IHG, which owns some of the world’s largest hotel chains, said in a statement that it was looking into “unauthorized access” to a number of its technology systems.

Since Monday, the company’s “booking channels and other applications” have been disrupted, according to the UK-based company.

It oversees the operations of the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and Regent hotels.

“IHG is working as quickly as possible to fully restore all systems,” the company said.

IHG confirmed that it was assessing the nature, scope, and impact of the incident and that it had implemented its response plans, which included appointing external experts to investigate the breach.

In addition, the company is in the process of notifying regulatory authorities.

“We will be supporting hotel owners and operators as part of our response to the ongoing service disruption,” the company said in a statement. “IHG’s hotels are still able to operate and take direct reservations.”

However, many people attempting to book lodging have expressed dissatisfaction.

IHG made no mention of any loss of customer data.

It also did not explicitly state that the attack was a ransomware attack, but most speculation points in that direction.

LockBit breached a Holiday Inn in Istanbul last month, releasing data stolen from the company.

It is unknown whether there is a link between the attacks.

In 2017, the hotel chain was also the victim of a three-month security breach that affected over 1,200 of its franchised hotels in the United States.

The hack occurs in the midst of increased scrutiny on appropriate cyber-attack defenses, particularly on Western financial institutions, in the aftermath of heightened geopolitical tensions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

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How has Delta managed to outperform its competitors despite a global pandemic? For the tenth year in a row, Delta Airlines was voted the top carrier by travel buyers despite a global pandemic. Buyers had acknowledged their increased satisfaction with the airline even amid many airlines facing closure and complete evaporation of corporate travel amid the pandemic.

Delta had earned a high-ranking score of 4.59 out of 5 which was notably better than their competitors. The score detailed criteria of which airlines had to maintain during the pandemic and their response to the unprecedented change. Some of the criteria that airlines were ranked against were inclusive of services and amenities, meeting travel pricing, and transient pricing.

Due to the pandemic, three more criteria were added to the ones pre-existing. Delta was not the only airline to see improvements in their score since the pandemic, however, more than half of travel buyers indicated that Delta’s customer service had seen significant improvements in comparison to last year; a third of those who were surveyed said they had not seen a change in Delta’s customer service and a small percentage had said that they thought their customer service had gotten worse during the pandemic.

Delta ranked number one in transient pricing by customising discounts; number one in services and amenities by customising traveller focused offerings and VIP treatment; number one in their communication section; number one in covid-19 communication; number one in response to covid.

In recent months, airlines have reported that non-domestic travel freezes have ended for the majority of their corporate clients; the majority of them have been able to travel even if it has been minimal. The communication strategies which has been adopted by some airlines has meant that buyers have had some assistance regarding how they are going to begin to commence with travelling at a larger scale in the future.

Additionally, Delta also ranked high in the aspect of flexibility. Since travel came to a halt in the first quarter of last year, flexibility has notably been a substantial factor concerning travel buyers both in the field of contractual obligations and travel booking.

At the beginning of the pandemic, airlines waived the change fee which then later became permanent for some as the pandemic did not look to be easing any time soon. Delta worked towards a ‘Universal Travel Plan’ which would enable customers to be able to manage their unused aeroplane tickets.

Ultimately, the success behind Delta Airlines during a worldwide pandemic is down to how they have prioritised their customers and clients. However, it is worth acknowledging that the projection on worldwide travel is still largely dependent on vaccine distribution and when worldwide travel will be permitted. Industry analysts project that a complete recovery incorporates air travel is not likely to happen for at least another year as a result of the aforementioned factor.

Additionally, Delta has continued with the investments of which they had in place before the pandemic which has largely benefited them in the plight of a pandemic.

Definitively, Delta’s success during the pandemic is largely down to how they have prioritised their clientele and customers. They have taken measures that alleviated worries that their customers may have had regarding travel and have implemented alternatives to ensure there is not a total loss.

Delta being placed as a top scorer amongst other competing airlines for the tenth year in a row comes down to how they have kept open lines of communication and maintained a good response rate, especially since covid.

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The European Union is the heart of the world. It has been a great centre of attention throughout history. Because of its unprecedented economic prowess and socio-political power that it had in the star-studded past, Europe has always been an apple of eye ubiquitously. The rich history of Europe has made it a great centre for tourism.

The tourism industry is a big giant in Europe but is facing a conundrum due to the pandemic situation. The vast spread of COVID-19 all across Europe has shattered the tourism sector as a whole. The EU is planning to revive the sector by introducing new Travel Passports that would ensure that everyone travelling is vaccinated and does not have to go through a PCR test and have to quarantine on arriving at the destination as these measures were discouraging tourism.

