What impact will the coronavirus have on tourism in 2020? Some predict the effects will be felt globally, into 2021. The Coronavirus’s Effect on Tourism Will Carry Into 2021, Experts Say And it won’t just affect China, either. By Nikki EksteinFebruary 13, 2020Blookberg Coronavirus May Affect Tourism Into 2021 Earlier this week, even as infections of the novel coronavirus seemed to be slowing, the effects of the epidemic on the global tourism industry were accelerating rapidly. The impact of the pneumonia-like disease caused by the virus, called Covid-19, is already being felt across the Asian continent, where leisure and business travel contributed $884 billion to gross domestic product in 2017, the most recent year for which data has been compiled by the World Travel and Tourism Council. (Projections for 2018 are about $1 trillion.) For China alone, inbound tourism brought in $127.3 billion in 2019, according to the country’s tourism bureau. But as diagnoses tick upward again, travel agents, operators, and hoteliers are bracing for at least months, if not a full year, of economic disruption from the outbreak, with long-term effects that may ripple well into 2021. “The numbers of trip cancellations—not just to China but to the entire continent of Asia—is growing every day,” says Jack Ezon, founder and managing partner of luxury travel agency Embark Beyond. “People are put off. Sadly, a lot of them are just saying, ‘I don’t know if I want to go anywhere right now.’ Or, in many cases, ‘I’ll just go next…

Recent events in the Middle East have put travelers on edge. Here are some tips on staying safe if you plan on travelling to the region in the near future.   ‘Maintain a high level of vigilance’ — travel security experts advise caution when traveling to the Middle East Jan 8, 2020  By MEERA JAGANNATHAN and ANDREW KESHNER The State Department says Americans should maintain ‘situational awareness’ in the region following the Baghdad airstrike Tourists at the Khazneh, or Treasury, in Petra, Jordan. The popular destination is in a region of the world where tensions can be expected to rise after an U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, killed a top Iranian military official. Iran and Iraq are obviously not destinations for most U.S. tourists, but experts say U.S. citizens should exercise caution when traveling to other countries in the Middle East following the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad’s international airport last Friday. Iran, which has several armed allies in the region, retaliated Wednesday by firing a volley of ballistic missiles at two American military bases in Iraq. The Federal Aviation Administration banned U.S. airlines from flying over Iran, Iraq and waters of the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf, and Reuters reported that a number of non-U.S. airlines, including Emirates and Lufthansa, had canceled flights around Iraq and Iran. Meanwhile, a Ukraine-bound Boeing 737 BA, -0.77% operated by Ukraine International Airlines crashed Wednesday after taking off from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board. Ukraine’s embassy…

Corporations of all sizes have international suppliers, manufactures, agents and customers. Learning about the countries, communities and people is important in understanding how best to manage these business relationships.Kimberly Haley-Coleman of Globe Aware has decades of experience leading groups around the world on short-term volunteer experiences and creating and managing volunteer abroad solutions for groups and companies of every size. Managing Risk and Reward When Volunteering Abroad Nearly every public company in the world, and an increasing number of smaller companies, have some level of international engagement linked to their core business. It's part of the globally connected present. Industries ranging from medical, tech, import-export, energy, and finance to agriculture, production, construction, manufacturing, marketing, executive and risk management need to be alert to how geopolitical events could affect their people, product and profit. At Stratfor, we believe success in working internationally can be developed with the application of geopolitical know-how: understanding the implications of historical, social and cultural mores, business practices, geography, politics and infrastructure of the countries where you choose to do business. Tracking and managing those geopolitical risks can be nearly unmanageable for smaller companies, unless they have strategies and partnerships in place to complement what they can do themselves. Kimberly Haley-Coleman has firsthand knowledge of what's at stake. She is founder and Executive Director of Globe Aware, a non-profit company that develops short-term volunteer programs in international environments. The company's goal is to provide an immersive volunteer experience for busy professionals who want to make a difference…

A family’s tradition of sending grandchildren, once they reach the age of 16, on trips to introduce them to different cultures and people and around the world continues. Here is a travelogue entry by Zeth to Guatemala with Globe Aware. Previous grandkids selected volunteer work in the Andes mountains of Peru, with the Roma people of Romania and in a small rural village in the West African country of Ghana. Day One: Lake Peten Itza, El Remate, Guatemala Moments like yesterday are why I’m a travel junkie. The guys still asleep, I took an early walk along a small road where we’re staying. What a treat! No city noise, only the idyllic sounds of nature: tropical birds unlike we hear at home … the occasional cry of a monkey, perhaps chiding her youngster … insects buzzing … and the crunch of my footsteps along the gravel-dirt road. After a while a small older man walked in my direction, and I offered my best “Buenos dias, senor.” He offered me a mostly toothless smile and gently reached out toward me – but not his right hand, as if to shake hands, his left hand. He held onto my hand and we had this wonderful nodding and eye-to-eye exchange while he said something I couldn’t understand. Had he been an American in the U.S., I would have likely averted my eyes and pulled back thinking, “Why is he still holding onto my hand?” But he just continued to smile with old soul…

Idaho Senator Brent Hill shares the profound impact a Globe Aware volunteer vacation he took to Vietnam with his sons had on him. What Vietnam taught me about Idaho By Sen. Brent Hill | Guest columnist Apr 25, 2019 Vietnam. The very word sent chills down the back of every young man facing possible military draft during the sixties. It summoned to the mind other words like guerrilla warfare, Vietcong, communism, casualties. Over a quarter of a million American families lost a loved one in the Vietnam War. Four times that many Vietnamese were killed. As a boy growing up in the 1960s, I never expected to visit Vietnam — at least not for peaceful purposes. But earlier this month, three of our sons and one of my brothers traveled with me to an island in Vietnam. We were there to conduct service projects in a country still recovering from decades of war. Through an organization called Globe Aware, we spent long days working at a school for deaf children, building a home for an elderly widow, teaching English and other activities. Because Idaho’s legislative session persisted longer than expected, I finally asked Eric Erickson of Rexburg to fill in for me for what I assumed would be the last day or two, so I could keep my other commitment in Vietnam. Mixing mortar with shovels and laying brick in 95-degree weather with 88 percent humidity was difficult compared to sitting in airconditioned committee meetings at the statehouse. But it…

Using hard earned-vacation or paid time off to volunteer may not resonate with everyone right off the bat. Understanding how volunteer travel and volunteering both domestically and internationally creates a healthier lifestyle, while also helping and learning from others is important. Working together as equals with host communities is a major focus in all Globe Aware programs. Read more and find out where to begin with Globe Aware’s volunteer abroad programs CLICK HERE

A family’s week-long volunteer vacation in Cambodia harvested a new global perspective for their four children, ages 10-17. For their volunteer project the Vlaisimsky family spent time building a well for the community, assembling and distributing wheel chairs to landmine victims, and teaching English at a local non-governmental organization providing schooling for disadvantaged children in Siam Reap. It was during their time at the school that the family became intimately acquainted with the richness and reality of the Cambodian culture.