tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/hotels-22967/articlesHotels – The Conversation2024-02-22T13:43:23Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2229522024-02-22T13:43:23Z2024-02-22T13:43:23ZColleges are using AI to prepare hospitality workers of the future<p><em>If you’re planning to go into the hospitality industry, the pathway is increasingly going to involve some sort of familiarity with AI. That’s one of the key messages in “<a href="https://he.kendallhunt.com/product/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-and-robot-applications-hospitality-businesses">Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Robot Applications in Hospitality Businesses</a>,” a new book by <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eNdWpmYAAAAJ&hl=en">hospitality professor Rachel J.C. Fu</a>. In the following Q&A, Fu discusses how the hospitality jobs of the future will rely more and more on technology to provide a pleasant guest experience.</em></p>
<h2>Will AI reduce the number of jobs in hospitality?</h2>
<p>AI could not only reduce the number of jobs, but it has already begun to <a href="https://newgenadv.com/2023/03/how-top-hotel-brands-utilizes-ai-to-their-advantage/">change the way existing jobs are done</a> by handling tasks such as guest check-ins, customer inquiries and the like.</p>
<p>For that reason, in the hospitality industry of the future, rather than people who interact with customers, the industry will need more data analysts, AI managers and people who can provide tech support. That’s because AI can perform routine and repetitive tasks, such as booking reservations and answering customer inquiries.</p>
<h2>How are hospitality programs using AI to teach in the classroom?</h2>
<p>Universities are using virtual reality to <a href="https://computing.mit.edu/news/generating-a-realistic-3d-world/">simulate real-world scenarios</a> for students to practice and hone their skills in a risk-free setting. </p>
<p>For instance, AI-powered simulations can mimic <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/16/japans-robot-hotel-a-dinosaur-at-reception-a-machine-for-room-service">front desk operations</a>, <a href="https://directory.nationalrestaurantshow.com/8_0/sessions/session-details.cfm?scheduleid=400&">kitchen management</a> or even crisis situations. This provides students with hands-on experience and enables immediate feedback.</p>
<p>Using AI in hospitality education is essential because it helps create a more <a href="https://cyber.harvard.edu/story/2023-06/impacts-generative-ai-teaching-learning">personalized learning experience</a> that builds on what students are good at and helps them overcome challenges. For instance, AI can make it easier and quicker for students to get feedback on their work, helping them learn better. It can also suggest new teaching materials and methods to educators, improving how they teach.</p>
<h2>Will AI make the industry better?</h2>
<p>Research indicates that AI has the potential to significantly enhance the hospitality industry by <a href="https://hbr.org/2021/07/how-to-design-an-ai-marketing-strategy">improving efficiency</a>. It could also <a href="https://cyber.harvard.edu/story/2023-06/impacts-generative-ai-teaching-learning">personalize customer experiences</a>, anticipate needs and identify trends, and reduce operational costs.</p>
<p>AI-driven chatbots and virtual assistants can offer 24/7 customer service. They can handle reservations and inquiries, and provide personalized recommendations. This enhances the guest experience and frees human staff to focus on more complex tasks, such as handling unexpected issues, complaints or emergencies. AI can assist in identifying problems, but human staff are needed to offer strategies for planning, professional development and risk management.</p>
<p>When the volume of job applicants becomes unmanageable, hospitality companies may consider adopting AI to streamline recruitment, employing algorithms to identify promising candidates based on skills and experience. They may consider ensuring that AI is programmed to avoid biases related to age, gender, ethnicity or background that have been <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/10/using-ai-to-eliminate-bias-from-hiring">found in hiring tools</a>.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://hospitalitytech.com/rethinking-ai-hospitality-enhancing-operations-customer-experience">hotel companies use AI</a> to manage <a href="https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/powering-the-magic-with-renewable-energy/">energy consumption</a>. This is done by employing smart sensors and algorithms to adjust lighting, heating and cooling based on occupancy and weather conditions – all with an eye toward reducing environmental impact.</p>
<p>It also respects guest comfort, since the settings can be manually overridden by guests. This example highlights the ethical application of AI in balancing operational efficiency with guest satisfaction and <a href="https://impact.disney.com/environment/environmental-sustainability/">environmental responsibility</a>.</p>
<h2>What’s your book’s boldest prediction?</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/07/1138412">technologies continue to evolve</a>, I boldly predict <a href="https://view.publitas.com/kendall-hunt-publishing/artificial-intelligence-machine-learning-and-robot-applications-in-hospitality-businesses-overview/page/20-21">AI-driven solutions</a> will become integral to every aspect of <a href="https://www.bcg.com/publications/2020/deploying-ai-artificial-intelligence-to-maximize-revenue">maximizing cash flow</a>. <a href="https://newgenadv.com/2023/03/how-top-hotel-brands-utilizes-ai-to-their-advantage/">Chatbots</a> that express humanlike emotions will become standard, providing instant, personalized engagement with guests during check-in or when the need arises. This could <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2023.101027">potentially improve satisfaction levels</a>.</p>
<p>An <a href="https://hbr.org/2024/02/find-the-ai-approach-that-fits-the-problem-youre-trying-to-solve">AI-driven system</a> should <a href="https://www.costar.com/article/527137634/ai-adoption-sparks-enthusiasm-in-hotel-industry-but-ethical-concerns-linger">prioritize guest consent</a>, allowing guests to <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/nvidia-ceo-huang-urges-faster-ai-development-to-make-it-safer.html">opt in or out of data collection</a> and use. It should also <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2021/fostering-ethical-thinking-computing-0302">clearly explain</a> how data enhances their travel experience. For example, guests at a luxury hotel chain can choose to share their dining preferences for customized restaurant recommendations but also ensure their information is used solely for enhancing their visit, not shared with third parties without explicit consent. </p>
<p>Robots might not be taking over the world of hospitality, but they’re certainly <a href="https://hoteltechreport.com/guest-experience/contactless-checkin">checking us in</a> to our hotels. Will AI be rated as the best concierge we’ve ever had, or will guests still desire a human touch? This will be one of the most crucial questions to explore as AI reshapes the hospitality industry and guest experience in the years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222952/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel J.C. Fu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Will the hotels of the future involve fewer front desk clerks and more automated service? A hospitality expert who has written a new book on the subject weighs in.Rachel J.C. Fu, Chair & Professor of Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management | Director of the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2021952023-03-21T16:55:28Z2023-03-21T16:55:28ZFrom the bed sheets to the TV remote, a microbiologist reveals the shocking truth about dirt and germs in hotel rooms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516458/original/file-20230320-1510-ozjvkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C36%2C3479%2C2273&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Relaxing in filth?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-bathrobe-sitting-on-bed-5379219/">Pexels/Cottonbro studio</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For most of us, staying in a hotel room is either something of a necessity – think business travel – or something to look forward to as part of a holiday or wider excursion. </p>
<p>But what if I told you there’s a large chance your hotel room, despite how it might appear to the naked eye, <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/922575">isn’t that clean</a>. And even if it’s an expensive room, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any less dirty.</p>
<p>Indeed, whoever has stayed in your room prior to you will have deposited bacteria, fungi and viruses all over the furniture, carpets, curtains and surfaces. What remains of these germ deposits depends on how efficiently your <a href="http://www.europeancleaningjournal.com/magazine/articles/european-reports/bacteria-that-breed-in-hotel-rooms">room is cleaned</a> by <a href="https://www.today.com/money/hotel-maids-how-much-how-little-do-they-really-clean-1D80287464">hotel staff</a>. And let’s face it, what is considered clean by a hotel might be different to <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/dirty-spots-in-hotel-rooms_n_5ae09906e4b061c0bfa4356d">what you consider clean</a>.</p>
<p>Typically, assessment of hotel room cleanliness is based on <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26330308">sight and smell observations</a> –- not on the invisible microbiology of the space, which is where the infection risks reside. So let’s take a deep dive into the world of germs, bugs and viruses to find out what might be lurking where.</p>
<h2>It starts at the lift</h2>
<p>Before you even enter your room, think of the hotel lift buttons as germ hotspots. They are being pressed all the time by many different people, which can transfer microorganisms onto the button surface, as well back onto the presser’s fingers. </p>
<p>Communal door handles can be similar in terms of germ presence unless sanitised regularly. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25005587/">Wash your hands</a> or use a hand sanitiser after using a handle before you next touch your face or eat or drink.</p>
<p>The most common <a href="https://www.rd.com/list/ways-your-hotel-room-could-be-making-you-sick/">infections people pick up</a> from hotel rooms are tummy bugs – diarrhoea and vomiting – along with <a href="https://www.everydayhealth.com/cold-and-flu/surprising-ways-hotels-can-make-you-sick.aspx">respiratory viruses</a>, such as colds and pneumonia, as well as <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/28/3/21-2318_article?ACSTrackingID=USCDC_333-DM72795&ACSTrackingLabel=Latest%20Expedited%20Articles%20-%20Emerging%20Infectious%20Diseases%20Journal%20-%20December%2029%2C%202021&deliveryName=USCDC_333-DM72795">COVID-19</a>, of course.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Hotel door opening." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516459/original/file-20230320-16-kb336m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516459/original/file-20230320-16-kb336m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516459/original/file-20230320-16-kb336m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516459/original/file-20230320-16-kb336m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516459/original/file-20230320-16-kb336m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516459/original/file-20230320-16-kb336m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516459/original/file-20230320-16-kb336m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Welcome to germ paradise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/bedroom-door-entrance-guest-room-271639/">Pexels/Pixabay</a></span>
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<p><a href="https://ami-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jam.15121">Toilets and bathrooms</a> tend to be cleaned more thoroughly than the rest of a hotel room and are often the least bacteriologically colonised environments. </p>
<p>Though if the drinking glass in the bathroom is not disposable, wash it before use (body wash or shampoo are effective dishwashers), as you can never be sure if they’ve been cleaned properly. Bathroom door handles may also be colonised by pathogens from unwashed hands or dirty washcloths.</p>
<h2>Beware the remote</h2>
<p>The bed, sheets and pillows can also be home to some unwanted visitors. <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/9/20-1435_article">A 2020 study</a> found that after a pre-symptomatic COVID-19 patient occupied a hotel room there was significant viral contamination of many surfaces, with levels being particularly high within the sheets, pillow case and quilt cover. </p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.rd.com/list/dirty-hotel-room/">sheets and pillowcases</a> may be more likely to be changed between occupants, bedspreads may not, meaning these fabrics may become invisible reservoirs for pathogens – <a href="https://www.indy100.com/science-tech/beds-more-germs-than-toilet">as much as a toilet seat</a>. Though in <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/17444370/hotel-sheets-clean-changed-dirty/">some cases</a> <a href="https://www.insideedition.com/investigation-finds-sheets-werent-changed-between-guests-at-some-new-york-hotels-60419">sheets</a> <a href="https://www.frommers.com/tips/health-and-travel-insurance/hotels-dont-always-change-the-sheets-between-guests#:%7E:text=Sheets%20are%20usually%20changed%20between,they%20aren't%20washed%20regularly.">aren’t always changed between guests</a>, so it may be better to just bring your own.</p>
<p>Less thought about is what lives on the hotel room desk, bedside table, telephone, kettle, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep17163?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=commission_junction&utm_campaign=CONR_PF018_ECOM_GL_PHSS_ALWYS_DEEPLINK&utm_content=textlink&utm_term=PID100087244&CJEVENT=7cf55981c74311ed82a0034b0a18ba73">coffee machine</a>, light switch or <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hotel-room-tests-uncover-high-levels-of-contamination-1.1160859">TV remote</a> – as these surfaces aren’t always sanitised between occupancies. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="TV remote lying on pink bedding." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516462/original/file-20230320-14-h6cnfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516462/original/file-20230320-14-h6cnfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516462/original/file-20230320-14-h6cnfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516462/original/file-20230320-14-h6cnfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516462/original/file-20230320-14-h6cnfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516462/original/file-20230320-14-h6cnfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516462/original/file-20230320-14-h6cnfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Handle with care: the TV remote is often one of the dirtiest items in a hotel room.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/remote-control-on-pink-fabric-5202948/">Pexels/Karolina grabowska</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Viruses such as the <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/17444370/hotel-sheets-clean-changed-dirty/">norovirus can live</a> in an infectious form for days on hard surfaces, as can COVID-19 – and the typical time interval between room changeovers is often less than 12 hours. </p>