EU plans to introduce new vaccine passport

All the member states of the EU want to get rid of the COVD-19 related restrictions. The economic suffering of the EU member states is beyond imagination. A plethora of lives have been lost in this pandemic but the economic degradation has also been enormous in the region. The best way to overcome the crisis is to inoculate the maximum population with the vaccine.

The EU plans to vaccinate 70% of the European population by June this year. The idea is to restore and revive the tourism industry first by removing the travel restrictions after mass vaccination. EU is in the process of introducing vaccine passports. The vaccine passports would be in the form of hard copy or digital.

The passport would have a QR code on the top that would, with a mere scan, provide all the medical history of the person in thorough detail. Many EU members have already taken the initiative. Denmark had a plan to introduce vaccine passport after Easter this year.

The passport would ensure smooth movement of Danes within Denmark and also entry into restaurants, cafes, theatres, and hotels. In the same manner, Greece has also signed an agreement with Israel for Green passports.

Other EU members with a rich tourism sector like Italy, Spain, and Cyprus are also planning to utilize the vaccine certificates and passports in the best possible manner. EU’s plan for a common vaccine passport, if succeeds, would make economic rejuvenation a greater possibility.

Reservation of some EU member states and the younger generation

Some of the EU member states have reservations in the EU plan for a common vaccine passport for the whole continent. Nations like Italy, Spain, Greece, and Cyprus with a strong tourism economy have a natural inclination towards vaccine passports.

The vaccine passport ensures that the tourism industry recalibrates as there would be no PCR test on arrival and no quarantine as well. The issue lies in the fact that only persons with the age of 50 years plus are being vaccinated. This would mean that only the 50 years plus aged persons are allowed to travel around Europe.

This has been a reservation raised by the younger generation of Europe and some EU member states. The EU member states raising concern about a common vaccine passport are not sure about its success and have no interest in it as they mostly do not have strong tourism links.

On the other hand, nations like Iceland and other non-EU member states are willing to be part of the common EU vaccine passport. In simple words, all EU member states with tourism-associated economies are interested in it and want to ameliorate their economies with the revival of tourism in the region.

Conclusion

In a crux, the EU plan for a common vaccine passport is a great step towards the future of tourism in the region. The plan would halt the protocols and SOPs for a PCR test and quarantine that was leading to distorting tourism in the continent.

Nations like Italy, Spain, Greece, and Cyprus are supporting it. Whereas, some nations are against it and are doubting its success. Greece is on the verge of vaccine passport’s introduction.

Greece’s prime minister said that the ones that would not have a vaccine passport would also be allowed to enter the country but they would have to follow the SOPs of testing and a one-week quarantine.

The new travel passport is the need of the hour not only in the EU but in the whole post-pandemic world. Not only would thwart the transmission of the virus but also ensure the revival of both EU and the world’s economy, especially the tourism sector.

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For Uber, a notion they have been consistent in arguing since their launch is that they are not a transport providing app, but rather a booking service that hires transport providers. Whilst this might sound like a small difference in a turn of phrase, the difference, in reality, is unquantifiably magnified. In doing so, Uber is exempt from paying a 20% VAT on fare alongside, up until late last month, avoiding obligations such as minimum wage and holiday pay.

In an official release that the company posted on their blog following the landmark judgment, they use an interview with a worker to argue that ‘at a time when we need more jobs, not fewer, we believe Uber and other platforms can be a bridge to a sustainable economic recovery.’

Here, in fewer words, Uber’s underlying message is clear that in a business model that champions flexibility, benefits denote further responsibility for both driver and company thus sacrificing the aforementioned USP. Whilst many understandably crave stability in an increasingly uncertain world, on the other hand, Uber markets on the age-old desires of freedom and independence. In a nutshell, their appeal is that if you so choose to, working for Uber can be a full-time job. However, should you decide against it nothing is stopping you, least of all set working hours?

Reasons behind the decision

On the surface Uber’s business model presents a workplace environment haven; flexible working hours and opportunities to pursue other careers name a few, however, the execution of it paints a slightly different picture. As recognized by the Supreme Court, Uber workers fell under the category of an employee in everything but their title. Here are some things that the courts took into consideration during deliberation that led them to their final verdict.

According to the BBC:

‘Uber set the fare which meant that they dictated how much drivers could earn’
‘Uber set the contract terms and drivers had no say in them’
‘Request for rides is constrained by Uber who can penalize drivers if they reject too many rides’
‘Uber monitors a driver’s service through the star rating and can terminate the relationship if after repeated warnings this does not improve.’

