schedules. As of now, we have not sent our employees home unpaid but different hotels take […]

Read more

Will we ever take cruise holidays again?

David Reece and his wife Carolyn should be sipping cocktails somewhere in the Indian Ocean at the moment.

But their latest cruise line holiday has been cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak. And they are missing it – as confirmed devotees of cruise vacations they have been on nearly 20 over the past two decades.

For the retired couple from Plymouth it all started by accident. “I was sent to the travel agents to book a cheap holiday in the Canaries, […]

Read more

China’s hotel industry sprouts green shoots

Mainland China’s hotel industry is starting to bounce back from the scourge of the coronavirus, showing early signs of performance recovery that points towards the beginning of the return to normalcy.

Daily hotel occupancy in mainland China reached an absolute level of 31.8 per cent on March 28, up from a low of 7.4 per cent during the first week of February, according to preliminary data from STR. Additionally, opening rates have been significant in key markets across the region.

China’s hotel […]

Read more

Indonesia’s latest stimulus effort leaves battered hotel sector out in the cold

Indonesian hotels are being pushed to the brink of collapse, and disintegrating further by the day, as the central government neglects to answer their call for tax holidays and further financial assistance to cushion the fallout of Covid-19, according to association leaders.

The outbreak, which has infected 2,273 people and killed 198 in the country as of April 5, has triggered mass layoffs and forced hotel closures, no thanks to plummeting demand amid lockdowns worldwide aimed at curbing the virus.

The ongoing […]

Read more