<p>Soft fabric furnishings such as cushions, chairs, curtains and blinds are also difficult to clean and may not be sanitised other than to remove stains between guests, so washing your hands after touching them might be a good idea.</p>
<h2>Uninvited guests</h2>
<p>If all those germs and dirty surfaces aren’t enough to contend with, there are also bedbugs to think about. These bloodsucking insects are experts at secreting themselves into narrow, small spaces, remaining dormant without feeding for months.</p>
<p>Small spaces include the cracks and crevices of luggage, mattresses and bedding. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/bedbugs/faqs.html">Bed bugs</a> are widespread throughout Europe, Africa, the US and Asia – and are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278431920301201">often found in hotels</a>. And just because a room looks and smells clean, doesn’t mean there may not be bed bugs lurking.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman making bed in hoteroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516460/original/file-20230320-16-mt06d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516460/original/file-20230320-16-mt06d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516460/original/file-20230320-16-mt06d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516460/original/file-20230320-16-mt06d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516460/original/file-20230320-16-mt06d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516460/original/file-20230320-16-mt06d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516460/original/file-20230320-16-mt06d3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Get those cushions off the bed straightaway.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-black-blazer-and-white-dress-shirt-arranging-the-bed-6466496/">Pexels/Cottonbro studio</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fortunately, <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bedbugs/">bed bug bites</a> are unlikely to give you a transmissible disease, but the bite areas can become inflamed and infected. For the detection of bedbugs, reddish skin bites and blood spots on sheets are signs of an active infestation (use an antiseptic cream on the bites). </p>
<p>Other signs can be found on your mattress, behind the headboard and inside drawers and the wardrobe: brown spots could be remains of faeces, bed bug skins are brownish-silvery looking and live bed bugs are brown coloured and typically one to seven millimetres in length. </p>
<p>Inform the hotel if you think there are bed bugs in your room. And to avoid taking them with you when you checkout, carefully clean your luggage and clothes before opening them at home.</p>
<p>As higher-status hotels tend to have more frequent room usage, a more expensive room at a five-star hotel does not necessarily mean greater cleanliness, as room cleaning costs reduce profit margins. So wherever you’re staying, take with you a pack of antiseptic wipes and use them on the hard surfaces in your hotel room. </p>
<p>Also, wash or sanitise your hands often – especially before you eat or drink anything. And take slippers or thick socks with you so you can avoid walking barefoot on hotel carpets – known to be another <a href="https://www.rd.com/list/dirty-hotel-room/">dirt hotspot</a>. And after all that, enjoy your stay.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202195/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Primrose Freestone does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The filthy secrets of hotel rooms and why you might want to pack disinfectant on your next trip.Primrose Freestone, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Microbiology, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1983672023-02-07T12:00:02Z2023-02-07T12:00:02ZFaeces, urine and sweat – just how gross are hot tubs? A microbiologist explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507865/original/file-20230202-2164-9vdp04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=59%2C37%2C3535%2C2360&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Communal bathing can get pretty disgusting.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/los-angelescaliforniausa-05232018-people-jacuzzi-1441434797">monic zrivoic/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For many centuries we have bathed in communal waters. Sometimes for cleanliness but more often for pleasure. Indeed, in ancient Greece, baths were taken in freshwater, or sometimes the sea – which was thought of as a sacred place dedicated to local gods and so was considered <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2557448/pdf/medhistsuppl00037-0011.pdf">an act of worship</a>. </p>
<p>But it was the Romans who created state-sponsored aqueducts to allow for <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11830439/">large-scale public baths</a>. These were mainly used for relaxation but also for more private pleasures, too. Yes, the public baths were often where Romans did the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-399017/The-steamy-truth-Roman-Bath.html">dirty deed</a> - sometimes with their bath attendant slaves.</p>
<p>Two millennia on, we’re still attracted to bathing communally, though many people now have their own hot tub – sales of which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/12/bubble-trouble-thieves-hot-tub-craze-whirlpool-baths">went up</a> massively <a href="https://businessnewswales.com/coronavirus-lockdown-leads-to-surge-in-sales-for-hot-tub-firm/">during the pandemic</a>. </p>
<p>For those that don’t have their own, there’s always the local gym or spa. And many hospitals also feature one too. This is because hot tubs are often used therapeutically for relieving and treating joint inflammation in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1754027/">rheumatoid and osteoarthritis patients</a>. Indeed, in many ways hot tub bathing is regarded as a luxury treat experience – one that’s both relaxing and rejuvenating.</p>
<p>The warmth of the water within the hot tub naturally widens blood vessels, which helps <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4049052/">our muscles to relax</a> and eases sore joints. As well as being physically comforting, a sense of psychological wellbeing may also be created by the buoyant warm water and the companionship of those who share the bathing experience. </p>
<h2>Bacteria, viruses and fungi</h2>
<p>But it’s also worth bearing in mind that when we enter the waters of a hot tub whatever we have on our skin we deposit into the warm water swirling around us. <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/hot-tub-germs_n_5268919">This includes</a> the <a href="https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/patient-information/bowel-control/">100mg or so of faeces</a> that is usually present between our buttock cheeks. This means that while you’re relaxing in the warm water, you’ll likely breathe in or swallow your hot tub partner’s <a href="https://www.medicinenet.com/what_diseases_can_you_get_from_a_hot_tub/article.htm">body’s bacteria, viruses and fungi</a>. </p>
<p>The more people in the hot tub, the higher the levels of faeces and sweat shed into the water (and urine if anyone has peed in the water). And these bodily deposits can be used by the bacteria as direct nutrients. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Women in hot tub taking a photo." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507856/original/file-20230202-4223-3a6cvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507856/original/file-20230202-4223-3a6cvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507856/original/file-20230202-4223-3a6cvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507856/original/file-20230202-4223-3a6cvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507856/original/file-20230202-4223-3a6cvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507856/original/file-20230202-4223-3a6cvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507856/original/file-20230202-4223-3a6cvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘I just love it when we share faecal matter together.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.alamy.com/small-group-of-female-friends-enjoying-a-weekend-away-they-are-taking-a-group-selfie-while-sitting-in-a-hot-tub-image244340274.html?imageid=B3F3C810-62AA-4E14-B14A-5B0EF34D7C59&p=386705&pn=1&searchId=1766fcdba780ec00b8395ff08531181f&searchtype=0">DGLimages/Alamy Stock Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As hot tub owners are advised to change the water in their baths only around every <a href="https://pages.swimuniversity.com/hot-tub-cheat-sheet-website/">three months</a>, bacteria will grow. For microbiological safety, most hot tubs that recirculate water have microbe-removing filters and water is treated with microbicides (which kill germs) such as chlorine, bromine, or other disinfectants to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/swimmers/hot-tub-user-information.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fhealthywater%2Fswimming%2Fprotection%2Fhot-tub-user-tips-factsheet.html">control bacterial numbers</a>. </p>
<p>Such chemicals are toxic and cause skin and eye irritation. This is why hot tub users are advised to shower after bathing (and should also shower before, too). The temperature of the water within a hot tub (around 104°F or 40°C can also cause potentially serious health problems such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8548817/">core overheating</a> which can lead to feeling faint or even loss of consciousness and potentially drowning. </p>
<p>This is especially the case for <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/pregnancy/is-it-safe-to-use-a-sauna-or-jacuzzi-if-i-am-pregnant/">pregnant women</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8548817/">children</a>, along with people with underlying health conditions, who should always check with their GP before using a hot tub. This is why most sessions are advised to last no more than around 15 minutes and should be supervised. </p>
<h2>Dirty or filthy?</h2>
<p>While personal hot tub may be relatively safe microbiologically, public (hotel or spa) hot tub can potentially be <a href="https://www.pmengineer.com/articles/86815-microbial-loads-in-whirlpool-baths">very high in infection-causing bacteria</a> (germs), particularly if water is recycled. </p>
<p>The root problem is poor public compliance with personal hygiene guidelines and inadequate water treatment maintenance. Improperly maintained public hot tubs can lead to outbreaks of infections by human-associated bacteria which survive well in water. </p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11095998/">These include</a> <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/index.html"><em>E.coli</em></a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441868/#:%7E:text=Staphylococcus%20aureus%20is%20a%20gram,acquired%20and%20hospital%2Dacquired%20settings."><em>Staphylococcus aureus</em></a>, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/pseudomonas-aeruginosa-guidance-data-and-analysis#:%7E:text=Pseudomonas%20aeruginosa%20is%20a%20Gram,it%20rarely%20affects%20healthy%20individuals."><em>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</em></a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7619/"><em>Legionella pneumoniae</em></a>. These hot tub pathogens <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/swimmers/rwi.html">can cause</a> gut infections, diarrhoea, septicaemia, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/swimmers/rwi/rashes.html">skin infections</a>, urinary tract infections and respiratory infections, including Legionnaires’ disease. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/legionella/wmp/control-toolkit/hot-tubs.html#:%7E:text=Hot%20tubs%20have%20been%20associated,systems%20for%20disinfectant%20and%20pH.">Legionella bacteria</a> are particularly found in the water droplets within the hot tub steam and inhaling the contaminated steam could lead to the development of life-threatening pneumonia. </p>
<p>Indeed, the infection risk from hot tub is so significant that in the US, the Centers for Disease Control has released <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/swimmers/hot-tub-user-information.html">official advice</a> on how to prevent this. </p>
<p>So if you do still want to enjoy a hot tub, is there a way of telling if it’s safe or not? There are some clear signs of a germ-filled hot tub. When urine and other body fluids such as sweat mixes with the chlorine used to disinfect hot tub waters it creates an irritant, a pungent chemical called chloramine, which is what causes sore eyes when <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/aquatics-professionals/chloramines.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fhealthywater%2Fswimming%2Fpools%2Firritants-indoor-pool-air-quality.html">swimming in public pools</a>. </p>
<p>The more bathers that deposit their bodily fluids the stronger the smell of the <a href="https://poolonomics.com/chloramines/">chloramine</a> (which smells a bit like bleach) and the greater the likelihood that the spa or hotel hot tub has low levels of disinfectant and high levels of bacteria. So if the hot tub is strong smelling, the chances are it may be unsafe to use – even if the waters look clean and clear, though it’s also worth noting that the water does become murkier the longer it goes without chemicals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198367/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Primrose Freestone does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Relaxing in filth – you may never want to use a hot tub again after reading this.Primrose Freestone, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Microbiology, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1964602022-12-13T04:26:23Z2022-12-13T04:26:23ZHotel booking sites actually make it hard to get cheap deals, but there’s a way around it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500626/original/file-20221213-5529-54zuqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=803%2C765%2C2868%2C1618&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Booking a place to stay on holidays has become a reflex action.</p>
<p>The first thing many of us do is open a site such as <a href="https://www.wotif.com/">Wotif</a>, <a href="https://au.hotels.com/?locale=en_AU">Hotels.com</a> or <a href="https://www.trivago.com.au/">trivago</a> (all of which are these days owned by the US firm <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-will-not-oppose-expedia%E2%80%99s-proposed-acquisition-of-wotif">Expedia</a>), or their only big competitor, <a href="https://www.booking.com/">Booking.com</a> from the Netherlands.</p>