From this perspective, workers’ frustrations can be felt as many began their Uber career journey with expectations of independence and flexibility only to be met with restrictions. Instead of broadening opportunities, Uber’s business model has narrowed them for many in setting a precedent meaning that the only way to enhance your economic situation as a worker was to work longer hours, rather than to demonstrate professional skill.

It is also important to note that changes have been made in their approach over the course of these past 5 years, including removal of penalization should drivers reject rides and transparency over fare rates. Despite this, there is still room for change in improving the working conditions for gig workers in general. For example, due to the U. K’s legal system, those who brought forward the tribunal will most certainly feel the effects of being considered as employees rather than self-employed.

However, for the rest of the workers, Uber is under no obligation to enforce this verdict on the company as a whole, and instead, it is up to the workers to bring forward subsequent tribunals.

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Last year in April it was the first Brazilian city to dig mass graves. By June, the number of deaths has returned to pre-pandemic levels and it took no longer than autumn for the leaders of Brazil to celebrate the so-called herd immunity acquired by 76 per cent of the people of Manaus – a city of two million people in the Amazon’s state. A paper entitled “Covid-19 herd immunity in the Brazilian Amazon,” initially published online and later, in December, under a more cautious name in Science, estimated that 76 per cent of Manaus’s residents have been infected and that meant that the city reached herd immunity. “We didn’t think there would be a second wave,” Ester Sabino, one of the authors said. Indeed, there were no signs of it.

Corruption, a collapsed health system, and the mishandling in containing the virus and preparing for the future made Brazil the second hardest-hit country in the world. Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela described it as “Jair Bolsonaro’s public health disaster.” Ten months and more than 220,000 Brazilian deaths – later, Manaus is in a more precarious situation than ever before. A devastating second wave caused by a new and more contagious variant left many without the most basic supplies, while hospitals ran out of oxygen. A catastrophic government failure which many hope, it will act as a warning on what could happen in other parts of Brazil unless more drastic measures are being taken.

“Manaus is lost,” said epidemiologist Jesem Orellana from Fiocruz Amazonia public health research centre. Mr Orellana compared the hospital beds in the Amazonian capital with “asphyxiation chambers” and described the city as “an open-air laboratory where all types of negligence and inhumanity are possible. On January 15th, anti-lockdown President Jair Bolsonaro said the government had done everything it could in Manaus. “The problem is terrible here. Now, we have done our part.” It was the same day when hospitals ran out of oxygen and doctors were praying for divine intervention.

But Orellana said: “We gave 13 alerts, and a very alarming one in mid-December, saying that the situation was getting very serious. Everyone was making fun of the studies and warnings, especially the President Jair Bolsonaro.” He called on the World Health Organisation to act as observers in Manaus, “because it is no longer possible to trust the different levels of management leading the pandemic”.

Stories about the heart-breaking settings of the people of Manaus are being reported in every corner of the world. Venezuela, South America’s most unstable country, began sending oxygen supplies across the border. Celebrities and social media influencers chartered private jets full of tanks. The families and friends of those in need are queuing for hours on end to find enough oxygen to keep their loved ones alive, and doctors are struggling to control the rising number of cases. According to the National Council of Health Secretaries, the Covid-19 infections in Manaus surged by 125 per cent between January 7 and January 22.

Helmo Quieroz, a 40-year-old resident from Manaus waited in line 18 hours to refill his sister’s oxygen tank, which would last her five hours. He said the price of one tank had increased six times within a week and that he feared his sister would die in the hospital’s precarious conditions. “I’ll be back in the morning,” he said. One staff member at the Alvorada health clinic described the atmosphere as one of “disgust, abandonment, despair and impunity. What we’re watching is a complete massacre, a desperate situation, a horror film.” 

In December as cases spiked, the governor of Manaus ordered a lockdown but revoked it as protests began. Officials in Amazonas faced pressure, both from the public, as well as from Bolsonaro’s statements, who in November told his people to not fear the virus “like a country of fags.” 

The rollout of the vaccine is predicted to be extremely difficult. Brazil, which has 212 million citizens, has so far secured six million doses of China’s CoronaVac shot and two million of the AstraZeneca/Oxford shot. On January 21st, the federal health ministry said the vaccine is going to be distributed to state and municipal governments “in a proportional and egalitarian way,” and within hours after the first vaccines were administered on live TV to government officials, the children of a few wealthy Manaus families posted on social media that they had received shots as well. Amazonas will get only 70,000 of the six million secured.

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