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WESTERN BUREAU: The raging COVID-19 pandemic has severely dampened prospects of a resurgent winter tourist season, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Clifton Reader, has forecast. In an unusually sombre letter to members...
South Africa is one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa with over 740,000 infections.
The country recorded 60 more virus-related deaths on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 20,011.
Zozibini Tunzi may have captured the universe, but there's no place like home to celebrate one's birthday.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO ENVIRONMENT, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu yesterday said the national tourism recovery and growth strategy launched by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in August this year will guide the sector going forward after the COVID-19-induced slowdown. Ndlovu made the remarks as this year’s edition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani – World Tourism Expo roared to life online due to the outbreak of coronavirus that has been declared a global pandemic. “The hosting of the virtual Sanganai/Hlanganani — World Tourism Expo marks the beginning of many such initiatives that seek to position our destination to the local, regional and international markets,” he said. Ndlovu said the uptake by both exhibitors and buyers at this year’s edition of the expo was impressive. He said the virtual exhibition would run concurrently with webinar discussions that sought to inform and educate the industry on key issues that will impact on capacity to recover and grow the sector. “The hosting of the virtual Sanganai/Hlanganani Expo is a much welcome development that is aimed at giving the industry a platform to interface with various source markets. I am told that as the virtual meetings commence this morning, the platform has allowed for pre-booking of meetings and I am certain that both parties will honour the appointments,” he said. Ndlovu said they were convinced that the return of regional and international flights marked the resumption of regional and international tourism. “Zimbabwe opened its borders to international travel via our international airports as of October 1 and we are looking at the gradual reopening of land borders in due course. We will constantly keep the markets informed of any developments that will affect their travel plans through our website and social media platforms,” he said. “International, regional and domestic flights have resumed in three of our major airports. Currently to safeguard our travellers and our tourism champions, visitors are expected to provide a negative PCR test on arrival, taken no longer than 48 hours before the time of flight departure.” He said quarantine for arrivals was not mandatory if the PCR test requirements have been fulfilled. “Any arrival that does not fulfil the PCR test requirements will be subject to testing on arrival and mandatory quarantine while awaiting results. The results take at most 48 hours,” he said. “While we have started taking baby steps towards recovery, it is a journey that we cannot undertake on our own, hence we celebrate the hosting of the virtual Sanganai/Hlanganani expo as it has brought us together to collectively work in mapping the way forward.” He said his ministry remained open to both local and international partners who have solutions that will see Zimbabwe emerge as a must-visit destination post the pandemic. “I am certain that with everyone’s involvement we are able to turn what has been a dark period for our sector into a resilient, vibrant and thriving industry to a reality,” he said.
In the article below University of California, Riverside historian Ralph Crowder describes this fascinating but little known attempt by Joe Louis and Fidel Castro to encourage middle class African American tourism to Cuba in the first year of the new regime.
When Fidel Castro successfully toppled Fulgencio Batista’s regime in January 1959, he and his fellow Cuban revolutionaries closed the gambling casinos and forced American gangsters to leave the island. This action was enthusiastically supported by working-class and peasant Cubans since the casino world was one of the best examples of American imperialism and the prostitution of Cuban women who staffed brothels financed and managed by foreign gangsters. Castro and his advisors quickly realized that this popular initiative created serious economic problems for Cuba’s tourist industry. Large hotels stood empty, jobs that supported Cuban households disappeared, and the island nation lost a $60 million dollar industry that could have been used to reconstruct Cuba’s economic infrastructure.
Nearly ten months after Castro’s government had consolidated power, unrest had become widespread. Unemployment, a persistent problem in Cuba, had been exacerbated by the discharge of soldiers and former civil servants associated with Batista’s rule, and dislocations of landowners and businessmen. Nonetheless, Castro’s personal popularity remained high and the “overwhelming majority of Cubans continued to support Fidel Castro and his regime.” One strategy that Castro employed in the early years of Cuba’s post revolutionary government was to take personal supervision of new ventures. This enlarged his personal powers and involved him directly in the administration of all new government programs. As president of the National Tourist Institute, Castro launched a campaign to revive Cuba’s tourist industry.
During the spring of 1959, Castro contacted former boxing champion Joe Louis through Rowe-Louis-Fischer-Lockhart, Inc., an advertising firm based in New York
They argue that the U.S. criminal justice system has at every level — from law enforcement to courts and prisons — not only failed at public safety but actively harmed Black and brown communities through hyper-criminalization and refers to a world in which people don’t need to rely on police or prisons — these punitive and carceral systems — in order to thrive,” said Mon Mohapatra, co-author of #8toAbolition, a campaign designed to build a society without police or prisons.
Whether calling to abolish the police or to “defund” law enforcement, advocates demand that money be divested from bloated law enforcement budgets and reinvested into community resources such as public health, housing, infrastructure and public schools.
Many U.S. cities funnel more funds to police departments than any other public service ― around 20% to 45% of discretionary funds, according to data from the Center for Popular Democracy Action ― with majority-Black cities among those with the largest law enforcement budgets.
Racist policing standards drain Black communities of both social services and financial resources, creating scarcity conditions that — in tandem with the consistent presence of armed, militarized, adversarial police forces — make neighborhoods less safe and leave communities demoralized.
Meanwhile, the Portland, Oregon, chapter of the group helped apply the pressure which led to the city’s announcement in June that it would dissolve the police department’s gun violence and transit units, both accused of disproportionately targeting people of color, and redirect $7 million from police budgets to communities of color.
The entire capital is now blanketed under SOEs as the Government moved to include Kingston Western and Central, pushing to 10 the total number of police divisions under emergency powers.
“We have noticed increasing alliances between gangs across community, geographic borders, and even political boundaries, which signals a level of cooperation between the gangs as they struggle over spoils whether extortion, imported weapons, or other criminal activities,” Chang said yesterday during a Jamaica House briefing.
“We are seeing a much more coordinated attempt by criminal enterprises across Kingston and St Andrew to coordinate their activities and create a much more unified response to how they make their illegal gains from these commercial areas,” Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson said as he presented data for St James and East Kingston as evidence that the SOEs were working.
To the west, the boundary extends from the coastline by the Petrojam oil refinery in the northeastern direction on to East Avenue, then on to Maxfield Avenue to the intersection of Russell Road.
The northern boundary extends along Russell Road in an easterly direction from the intersection of Maxfield Avenue and Russell Road to its intersection with Lyndhurst Road and Retirement Road.
Nationwide, courts remain closed and in-person gatherings are still restricted due to the coronavirus. As the pandemic continues, the federal government still overlooks the “essential work” of parts of the legal services industry, delaying trials and hearings and compromising access to justice.