<p>Checking what rooms are available – anywhere – is wonderfully easy, as is booking, at what usually seems to be the lowest available price.</p>
<p>But Australia’s Assistant Competition Minister Andrew Leigh is concerned there might be a reason the price seems to be the lowest available. It might be an <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/andrew-leigh-2022/media-releases/supporting-tourism-and-accommodation-providers-set-their">agreement not to compete</a>, or the fear of reprisals against hotel owners who offer better prices.</p>
<h2>Agreements to not compete</h2>
<p>Leigh has asked the treasury to investigate, and if that’s what it finds, it may be the booking sites have the perverse effect of keeping prices high, especially when the substantial fees they charge hotels are taken into account.</p>
<p>For now, the treasury is seeking information. It has set a deadline of <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/consultation/c2022-338978">January 6</a> for hotel operators and booking sites to tell it:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the typical fees charged by online booking platforms</p></li>
<li><p>the details of any agreements not to compete on price</p></li>
<li><p>whether hotels that try to compete get ranked lower on booking sites.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>What’s likely to come out of it is a ban on so-called price-parity clauses that prevent discounting, or a ban on “algorithmic punishment,” whereby hotels that do discount get pushed way down the rankings on the sites.</p>
<p>But in the meantime, there are things we can do to get better prices, and they’ll help more broadly, as I’ll explain.</p>
<h2>Flight Centre precedent</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500597/original/file-20221213-16-iq7995.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500597/original/file-20221213-16-iq7995.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500597/original/file-20221213-16-iq7995.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500597/original/file-20221213-16-iq7995.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500597/original/file-20221213-16-iq7995.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=970&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500597/original/file-20221213-16-iq7995.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1219&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500597/original/file-20221213-16-iq7995.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1219&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500597/original/file-20221213-16-iq7995.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1219&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flight Centre copped a $12.5 million penalty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Worsfold/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Back in 2018, in a case that went all the way to the High Court, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) forced <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/flight-centre-ordered-to-pay-125-million-in-penalties">Flight Centre</a> to pay a penalty of A$12.5 million for attempting to induce airlines not to undercut it on ticket prices.</p>
<p>That the ACCC eventually won the case might be an indication price-parity clauses are already illegal under Australian law. But it’s a difficult law to enforce. This is why the treasury is considering special legislation of the kind in force in France, Austria, Italy and Belgium.</p>
<p>The ACCC has known for some time that Expedia and Booking.com have included clauses in their contracts preventing hotels offering the same room for any less than they do, even directly.</p>
<p>Rather than take the big two to court, in 2016 the ACCC “reached agreement” with them to delete the clauses that prevented hotels offering better deals <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/expedia-and-bookingcom-agree-to-reinvigorate-price-competition-by-amending-contracts-with-australian-hotels">face-to-face</a>.</p>
<h2>The concession that conceded little</h2>
<p>From then on, hotels were able to offer better deals than the sites over the phone or in person, but not on their own websites. Given we are less and less likely to walk in off the street or even use the phone to book a hotel, it wasn’t much of a concession.</p>
<p>Then, in 2019, with the Commission under renewed pressure from hotel owners for another investigation, Expedia (but not Booking.com) reportedly <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/business-advice/competition/expedia-allow-hotels-undercut-prices-online/">waived</a> the rest of the clauses, giving hotel owners the apparent freedom to advertise cheaper prices wherever they liked including on their own sites without fear of retribution.</p>
<p>Except several appear to fear retribution, and very few seem to have jumped at the opportunity.</p>
<h2>Algorithmic punishment</h2>
<p>An Expedia spokesman gave an indication of what might be in store when he was quoted as saying a hotel that undercut Expedia might “find itself ranked <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/business-advice/competition/expedia-allow-hotels-undercut-prices-online/">below its competitors</a>, just as it would if it had worse reviews or fewer high-quality pictures of its property”.</p>
<p>Being ranked at the bottom of a site is much the same as not being ranked at all, something Leigh refers to as “algorithmic punishment”.</p>
<p>It’s not at all clear the present law prevents it, which is why Leigh is open to the idea of legislating against it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tax-take-shrinks-as-online-accommodation-agents-rake-it-in-75617">Tax take shrinks as online accommodation agents rake it in</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Although you and I may not often think about what hotels are paying to be booked through sites such as Wotif and Booking.com, and although what’s charged to the hotel isn’t publicised, it appeard to be a large chunk of the cost of providing the room. </p>
<p>One figure quoted is <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/industries/tourism/online-travel-booking-fed-up-small-businesses-call-accc-action/">20%</a>. Leigh says hotel owners have told him the fees are in the “<a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/andrew-leigh-2022/transcripts/interview-geraldine-doogue-abc-saturday-extra">double digits</a>”, something he says is quite a lot when you consider the sites don’t need to clean the toilets, change the sheets or help on the front desk.</p>
<h2>‘Chokepoint capitalism’</h2>
<p>What this seems to mean (the treasury will find out) is almost all bookings are more expensive than they need to be because firms that sit at the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/chokepoint-capitalism-why-well-all-lose-unless-we-stop-amazon-spotify-and-other-platforms-squeezing-cash-from-creators-194069">chokepoint</a>” between buyers and sellers are squeezing sellers.</p>
<p>A hotel could always abandon the sites and offer much cheaper prices, but for a while – perhaps forever – it will be much harder to find.</p>
<p>In their defence, the operators of the platforms might say they need to get the best offers from hotels in order to make it worthwhile for the operators to invest in their sites, an argument the treasury is inviting them to put.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chokepoint-capitalism-why-well-all-lose-unless-we-stop-amazon-spotify-and-other-platforms-squeezing-cash-from-creators-194069">Chokepoint Capitalism: why we'll all lose unless we stop Amazon, Spotify and other platforms squeezing cash from creators</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the meantime, with some hotels reluctant to put their best rates on their websites, but with them perfectly able to offer better rates over the phone, there’s a fairly simple way we can all get a better deal – and help fix the broader problem by weight of numbers.</p>
<p>If we look up the best deal wherever we want online, and then phone and ask for a better one (or a better room), we might well find we get it. We might be saving the owner a lot of money.</p>
<p>Leigh reckons the more we do ring up, the more the sites might feel pressure to discount their own fees, helping bring prices down even before he starts to think about writing legislation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196460/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Martin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Although the sites seem to offer the best deals, that might be because hotels feel pressured not to undercut them. This is something the treasury is investigating.Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1803012022-04-22T12:08:51Z2022-04-22T12:08:51ZProtecting biodiversity – and making it accessible – has paid off for Costa Rica<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458908/original/file-20220420-17-8407uw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C7%2C5046%2C3389&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tourists cross a hanging bridge in the treetops of Costa Rica's Monteverde cloud forest.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/selvatura-treetop-hanging-bridges-monteverde-cloud-forest-news-photo/1284258316">Matthew Williams-Ellis/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After two years of pandemic lockdowns and border closures, global travel appears to be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/travel/trends-spring-2022.html">rebounding in much of the world in 2022</a>. Wilderness is a big tourist attraction – but do countries that protect their natural environments earn a payoff in tourism revenues? </p>
<p>Surprisingly, little research has been done on this question. Some early studies in Africa demonstrated that people from across the world travel to find “<a href="https://www.goeco.org/article/understand-the-big-five-in-south-africa">the big five</a>” – elephants, rhinos, buffaloes, lions and leopards. But it remains unclear whether people will travel to see a wide variety of plants and animals, or just a select few iconic species. </p>
<p>As scholars who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SQVVV-0AAAAJ&hl=en">conservation</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wEknYNwAAAAJ&hl=en">ecology</a>, we wondered whether biodiversity – specifically, the number of species in a given place – influenced where people chose to travel for tourism. We analyzed that question in a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2107662119">recently published study</a> focused on Costa Rica, a country that markets itself to the world as green and biodiverse, and derives <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/37bb0cf5-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/37bb0cf5-en">almost 10% of its gross domestic product</a> from tourism activities. </p>
<p>Our study assessed whether the opportunity to see many vertebrate animal species mattered to tourists visiting Costa Rica, and if so, how important it was compared with other features like hotels and beaches. We found that an abundance of animal species alone does not drive tourism; rather, in Costa Rica, our research shows that biodiversity needs to be paired with infrastructure like hotels and roads that enable access to nature. Costa Rica has shown other countries how to do this and is reaping benefits from it.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dYoTTkK4Acc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">To succeed, ecotourism requires charismatic animal species, accessible locations and involvement from local communities.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Biodiversity, satellites and social media</h2>
<p>For our study we used millions of sightings of animals in Costa Rica from the <a href="https://www.gbif.org/">Global Biodiversity Information Facility,</a> a public repository of open-access data about all types of life on Earth. The GBIF shares reports from members – including governments, conservation groups, libraries and scientific societies – about observations of plants, animals and other living species, with geographic locations. Scholars and governments draw on this data to inform scientific research and policy decisions. </p>
<p>We paired these wildlife observations with satellite-derived maps of climate conditions, such as temperature and rainfall, and habitat elements, such as tree cover and impervious surfaces like roads. Using this data, we created distribution maps across Costa Rica for 699 birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles. We selected species that had more than 25 data points in the country.</p>
<p>We then used these maps to see how important species richness was in driving two types of tourism. First we considered general tourism, measured by where people go to take pictures and upload them to the <a href="https://flickr.com/">Flickr photo sharing site</a>. Second, we looked at checklists on <a href="https://ebird.org/home">eBird</a>, a social media platform where people who identify as birders can share which species they see during nature walks. </p>
<p>Next we added other factors that are widely known to drive tourism, including the location of hotels, roads, national park boundaries and water features like lakes. This allowed us to consider how important biodiversity was compared with other key tourism drivers. </p>
<p>Our data came from NASA’s <a href="https://data.nasa.gov/dataset/Global-Roads-Open-Access-Data-Set-Version-1-gROADS/bey2-56a2">Global Roads Open Access Database</a>, a global map of roads; <a href="https://www.geonames.org/">the GeoNames database</a>, a global source with the coordinates of all registered hotels and lodges; and the <a href="https://www.naturalearthdata.com/">Natural Earth database</a>, which contains a map of the world’s lakes and oceans. We used those maps to predict where tourists were going by mapping where people were taking pictures that they would then upload to Flickr, or where they were bird-watching and uploading their lists to eBird. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1372907286755209218"}"></div></p>
<h2>Nature plus small-scale infrastructure</h2>
<p>We found that tourism is highest in zones of Costa Rica where both biodiversity and infrastructure are present and accessible to tourists. One such area is Monteverde, a lush high-elevation forest that National Geographic calls “<a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-seven-natural-wonders-of-costa-rica.html">the jewel in the crown of cloud forest reserves</a>.” </p>
<p>Here visitors can find the <a href="https://abcbirds.org/bird/resplendent-quetzal/">resplendent quetzal</a>, a green bird with a red belly and long green-bluish tail that glistens in the sunlight. Considered sacred by Aztecs and Mayans, the quetzal is a major draw for bird-watchers and other tourists. Another species of high tourist interest is the <a href="https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/refpar1/cur/introduction">red-fronted parrotlet</a>, a small green parrot with a red forehead that is found only in Costa Rica and northern Panama.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458914/original/file-20220420-19-3f4jie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tropical bird perched on a branch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458914/original/file-20220420-19-3f4jie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458914/original/file-20220420-19-3f4jie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458914/original/file-20220420-19-3f4jie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458914/original/file-20220420-19-3f4jie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458914/original/file-20220420-19-3f4jie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458914/original/file-20220420-19-3f4jie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458914/original/file-20220420-19-3f4jie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A male resplendent quetzal in Costa Rica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-resplendent-quetzal-pharomachrus-mocinno-was-the-sacred-news-photo/849939016">Jon G. Fuller/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Places like Monteverde are top tourist destinations in Costa Rica because they are replete with endemic and threatened species that visitors want to see, and that can only be found at those locations. Importantly, these areas also have enough ecolodges for people to spend the night. </p>
<p>Understandably, places that have high biodiversity but no infrastructure receive fewer visitors. For example, <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/205/">Amistad International Park</a>, which is located in both Costa Rica and Panama, has a large tract of forest and many species. But very few people go there compared with other high-biodiversity areas. Our results indicate that this is because there aren’t enough roads to make the park accessible and see wild animals and birds. </p>
<p>Conversely, places with very high levels of infrastructure and very few species also are not desirable to tourists. Think of big-city hotels where tourists may stay for a day or two for convenience, but don’t book longer stays because of the limited access to wild species.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CYx7U4dNKP_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Our findings suggest that for countries like Costa Rica to continue deriving economic benefits from tourism, they need to invest in both infrastructure and biodiversity conservation. We believe that, rather than building large resorts or multilane roads, countries would be wise to adopt Costa Rica’s model of tourism infrastructure, which is mainly small ecolodges and nature hostels. Sustainability is a <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/37bb0cf5-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/37bb0cf5-en">central theme of the nation’s tourism policy</a>, which emphasizes supporting small- and medium-sized businesses.</p>
<h2>Just enough development</h2>
<p>Governments around the world will convene in <a href="https://www.unep.org/events/conference/un-biodiversity-conference-cop-15">the fall of 2022</a> for a critical conference on protecting the world’s wild species over the coming decade. One of the main goals for this meeting is to negotiate ways for humans to <a href="https://www.cbd.int/decision/cop/?id=12268">live in harmony with nature</a>. </p>
<p>A key issue on the agenda is evaluating and managing trade-offs between protecting nature and promoting economic growth. Our results clearly indicate that these two things cannot be considered in isolation. In our view, the tourism sector should emphasize conserving species, because many people will pay to see wildlife and unspoiled places. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Today tourism employs some 700,000 people <a href="https://www.ict.go.cr/es/documentos-institucionales/estad%C3%ADsticas/cifras-tur%C3%ADsticas/empleo-inec-ccss/1392-bccr-2012-2016/file.html">in Costa Rica</a>. Our research shows that if other countries want to develop ecotourism industries modeled on Costa Rica’s, they should increase access to nature-based tourism opportunities by building roads and hotels. </p>
<p>They also need to invest in protecting biodiversity, especially species that are endemic and threatened, which can serve as tourist draws. With careful planning and an inclusive perspective, we believe that nations can build sustainable tourism programs that benefit their economies and the environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alejandra Echeverri Ochoa receives funding from The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and NASA (Grant #80NSSC18K0434)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey R. Smith currently receives funding from the Carbon Mitigation Initiative at Princeton's High Meadow's Environmental Institute. His work on this project was supported by NASA (Grant #80NSSC18K0434).</span></em></p>Tourism revenues account for almost 10% of Costa Rica’s gross domestic product. New research shows that charismatic wildlife is necessary but not sufficient to attract ecotourists.Alejandra Echeverri Ochoa, Postdoctoral Scholar in Biology, Stanford UniversityJeffrey R. Smith, Postdoctoral Researcher in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1717482022-01-13T14:47:13Z2022-01-13T14:47:13ZHow COVID affected markets and livelihoods in Kenya’s fisheries sector<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/435555/original/file-20211203-23-fz4ju3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fishermen weigh a basket full of fish off the Indian ocean's archipelago of Lamu on Kenya's coast.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fisheries support the livelihoods and well-being of millions of people around the world. Before the COVID pandemic, <a href="https://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1372095/icode/">global fisheries production had reached a record high</a>. Fast forward to 2021, and the pandemic has greatly altered the fisheries sector – increasing vulnerability and exposing weaknesses in fisheries food systems at both local and international levels.</p>
<p>The Kenyan coastal fishery supports <a href="https://aquadocs.org/handle/1834/7857">more than 23,000 fishers catching over 16,000 tonnes of fish annually</a>. The fishery is considered a key sector, providing monetary income and animal protein to about 70% of the coastal communities. </p>
<p>In our recent <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X21004140">study</a>, we set out to assess the impact of COVID-19 on Kenyan fisheries, and hear what fishers and traders did to cope. We interviewed people in five coastal communities to find out about COVID-19 impacts on markets, livelihoods, food security and well-being, and what they did in response.</p>
<p>We found fishers, fish traders and coastal communities faced severe livelihood and food security challenges as a result of the pandemic. The biggest impact came from the restrictions on movement mandated by the Kenyan government. Our findings highlight the severe effects pandemic measures had on households and communities, and offer lessons as the pandemic continues to unfold. </p>
<h2>Restrictions imposed</h2>
<p>The Kenyan government introduced <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/publication/assessing-impact-covid-19-rural-women-and-men-kenya">over 120 policies to contain COVID-19</a>. These included curfews and bans on travel and public gatherings. Restrictions were imposed between March 2020 and November 2021. </p>
<p>In all five study sites, communities were subject to various social distancing rules, movement restrictions and curfews. Limited numbers of people were allowed in boats and vehicles and people were told to minimise non-essential interactions. There were social distancing requirements in markets and stores, and reduced market and shop opening hours. Community gatherings were banned. Traders and transporters, especially, faced challenges such as accessing markets and long waits for East African cross-border trade.</p>
<p>We found that COVID-19 severely affected food security in all communities, though some people fared worse than others. All households told us they ate less (reducing meal sizes or skipping meals altogether), and ate less well (consuming less meat and vegetables and primarily consuming staple carbohydrates such as ugali (cornmeal). </p>
<p>Although foods were available in shops, their loss of income meant they couldn’t afford to buy. Before the pandemic, fishers average income per day was about US$9. This decreased substantially to about US$4 during the pandemic because fishers spent less time fishing. Several people had lost jobs, or knew people who had. </p>
<p>The overall demand for fish sharply reduced by more than 50% and prices fell for many species, particularly those that are important for the hotel, restaurant and catering industries. The drop in demand, and in some cases big price drops of fish and fish products, put a halt to or reduced the activity for many fishing fleets; their work became unprofitable. Fishers were also constrained when suppliers of industry inputs like ice, gear and bait closed, or stopped providing credit.</p>
<p>COVID also disrupted communication and connections with other fishers, traders, and customers. It greatly disrupted local market dynamics at landing sites, within the communities, and connections to more distant markets. </p>
<p>In some communities, people who had lost informal work – for instance in the tourism sector hit by COVID – turned to fishing. With changing numbers and abnormal markets, fishing and fish trade became very uncertain. </p>
<p>There is still uncertainty about the duration and severity of the pandemic, but a prolonged market downturn can be expected even after current restrictions are lifted or relaxed. </p>
<h2>Government interventions and coping strategies</h2>
<p>To cushion vulnerable communities, such as those involved in fishing and fish processing, the government of Kenya provided <a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-and-kenya-government-launch-cash-transfers-families-impacted-coronavirus-mombasa">direct financial assistance</a> including cash stipends via mobile funds transfer, relief food, and <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-and-covid19/Policy-Responses-to-COVID-19#K">tax relief</a>. However, many people we talked to in the five communities had very different experiences in receiving aid and support. </p>
<p>Some traders received a small portion of aid in the form of food. Some community leaders were involved in organising donations from other community organisations to deliver a one-off food aid package to fishers that included maize flour, beans, sugar, and soap. For others, there were delays, confusion or absence of support. Several people said that that while they had heard talk of government or other support, they had not received aid, even after registering.</p>
<p>Most households coped with the shocks of COVID-19 by decreasing the variety and quality of food they ate to conserve money. People stopped buying in bulk, used up existing savings, borrowed money (when there was still enough money in the community for people to lend), or swapped fish for goods directly. None of the strategies could be sustained in the long term.</p>
<h2>Next steps for policymakers</h2>
<p>Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the fisheries sector was considered <a href="https://fortuneofafrica.com/kenya/fisheries-sector-profile-kenya/#:%7E:text=The%20fisheries%20sector%20is%20relatively,sub%2Dsectors%20such%20as%20agriculture.&text=Aquaculture%20has%20grown%20exponentially%20in,sub%2Dsectors%20in%20the%20country.">one of the fastest-growing sectors</a>. During COVID-19, the Kenyan economy shed an estimated US$1.6 million in GDP contribution (down by 28.6%), and lost up to seven thousand industry jobs compared to 2019 levels. The COVID-19 pandemic, and efforts to curtail it, has been devastating to the fishing industry.</p>
<p>Our study highlights how each stage of the fisheries supply chain -— from catch, to trade, to consumption -— is susceptible to disruptions from COVID-19. Only by protecting each stage of the supply chain can human consumption of fish and fish products be achieved. Rules that disrupt fisheries livelihoods ought to be coupled with measures to support communities (such as food support). And they should reach people in a timely manner and be easy to access. </p>
<p>Treating small-scale fisheries as essential services (like exempting them from curfew), and facilitating ways of communicating and trading that do not involve large gatherings, will help support fisheries livelihoods. </p>
<p>Kenya’s domestic fisheries sector, much like the global fisheries industry, faces a multifaceted challenge. Multiple stakeholders need to be involved in the fisheries recovery process, including national governments. There is a need to harness financial, human and technical resources to support fisheries recovery, and at the same time to efficiently roll out <a href="https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/kenya/">vaccination programmes</a> and responsibly reopen the economy to domestic and international markets.</p>
<p><em>Dr Nyawira Muthiga contributed to the research and drafting of this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171748/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emmanuel Mbaru is a Senior Research Scientist at Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI). This research was supported by the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association, the ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies, and the CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Lau is affiliated with WorldFish—an international, not for profit research organization and part of the CGIAR that seeks to deliver research for a more food secure world, particularly for societies most vulnerable women and men. This research was supported by the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association, the ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies, and the CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Sutcliffe is a PhD candidate at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, and is affiliated with WorldFish—an international, not for profit research organization and part of the CGIAR that seeks to deliver research for a more food secure world, particularly for societies most vulnerable women and men. This research was supported by the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association, the ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies, and the CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems.</span></em></p>COVID-19 greatly disrupted local market dynamics at landing sites, within the communities, and connections to more distant markets.Mbaru Emmanuel, Senior Fisheries Scientist, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research InstituteJacqueline Lau, Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook UniversitySarah Ruth Sutcliffe, Marine Social Sciences PhD candidate, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1540742021-12-30T19:15:17Z2021-12-30T19:15:17ZHow Australia’s biggest wine-growing region came to pioneer alcohol control<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434300/original/file-20211129-15-100vjir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C179%2C3916%2C2233&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Creative Screen</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The vast wine-growing region now known as the South Australian Riverland produces more than a quarter of Australia’s wine grapes and developed a reputation for producing large volumes of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-05-23/riverland-wine-region-pushes-to-make-its-mark-on-the-label/12225412">cheap cask wine</a> – an image it is now attempting to dislodge. </p>
<p>But in a remarkable quirk of fate, the Riverland began its life in the late nineteenth century as an irrigation colony run on principles of temperance, with no sales of alcohol allowed across the thousands of hectares of land used to grow irrigated crops on either side of the River Murray. </p>
<p>And although some time later the Riverland did indeed begin to grow grapes for wine, it retained the spirit of its temperance origins by giving birth to a unique experiment in alcohol control. </p>
<p>In the process, Renmark – a small rural town in the South Australian hinterland – adopted progressive, even faintly socialist, alcohol-control policies that originated in Sweden and were causing a stir across Scandinavia, Britain and America.</p>
<p>In 1887 the colonial government of South Australia granted land for an irrigation colony on the Murray to the Chaffey brothers, two entrepreneurial Canadian engineers fresh from similar arid-land enterprises in California. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434307/original/file-20211129-27-1qzx4hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434307/original/file-20211129-27-1qzx4hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434307/original/file-20211129-27-1qzx4hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434307/original/file-20211129-27-1qzx4hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434307/original/file-20211129-27-1qzx4hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434307/original/file-20211129-27-1qzx4hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434307/original/file-20211129-27-1qzx4hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434307/original/file-20211129-27-1qzx4hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG+1258/4/132">State Library of South Australia</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The Chaffeys wanted a reliable, industrious and, above all, sober workforce. </p>
<p>They persuaded the government to create a <a href="https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n3925/html/ch02.xhtml?referer=&page=10#">temperance colony</a>, a kind of prohibition zone where there would be no “promiscuous and enticing vending of intoxicating drinks”.</p>
<p>There would nonetheless be “no interference with personal liberty as regards the private consumption of wines and spirits in any way whatever”.</p>
<p>After a year or so though, barrels of grog were being illegally rolled off the paddle steamers that supplied the river settlements and consumed on the spot.</p>
<p>Unconstrained drunkenness ensued, and some citizens became concerned that the prohibition zone seemed not to be working.</p>
<h2>A Swedish alternative to going dry</h2>
<p>The editor of the Renmark Pioneer, Chris Ashwell, had heard of an alcohol control scheme underway in Sweden that seemed to offer a way out of the impasse between wild drinking on one hand and prohibition on the other.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434314/original/file-20211129-21-x0buds.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434314/original/file-20211129-21-x0buds.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434314/original/file-20211129-21-x0buds.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1222&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434314/original/file-20211129-21-x0buds.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1222&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434314/original/file-20211129-21-x0buds.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1222&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434314/original/file-20211129-21-x0buds.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434314/original/file-20211129-21-x0buds.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434314/original/file-20211129-21-x0buds.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/109511748">National Library of Australia</a></span>
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<p>In June 1895, in an editorial headlined <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/109511748?searchTerm=renmark%20%22hotel%20wanted%22">A Hotel Wanted</a>, he argued it was “impossible to legislate people into teetotallers, and many will obtain drink no matter how they have to get it”.</p>
<p>The Swedish port city of Gothenburg had experimented with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothenburg_Public_House_System">system</a> to control the supply of alcohol by creating a local retail monopoly and eliminating the profit motive.</p>
<p>Semi-private trusts of local citizens would supervise the public houses and allow their managers to take a profit only on sales of food and non-alcoholic beverages. </p>
<p>Instead of going to the pub-keeper, profits from the sale of alcohol would go to the council to improve amenities such as parks, theatres and welfare services.</p>
<p>Versions of the system were adopted across Sweden, Norway and Britain. Renmark’s sister city of Mildura, not far along the river in Victoria, had voted in favour of it (although it ended up not adopting it).</p>
<p>Many readers agreed that a “Gothenburg” pub would “civilise” drinking, although others – supporters of prohibition – argued that any pub, even a community-owned one, would be the thin edge of the wedge. </p>
<h2>‘The first community hotel in the British empire’</h2>
<p>As I have described in an article for the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14443058.2021.1871934">Journal of Australian Studies</a>, after some lobbying the dry area declaration was amended and local householders voted in favour of a licensed business, if it was conducted for and by the community.</p>
<p>A local landowner put up the funds and in March 1897, Renmark opened the first “<a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/75230674">trust public house</a>” in Australia. </p>
<p>Five approved landholders (all men) were elected to the hotel committee, with the Anglican vicar as chair. None were permitted to have a financial interest in any business associated with alcohol.</p>
<p>Local histories say the sly grog trade was killed off immediately, with one of the Chaffeys observing cautiously two years later that drunkenness had diminished. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434334/original/file-20211129-21-17590kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434334/original/file-20211129-21-17590kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434334/original/file-20211129-21-17590kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434334/original/file-20211129-21-17590kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434334/original/file-20211129-21-17590kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434334/original/file-20211129-21-17590kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434334/original/file-20211129-21-17590kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434334/original/file-20211129-21-17590kd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Renmark Hotel, circa 1936.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/PRG+1258/2/2107">State Library of South Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After a slow start in terms of profitability, by the 1930s the Renmark Hotel (known as the “<a href="https://timegents.com/2014/12/24/australias-first-and-oldest-community-hotel/">first community hotel in the British empire</a>”) was doing well, with expanded premises and an impressive art deco frontage, still to be seen today. </p>
<p>Maids wore black and white pinafores, bellboys wore livery, there were stylish lounges with leather tub chairs, and hotel-sponsored riverside gardens planted with palm trees, roses and geraniums.</p>
<p>Over the following decades, the other four major towns in South Australia’s Riverland – Waikerie, Barmera, Berri and Loxton – followed suit.</p>
<p>By the 1960s citizens in Ceduna, Streaky Bay, Kimba, and Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley also bought hotels. </p>
<h2>Mainly in South Australia</h2>
<p>In 1944, a newly-formed Griffith Community Hotel and Liquor Reform Association in NSW organised a public meeting which agreed to petition the government for a community hotel.</p>
<p>The Berri Hotel, one speaker noted admiringly, “had only been in existence seven years and had maintained a park and provided scholarships of several hundreds of pounds”.</p>
<p>But the idea never spread much outside of South Australia, with only isolated examples elsewhere.</p>
<p>This might be something to do with South Australia’s origin as a colony, established by free-settlers as a cradle of experimentation and communalism, with no one religion dominant and dissenting sects open to radical ideas.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434346/original/file-20211129-13-1mytgb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434346/original/file-20211129-13-1mytgb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434346/original/file-20211129-13-1mytgb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434346/original/file-20211129-13-1mytgb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434346/original/file-20211129-13-1mytgb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434346/original/file-20211129-13-1mytgb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434346/original/file-20211129-13-1mytgb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434346/original/file-20211129-13-1mytgb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">South Australia’s Riverland, responsible for a quarter of Australia’s grape crush.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Greg Brave/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another reason might be that NSW, and to a lesser extent Victoria, established private clubs which ended up functioning as community hotels.</p>
<p>In Sweden today, the vestiges of the Gothenberg system can be seen in the state-owned <a href="https://www.omsystembolaget.se/english/">Systembolaget stores</a>, a network of tightly controlled near-monopoly “alcohol supermarkets”, whose profits support health promotion.</p>
<p>In South Australia, the Gothenberg-inspired hotels face competition. But they are still important to their communities as large venues offering meals prepared with local produce and, in some, the original community-funded gardens.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie Brady received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>South Australia’s Riverland adopted a Swedish system to control the dissemination of alcohol, even as it began the journey to becoming Australia’s biggest wine producer.Maggie Brady, Honorary Associate Professor, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1509982020-12-10T17:13:38Z2020-12-10T17:13:38ZStressed out working from home? Consider a hotel day pass<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373756/original/file-20201209-17-14k0lnr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4492%2C3046&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Could the Chateau Laurier be your new office?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.scotsman.com/news/finish-or-bust-jk-rowlings-unlikely-message-edinburgh-hotel-room-2467096">J.K. Rowling famously wrote her <em>Harry Potter</em> series</a> from local cafés and, eventually, out of a five-star hotel. <a href="https://youtu.be/GjLan582Lgk">She found that working from home had too many distractions</a>, including child-care responsibilities. </p>
<p>Instead, she simply needed a quiet and simulating place to work that was free of distractions and allowed her to be productive. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GjLan582Lgk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Oprah Winfrey Network.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, as we near the 10th month of mandated remote work, many employees working from home are struggling for a variety of reasons, just as Rowling did. Perhaps it’s time to rethink the concept of working from home versus working from anywhere safely. </p>
<p>Between <a href="https://digital.com/covid-19-working-from-home-follow-up-survey">40 per cent to 70 per cent</a> <a href="https://www.hrreporter.com/focus-areas/relocation-travel/how-many-workers-want-to-go-back-to-the-office/333302">of employees currently working remotely</a> due to COVID-19 restrictions want to go back to the office, with safety measures in place.</p>
<p>Having a dedicated, distraction-free work space can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2011.11.015">keep workers on task and foster deeper cognitive processing</a>. It can also help separate work hours from non-work hours. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, returning to the office isn’t likely an option since many businesses might remain closed well into 2021, or some might have moved permanently to a work-from-home model. Some workers might also be facing a lengthy commute if they’ve moved away from cities during the lengthy pandemic.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/young-workers-can-thrive-after-coronavirus-layoffs-by-leaving-big-cities-139175">Young workers can thrive after coronavirus layoffs by leaving big cities</a>
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</em>
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<p>Meanwhile, the hotel industry across Canada has been severely and negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of hotel workers are out of jobs. <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1122853/coronavirus-hotel-occupancy-canada/">At the end of October 2020</a>, Canadian hotels reported vacancy rates ranging from 64.4 per cent in British Columbia to 84.5 per cent in Québec. <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/travel-logistics-and-transport-infrastructure/our-insights/hospitality-and-covid-19-how-long-until-no-vacancy-for-us-hotels">Many hotels are on the brink of collapse</a>. </p>
<p>A solution may be within reach that solves both problems. </p>
<p>Similar to the “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/shop-local-covid-19-pandemic-small-businesses-1.5675070">shop local</a>” messaging encouraging consumers to buy from small neighbourhood retailers, working remotely from a nearby hotel could be a solution that benefits both remote workers and local hotels until the pandemic has passed.</p>
<h2>The negative side of working from home</h2>
<p>Working from home for the last 10 months has left some workers feeling <a href="https://hbr.org/sponsored/2020/07/6-ways-to-avoid-isolation-fatigue-while-balancing-the-demands-of-remote-work">isolated, depressed and disengaged</a>. While there are many benefits associated with working from home, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-005X.2012.00284.x">emotional exhaustion levels of workers increase when working from home extensively</a>. </p>
<p>The blurring of personal and professional space causes some employees to struggle switching off from work. This reduces cognitive well-being and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22138930/">negatively affects sleep quality</a>. </p>
<p>People working in a home crowded with family members also suffer from the “<a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJPSM-06-2020-0150/full/html?skipTracking=true">time elasticity illusion</a>.” That happens when others assume the worker can spend time on household tasks without it having an impact on the amount of time spent on paid work. This involuntary overlap of household and work commitments leads to fatigue.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman's silhouette in the darkness." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373730/original/file-20201209-15-1f6kard.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373730/original/file-20201209-15-1f6kard.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373730/original/file-20201209-15-1f6kard.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373730/original/file-20201209-15-1f6kard.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373730/original/file-20201209-15-1f6kard.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373730/original/file-20201209-15-1f6kard.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373730/original/file-20201209-15-1f6kard.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Remote work and the blurring of professional and personal time can result in insomnia and fatigue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ben Blennerhassett/Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There’s a spillover effect of that fatigue. <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fapl0000843">End-of-day work exhaustion leads to difficulties starting work and staying on task the following day</a>. This can become a difficult cycle to break.</p>
<p>Research shows that workers who focus on finding dedicated, distraction-free work spaces during peak efficiency hours <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-07-2017-0172">are more productive and less stressed out about their jobs</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Office workers chat and laugh while looking at a laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373732/original/file-20201209-17-huqn6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373732/original/file-20201209-17-huqn6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373732/original/file-20201209-17-huqn6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373732/original/file-20201209-17-huqn6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373732/original/file-20201209-17-huqn6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373732/original/file-20201209-17-huqn6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373732/original/file-20201209-17-huqn6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some employees like the structure of the workplace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Studies also suggest <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-012-0003-2">the mundane routines of everyday working life like getting ready, eating breakfast and commuting make some people happy</a>. Additionally, these routines create a buffer between personal and professional time.</p>
<p><a href="https://digital.com/covid-19-working-from-home-follow-up-survey">Some people also crave the normalcy and structure of the workplace</a>. Others, especially parents, want to get away from the distractions of home. </p>
<h2>How do hotel workers benefit?</h2>
<p>Aligned with this, hotels have broadened their business model and <a href="https://www.workspacesbyhilton.com/">started offering packages that are aimed at remote workers</a>. Those working from home can access a local hotel on a day or special pass. These passes typically include <a href="https://www.torontocentre.intercontinental.com/special-pkg/work-from-hotel-package">special rates (daily, weekly or monthly)</a>, <a href="https://workanywhere.marriott.com">dedicated work spaces</a> and waived fees for special services like gyms and pools. These services can both help workers overcome the strain of an exclusive work-from-home situation while giving a boost to local businesses.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/app/cis/businesses-entreprises/721">In 2019, there were more than 10,000 accommodation services businesses across Canada</a>. <a href="https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/app/cis/businesses-entreprises/721">Most of these employed between five to 99 employees.</a> These jobs are often part-time, providing employment that is <a href="https://www.workbc.ca/labour-market-information/industry-information/industry-profiles/accommodation-and-food-services#workforce">highly accessible to women</a>, <a href="https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/content_pieces-eng.do?cid=12204">young workers and immigrants</a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3610023201&pickMembers%5B0%5D=2.2&cubeTimeFrame.startMonth=04&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2019&cubeTimeFrame.endMonth=07&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2020&referencePeriods=20190401%2C20200701">more than 50 per cent of hotel workers lost their jobs between January and June of 2020</a>, with very little employment recovery since then.</p>
<h2>Breaking the cycle</h2>
<p>While hotels traditionally provide overnight accommodation for travellers, they can attract different clients by marketing themselves as safe, distraction-free, dedicated places to work for those who work from home and need to break the cycle of exhaustion. </p>
<p>The use of hotel space by remote workers, even temporarily, can support employment of local hotel workers, creating a dual benefit at a time of uncertainty.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A porter opens the door into a brightly lit hotel room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374267/original/file-20201210-24-1u058i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374267/original/file-20201210-24-1u058i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374267/original/file-20201210-24-1u058i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374267/original/file-20201210-24-1u058i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374267/original/file-20201210-24-1u058i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374267/original/file-20201210-24-1u058i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/374267/original/file-20201210-24-1u058i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If hotel rooms are sitting empty during the pandemic, why not put them to good use?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Ming Dai/Pixabay)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And according to the <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-working-in-hotels">World Health Organization</a>, working from a hotel is safe if basic COVID-19 precautions are followed. These include washing hands frequently, wearing masks and maintaining a safe distance from others. Plexiglas shields or remote/keyless check-in, entry and checkout systems are also useful.</p>
<p>If stressed-out workers and interested hoteliers need more information, <a href="https://www.hac-covid.com/">the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC), in partnership with the Public Health Agency Canada, has created a COVID-19 portal</a> providing information for hotels on a variety of safety measures and initiatives. </p>
<p>In the meantime, <a href="https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2020/10/28/marriott-launches-work-from-hotel-packages/">some major hotel chains, including Marriott</a>, <a href="https://www.workspacesbyhilton.com/">Hilton</a> and the <a href="https://www.torontocentre.intercontinental.com/special-pkg/work-from-hotel-package">Intercontinental</a>, have launched work-from-hotel packages aimed at providing some relief for stressed-out people who need to get out of their homes to effectively do their jobs — or maybe even create the next <em>Harry Potter</em> phenomenon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150998/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nita Chhinzer receives funding from the Government of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for an Insight Grant focused on exploring the antecedents and consequences of job loss and mass layoffs in Canada (2020-2023). </span></em></p>People working from home, especially parents, are stressed out during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hotels, meantime, have taken a huge economic hit. Here’s why hotels should market to remote workers.Nita Chhinzer, Associate Professor, Human Resource Management and Business Consulting (Dept of Management), University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1487022020-12-08T16:28:21Z2020-12-08T16:28:21ZSARS didn’t prepare the hospitality industry for the prolonged impact of COVID-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373166/original/file-20201205-17-pvv2k1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C0%2C5400%2C3046&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. After the SARS pandemic in 2003, Toronto hotels faced a recovery period.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A virulent virus, worried travellers and a tourism sector on the brink. Sounds like 2020? In fact, this was the experience in a few global cities in 2002 and 2003. </p>
<p>Toronto was one of them. The city’s battle against a deadly virus — and the struggle for the rehabilitation of its damaged tourism sector — offers lessons for cities wondering how they will navigate a post-COVID world. And even plan for the next crisis, whenever it arrives. </p>
<p>Hotels, as places of refuge, pleasure, business and also contagion, are important places to explore how the tourism sector pilots its way through pandemics. The experience with SARS offers sobering lessons for Toronto and urban tourist destinations globally.</p>
<h2>Similar impacts of SARS and COVID-19</h2>
<p>How are the tourism crises of 2002-03 and today similar, and how do they differ? Both public health crisis resulted in <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6710543/ontario-covid-19-measures-layoffs/">sudden, dramatic declines in hotel occupancy</a>. However, while all travel came to a sudden stop globally in 2020, the 2002-03 events centred on a few cities, with Toronto, Singapore and Hong Kong under the microscope. </p>
<p>Hotel occupancy rates in these cities recorded steep declines, as travellers headed elsewhere, businesses suspended events <a href="https://www.who.int/csr/sars/travel/airtravel/en/">and worried airlines and public health authorities</a> explored protocols such as the now-ubiquitous face masks.</p>
<p>The collapse in travel in winter 2020 occurred at a point when the overall economy and the travel sector were in robust shape and recording record profits. In 2002-03, circumstances were very different. Global travel had slowed due to the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=86672&page=1">Iraq War</a>. Increasing documentation requirements and lingering concerns over security after 9/11 reduced cross-border traffic between Canada and the United States. </p>
<h2>Toronto hotels and SARS</h2>
<p>The arrival of SARS dealt a body blow to Canada’s largest city.</p>
<p>Both SARS and COVID-19 have had a severe impact on tourism and travel. Hotels are barometers of Toronto’s economic condition, and reveal the unequal impacts pandemics have on employment. Marginally employed people — immigrants and low-income workers — are over-represented among hotel workers. They lose their jobs quickly in the face of reduced demand. </p>
<p>Seasonal employment prospects also dim in the face of disruption. As in summer 2020, student summer employment was impacted in 2003, especially as Toronto entered the crucial summer months back, briefly, on the <a href="https://www.cmaj.ca/content/cmaj/168/11/1434.full.pdf">World Health Organization’s SARS travel advisory</a>. The blow dealt to the tourism sector locally was hard but, as it turned out, by no means fatal.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373205/original/file-20201206-19-1bowie8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a black suit with a blue suitcase uses an Air Canada check-in kiosk at the airport. A sign with the text SARS is in the foreground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373205/original/file-20201206-19-1bowie8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373205/original/file-20201206-19-1bowie8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373205/original/file-20201206-19-1bowie8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373205/original/file-20201206-19-1bowie8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373205/original/file-20201206-19-1bowie8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373205/original/file-20201206-19-1bowie8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373205/original/file-20201206-19-1bowie8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A passenger checks in as a warning sign gives information about SARS at Pearson International Airport on May 30, 2003.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CP PHOTO/Kevin Frayer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Toronto’s experience with SARS suggests that once a place appears safe, reassured travellers return — with some coaxing and a lot of co-ordinated planning. In late spring 2003, Toronto businesses developed a co-ordinated response to recovery. Travel packages that included accommodation, restaurant reservations, sporting events and theatre tickets began to lure tourists back. This promotion was accompanied by an aggressive and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/gas-chains-cutting-prices-to-encourage-toronto-travel-in-anti-sars-promotion-1.411220">co-ordinated roll-back of gasoline prices</a>. </p>
<h2>After SARS, a celebration</h2>
<p>The SARS crisis also led to the creation of a body for the tourism and hospitality sector, chaired by Tourism Toronto, which aimed to restore the city’s reputation. Local and provincial governments committed funds for advertising to reassure prospective tourists that Toronto was safe. The federal government also announced additional funds to promote Canada as a destination in international markets. </p>
<p>The most famous part of the reputation rehabilitation strategy was the hosting of the July 30, 2003, SARS benefit concert. Several hundred thousand fans cheered a lineup of world-famous musicians, headlined by the Rolling Stones. The results of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/archives/the-2003-concert-that-rocked-toronto-after-sars-1.5650768">that mega-event</a> are hard to measure in terms of impact, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/sarsbenefit/">despite the large and enthusiastic crowds that it drew</a>. Such an event is unimaginable today, with the timeline for the COVID-19’s defeat far off, and the certainty that doubts will linger about the wisdom of such boisterous, large-scale assemblies for a long time to come.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qena0QraBHE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A CBC report on the 2003 SARS benefit concert.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2003, good news for the tourism sector arrived quickly. In fact, by late 2004, hotels were recording pre-SARS occupancy levels. It seemed as if the sector had dodged a bullet. But it had also dodged a critical opportunity to reflect on how new technologies and standards might reduce the impact of a future pandemic. And this is perhaps where the comparison proves most illuminating.</p>
<h2>After COVID-19?</h2>
<p>The hotel sector faces dramatically different conditions today. It is in the midst of a global pandemic affecting all sectors of the economy. SARS resulted <a href="https://www.who.int/csr/sars/country/2003_07_11/en/">in far fewer deaths</a>, over a shorter period of time, in a small number of major cities. </p>
<p>While the story of hotels’ recovery is inspiring, the pace was so fast that few paused to ask is larger lessons would be learned: What vulnerabilities might have been disguised in the rush to restore Toronto’s dynamic tourism sector? How could new technologies, systematic contingency planning and early detection systems might have become integrated into hotel management post-2003? </p>
<p>The greatest lesson of SARS may be how, amid the excited focus on recovery and a return to normalcy, so little thought was given to structurally prepare for the prospect of future crises. We need to keep these lessons in mind as we plan our emergence from COVID-19, and the resumption of travel.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148702/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin James receives funding from the University of Guelph COVID-19 Research Development & Catalyst Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jose Gabriel Alonzo receives funding from the University of Guelph COVID-19 Research Development & Catalyst Fund.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Holmes receives funding from the University of Guelph and SSHRC. Holmes is also a Board Member for the Canadian Travel and Tourism Research Association.</span></em></p>After SARS in 2003, an effort was made by Toronto’s tourism and hospitality industries to stimulate the sector’s recovery. But measures weren’t put in place for future pandemics.Kevin James, Professor, History, University of GuelphJose Gabriel Alonzo, Masters student, History, University of GuelphMark Holmes, Assistant Professor, Business and Economics, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1415562020-07-13T11:12:16Z2020-07-13T11:12:16ZHomeless numbers set to rise – but lockdown shows government can solve this<p>At the start of lockdown, there <a href="https://www.nottinghampost.com/whats-on/food-drink/nottingham-chip-shop-steps-help-4239268">were many</a> heartwarming <a href="https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2020/04/01/charity-launches-uks-first-free-food-delivery-service-for-homeless/">stories of</a> countless <a href="https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/this-country-done-lot-thought-4041103">restaurants, cafes and bars</a> that turned their attention and resources to feeding the homeless for free. There was also a considerable financial commitment from the government to accomodate more than 5,000 rough sleepers <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dame-louise-casey-writes-to-local-authority-homelessness-managers-and-rough-sleeping-coordinators/dame-louise-casey-writes-to-local-authority-homelessness-managers-and-rough-sleeping-coordinators">in hotels</a> up and down the country. </p>
<p>But as lockdown rolls on, it seems some homeless people are <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-some-homeless-people-prefer-sleeping-rough-to-hostels-or-hotels-139414">choosing to leave</a> or even being evicted from their temporary accommodation. This is despite efforts from support workers, local councils and the government to enable them to “stay at home”. </p>
<p>With many hotels and B&Bs now reopening for tourists, there is also a real risk that many other homeless people will simply be returning to rough sleeping <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52985450">in the coming days and weeks</a>. And along with the risks that come with <a href="https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/homelessness-knowledge-hub/types-of-homelessness/its-no-life-at-all-2016/">rough sleeping</a>, being homeless also increases the likelihood of <a href="https://www.homeless.org.uk/connect/blogs/2020/mar/05/covid-19-coronavirus-outbreak">contracting and spreading COVID-19</a>.</p>
<h2>True scale of the problem</h2>
<p>In total, £1.6 billion has been <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dame-louise-casey-writes-to-local-authority-homelessness-managers-and-rough-sleeping-coordinators/dame-louise-casey-writes-to-local-authority-homelessness-managers-and-rough-sleeping-coordinators">promised by</a> the government to local councils in a bid to stop people returning to the streets. But if people have already left or been forced to leave their temporary accommodation, this golden opportunity to prevent a return to homelessness may slip away.</p>
<p>There’s also the fact that the number of people in need of housing seems far greater than the 5,000 or so rough sleepers housed in the early lockdown figures. Such estimates do not include the “<a href="https://blog.shelter.org.uk/2019/01/we-can-and-must-end-the-rough-sleeping-emergency/">hidden homeless</a>” – people housed in temporary accommodation, sofa-surfing with no fixed address, or using night busses to avoid bedding down on the streets. Adding these people increases homeless <a href="https://england.shelter.org.uk/media/press_releases/articles/320,000_people_in_britain_are_now_homeless,_as_numbers_keep_rising">estimates to 320,000</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346416/original/file-20200708-3999-1x1lgsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346416/original/file-20200708-3999-1x1lgsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346416/original/file-20200708-3999-1x1lgsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346416/original/file-20200708-3999-1x1lgsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346416/original/file-20200708-3999-1x1lgsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346416/original/file-20200708-3999-1x1lgsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346416/original/file-20200708-3999-1x1lgsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many people who become homeless do not show up in official figures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sleeping-homeless-man-bag-on-sidewalk-1592377063">R. Rose/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/policy_and_research/policy_library/policy_library_folder/shelter_submission_hclg_select_committee_inquiry_into_the_impact_of_covid-19_on_homelessness_and_the_private_rented_sector">Research by Shelter</a> also predicts there will be a massive increase in the number of people who could face homelessness over the coming year. The charity warns that nearly 2 million tenants are expected to be newly unemployed by the end of June 2020 – which will put many families at risk of homelessness.</p>
<h2>More than a roof</h2>
<p>But ending homelessness isn’t just about providing a roof. Homelessness is a complex issue that can result from a huge range of unmet needs – such as mental and physical health problems, a dysfunctional family background and addiction. </p>
<p>For example, a key issue among homeless people appears to be mental health problems. In June 2019 the number of households in temporary accommodation was 86,130. Of these, 45% were identified as having one or more support need – most <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/852953/Statutory_Homelessness_Statistical_Release_Apr-Jun_2019.pdf">commonly mental health</a>. </p>
<p>Shelter tries to address some of these <a href="https://england.shelter.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/1361921/Multiple_Complex_Needs_Service.pdf">unmet needs</a> by supporting people to improve their health and wellbeing. The charity also aims to reduce hospital admissions and re-offending rates among the homeless community, while also offering assistance to access other kinds of help alongside housing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346422/original/file-20200708-43-1tyibc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346422/original/file-20200708-43-1tyibc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346422/original/file-20200708-43-1tyibc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346422/original/file-20200708-43-1tyibc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346422/original/file-20200708-43-1tyibc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346422/original/file-20200708-43-1tyibc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346422/original/file-20200708-43-1tyibc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A weight of expectation is placed on homeless people to trust and feel safe with an unfamiliar way of living when they are housed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-american-father-talking-upset-mixed-1282522474">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While this goes some way to help, what is really needed is for the government to view homelessness as more than simply a <a href="http://theconversation.com/theres-more-to-homelessness-than-rooflessness-6225">problem of rooflessness</a> – with a varied response to emergency housing depending on individual need. This is important because homelessness and the concept of “<a href="http://artsites.ucsc.edu/sdaniel/177_2015/homelessness_and_meaningofhome.pdf">home</a>” means something different to every homeless person – so the solution must be unique to each person.</p>
<p>Meeting the needs of the homeless can also be simplified if service improvements – such as where and when help is made available – include ideas from service users. This would help to design services that deliver <a href="https://www.chadresearch.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/City-Centre-Rough-Sleeping-and-Street-Activity-Report.pdf">long-term solutions that work</a>.</p>
<h2>Time for action</h2>
<p>As we move towards a “new normal”, with <a href="https://theconversation.com/summer-statement-rishi-sunak-goes-all-out-for-jobs-leaving-public-finances-for-another-day-140605">measures</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-recovery-the-new-economic-thinking-we-need-141339">restart the economy</a>, it’s hoped some of the tougher, more enduring inequalities that plague society can be included in that approach. As a nation, we have shown we can jump into action. And politicians have shown they can act quickly. </p>
<p>But if long-term housing of homeless citizens is to be implemented, a redefinition of the idea of homelessness is necessary, to make it about more than just rooflessness – and this needs to happen sooner rather than later. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346419/original/file-20200708-19-1o7hzks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346419/original/file-20200708-19-1o7hzks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346419/original/file-20200708-19-1o7hzks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346419/original/file-20200708-19-1o7hzks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346419/original/file-20200708-19-1o7hzks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346419/original/file-20200708-19-1o7hzks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346419/original/file-20200708-19-1o7hzks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many families may be unable to pay the rent and forced out of their homes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-american-father-talking-upset-mixed-1282522474">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fast pace of action towards providing emergency accommodation now needs to be used to help services evolve to support homeless people in tune with their individual needs. </p>
<p>Indeed, this cannot just be mulled over in academic discussion or wrestled over in political debate. These people need urgent action before they end up back on the streets, with many more in danger of joining them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141556/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Hassett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pandemic is once in a generation opportunity to help homeless people stay off the streets for good – we must not waste this.Fiona Hassett, PhD Candidate in the School of Law, Policing and Forensics, Staffordshire UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1405082020-06-15T08:21:05Z2020-06-15T08:21:05ZAfrican tourism has been put on ice by coronavirus – here’s how some countries are reviving it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341248/original/file-20200611-80789-z28iul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">On Bijilo Beach in the Gambia, there are no fruit sellers in sight. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/giselaglb/22548711458/in/photolist-235LJrW-2fpy2WQ-EjTUkY-78uj3D-93BE6-EvvCSt-2hHG3sA-Amy3kd-KdFx9Z-4wTgKd-7yB2VR-7yTAHA-7yDCvs-6nMMf4-58u2Tc-a3Dq48-58u9ha-4jZ3N1-CeRERK-9j8KPd-6t6reB-7gUema-6tazpo-6tazkW-6tazuJ-s4PL2">gisela gerson lohman-braun</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the Gambia, teams of young tourism guides in their first holiday season are doing something very different from what they learned in training. They have been <a href="http://www.intracen.org/news/Youth-tour-guides-in-the-Gambia-emerge-as-first-responders-to-COVID19-awareness-and-prevention/">redeployed to act</a> as coronavirus guides for their local communities, raising awareness and explaining to their fellow Gambians how to prevent the spread of infection. </p>
<p>On the beaches, the normally busy fruit seller huts are empty and everything is quiet. Such is the situation in many African tourist resorts in 2020, with tourism reduced to almost nothing.</p>
<p>Globally, tourism could lose around 120 million jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, <a href="https://ftnnews.com/other-news/39646-wttc-more-than-197m-travel-tourism-jobs-at-risk">according to</a> the World Travel & Tourism Council. The number of holidaymakers travelling abroad is forecast to halve in 2020 as more than US$3 trillion (£2.4 trillion) gets wiped off global tourism GDP. </p>
<p>This will be keenly felt by the many countries whose people depend on tourism. Two examples on opposite coasts of Africa are the Gambia and Kenya. Tourism accounts for 9% of Kenya’s GDP and 20% in the Gambia. It provides a living to <a href="https://investingroup.org/snapshot/289/kenyas-tourism-industry-kenya/#:%7E:text=Tourism%20sector's%20total%20contribution%20to,%2C%20according%20to%20the%20WTTC.">around 10%</a> of Kenyans and nearly a fifth of Gambians, while acting as an important source of foreign exchange. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341257/original/file-20200611-80770-1ntg7xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341257/original/file-20200611-80770-1ntg7xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341257/original/file-20200611-80770-1ntg7xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341257/original/file-20200611-80770-1ntg7xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341257/original/file-20200611-80770-1ntg7xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341257/original/file-20200611-80770-1ntg7xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341257/original/file-20200611-80770-1ntg7xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341257/original/file-20200611-80770-1ntg7xu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Downtime in Tanji, the Gambia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/110089254@N02/32634831654/in/photolist-RHQ3th-MZXyk9-EA3oLk-otkz4E-amwFnQ-SWcKN3-oiNu4u-a4RuvF-TuUzZo-7w7GMG-dsnRmF-23hoZAJ-Ers1a1-s6zs34-CzqPu-KZUr4J-r5o4BM-avbBfZ-awAj1a-FXGdBp-NXpJ7z-aGNd1n-GSk4Ly-D96rw9-e5k6zo-BBcBvP-aRjrzp-5bQ7eN-j52jgA-oHZaTN-8YcRUA-KZ5nKJ-dCEnQw-JkG4sD-oHZ9TG-5PvG9j-otwm8g-8Y9Mgx-m7oXAp-dQwYs7-PBErgQ-8YcMr3-oKZdaf-oHZaYh-hYhku8-Bfjz2-oL24ir-8Y9Jv4-LLWzow-8Y9KRP">Rachel Whitelock</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In both countries, the pandemic is damaging hotels and tour operators, putting people out of work, reducing GDP, and affecting thousands of small businesses in the tourism supply chain, such as providers of food, transport and souvenirs. </p>
<p>There are also wider consequences that may be less obvious. Poverty alleviation initiatives tied to tourism through youth and women’s empowerment programmes are being set back. </p>
<p>Tourism can also support conservation. In Kenya, the <a href="https://www.olpejetaconservancy.org/">Ol’Pejeta Conservancy</a> to the north of Nairobi is home to the world’s last two northern white rhinos. In 2018, Ol’Pejeta <a href="https://issuu.com/olpejetaconservancy/docs/2018_-_ol_pejeta_annual_report_-_fi?fr=xIAEoAT3_SkocQklDQEBAbgYWzP5qAsR1vBttGhxTbio6wSY7FgbhCsHPAgMKwSY7FgbhCsH_BDIwMTnB_wIwNsH_Ck9QX0xPR09fV0_ICqmYbjtU">spent US$2.6 million</a> on wildlife conservation and community development, much of it protecting endangered species from poaching.</p>
<h2>How they are responding</h2>
<p>Kenya’s 51 million population is more than 20 times bigger than that of the Gambia. Tourism is usually the number-one source of income after agriculture for those in rural areas, especially on the coast and in places rich with wildlife. But for a country that specialises in high-end safari and beach holidays for rich westerners, the crisis has hit hard. </p>
<p>Early in the crisis, tourism associations advised their members on keeping clients and staff safe, as well as holiday cancellation policies. They negotiated with the government, tax authority and banks on how to protect businesses. Tourist businesses have now cut back to skeleton staff and business partners have been giving one another 12 months’ grace on debts. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341254/original/file-20200611-80742-19uh2bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341254/original/file-20200611-80742-19uh2bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341254/original/file-20200611-80742-19uh2bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341254/original/file-20200611-80742-19uh2bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341254/original/file-20200611-80742-19uh2bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341254/original/file-20200611-80742-19uh2bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341254/original/file-20200611-80742-19uh2bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341254/original/file-20200611-80742-19uh2bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ain’t complaining: elephants in Amboseli national park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/30107812@N05/3439101952/in/photolist-6eUicf-7i4K9L-6mtb5b-aPJzU6-GrL3m6-8Ygfr-79nNnh-FJAz8-24jE4sT-2bku3JN-28jDMf2-2bqLaLt-bvG5kL-zqdW23-ix779-68a9QA-mBcUsD-8Ygvq-mBd7uH-cRs35s-bbbpVv-zEvHX3-a97Vc5-a97VmJ-zqczwu-qA6McN-qZrtQ1-S8aK4X-rDSZDj-9SrJVU-a957QZ-qRLbcL-c2gQgL-aAgTQm-28BNzM-vCWrA-c2gRZs-qwdUey-c2h171-RUZ5kQ-5k73tu-GpmSd9-9SrK2s-9QSXdE-RWrV66-28sx4nD-28BNv6-vCY5B-vCW6J-cQM2wG">Jimmy Edmonds</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The government is providing some financial support to industry workers through an <a href="https://www.president.go.ke/2020/05/23/the-seventh-presidential-address-on-the-coronavirus-pandemic-the-8-point-economic-stimulus-programme-saturday-23rd-may-2020/">economic stimulus programme</a>. It has also mobilised tourism-association leaders into a taskforce to oversee reopenings.</p>
<p>In the Gambia, tourism had <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/years-gambians-protesting-191216134431488.html">already suffered</a> in recent years from <a href="https://skift.com/2017/01/18/unrest-in-the-gambia-prompts-tourist-evacuation/">political unrest</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30495101">Ebola</a> and the collapse of <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1719477/thomas-cooks-collapse-will-devastate-gambias-tourist-industry/">Thomas Cook</a>. It is also over-dependent on a few tour operators selling winter-sun holidays, and charter flights that find it more profitable to fly to the Mediterranean during the European summer. This imposes a “season” that limits the potential to bring in tourists all year round. </p>
<p>As well as deploying the youth tourism guides to help fight coronavirus, the Gambia Tourism Board <a href="http://www.visitthegambia.gm/news/covid-19-preparedness-and-measures-for-hotels-guesthouses-restaurants-and-ground-tour-operators-amongst-others">has worked with</a> the ministry of health to develop safety measures for hotels. The government is working with the UN to kickstart recovery efforts to safeguard livelihoods. Meanwhile, those in the industry have called on the government to provide tax breaks, moratoriums on loans and support packages for wages and economic stimulus. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341203/original/file-20200611-80784-etcr4u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341203/original/file-20200611-80784-etcr4u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341203/original/file-20200611-80784-etcr4u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341203/original/file-20200611-80784-etcr4u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341203/original/file-20200611-80784-etcr4u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341203/original/file-20200611-80784-etcr4u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341203/original/file-20200611-80784-etcr4u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341203/original/file-20200611-80784-etcr4u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Normally packed with tourists, the Gambia’s most popular tourist beach at Kololi Beach is empty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adama Bah</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In both countries, the emphasis during the crisis has been on collaboration. But this needs to happen internationally, too, since neither has the “fiscal space” for the economic stimulus seen in advanced economies. A Mandinka proverb says that “rice fields with the same borders share the same waters”. We’re all in this together, in other words. </p>
<p>In March 2020, the World Economic Forum <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/flattening-the-covid-19-curve-in-developing-countries/?fbclid=IwAR1ogzm8n1laybGyX4A8RvCsLJ42puSuzweZOCbdoOucqUAnbGoRl5FnGSw">called on</a> the US Federal Reserve and other central banks propping up their economies with quantitative easing (QE) – creating new money to buy their government’s debt – to help developing countries by also buying their debt. There is no sign of this happening. </p>
<p>Some bigger developing countries such as South Africa <a href="https://think.ing.com/articles/qe-in-em-unconventional-risks/">have launched</a> their own QE programmes, but for many others dependent on tourism, the lack of international support is making the crisis worse. </p>
<h2>Sustainable tourism</h2>
<p>The crisis is also <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-end-of-global-travel-as-we-know-it-an-opportunity-for-sustainable-tourism-133783">an opportunity</a> to develop more sustainable tourism. The Gambia has already shown a way forward by developing an alternative to “sun, sand and sea” packages known as
<a href="http://cscuk.dfid.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/3483-Common-Knowledge-Issue-7.pdf">The Ninki Nanka Trail</a>. The trail enables visitors to discover the Gambia’s rich natural and culture heritage while experiencing the important oral legend of the mythical Ninki Nanka dragon said to reside in the creeks of the River Gambia.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.voicegambia.com/2020/02/18/ninki-nanka-trail-launched/">Launched in</a> February 2020 and set up with the help of an <a href="https://yep.gm/">EU-funded Youth Empowerment Project</a>, the trail <a href="https://unevoc.unesco.org/e-forum/The%20Gambia%20Summary%20Report%20November%202006.pdf">aims to</a> do two things: help the Gambia to reduce poverty in rural areas by diversifying into community-based tourism, while extending the season into the “green/tropical” months of July/August. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341250/original/file-20200611-80746-1too0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341250/original/file-20200611-80746-1too0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341250/original/file-20200611-80746-1too0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341250/original/file-20200611-80746-1too0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=352&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341250/original/file-20200611-80746-1too0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341250/original/file-20200611-80746-1too0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341250/original/file-20200611-80746-1too0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All aboard …</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://all4counselling.uk/ninki/about/trail">ASSET (2013) NNT feasibility study. Design by Art Hotel; Illustration by Nigel Kirton</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Ninki Nanka Trail shows how tourism can be used to celebrate culture and facilitate meaningful engagement with communities, but there is much more that could be done in Kenya and the Gambia to target tourists that bring environmental and social benefits as well as economic ones. With stronger international support and a good vision for the future, it is a good moment to build something better than what was there before.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140508/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors would like to acknowledge and thank Job Odhiambo from the Sustainable Travel and Tourism Agenda in Kenya who provided much of the content and background research for the section on Kenya. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adama Bah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Developing countries that depend heavily on tourists need international support, and more sustainable offerings for the future.Davina Stanford, Course Director, Responsible Tourism Management MSc, Leeds Beckett UniversityAdama Bah, Honorary Doctor of Responsible Tourism, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1402112020-06-11T12:24:40Z2020-06-11T12:24:40ZIs it safe to stay in a hotel, cabin or rental home yet?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341037/original/file-20200610-114066-xqdmu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C101%2C6123%2C3928&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Grandparents are eager to spend time with their grandchildren, and many are also eager to travel. There are many things to consider to ensure safety when going to hotels and overnight accommodations. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/grandparents-and-granddaughter-using-mobile-phone-royalty-free-image/1095071410?et=efq6hTGaR3RbRHdJ5kJ2sA&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gettyimages.com%2F">FG Trade/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After nearly three months of quarantine, millions of Americans are ready to travel – an overnight trip, a weekend getaway, a summer sojourn. With states reopening, that’s now possible, with a caveat. Before coronavirus, few people likely thought twice about staying in a hotel room, rental home or cabin in the woods. But now, we have to factor in the potential for coronavirus exposure. Even if you’re OK with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-you-fly-yet-an-epidemiologist-and-an-exposure-scientist-walk-you-through-the-decision-process-138782">travel risks</a> taking you to your destination – plane, train or automobile – what about the risks of the destination spot itself? </p>
<p>We are both exposure scientists. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QaohB3kAAAAJ&hl=en">One of us</a> feels comfortable booking a “no-contact” stay; <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zgJRA2EAAAAJ&hl=en">the other</a> still isn’t sure whether to take an overnight trip anytime soon. But we agree on two things: Traveling these days brings increased risk, yet ways exist to minimize that risk. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341029/original/file-20200610-34678-1iu52c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341029/original/file-20200610-34678-1iu52c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341029/original/file-20200610-34678-1iu52c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341029/original/file-20200610-34678-1iu52c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341029/original/file-20200610-34678-1iu52c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341029/original/file-20200610-34678-1iu52c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341029/original/file-20200610-34678-1iu52c9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wearing face masks is still important, especially when traveling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/it-took-distance-to-connect-us-royalty-free-image/1216009023?adppopup=true">Getty Images / PeopleImages</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The issues</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/travel-in-the-us.html">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance</a> is clear that travel heightens your chance of getting or spreading COVID-19. The travel industry is taking this seriously. Both the <a href="https://www.ahla.com/safestay">American Hotel & Lodging Association</a> and <a href="https://www.vrma.org/page/vrhp/vrma-cleaning-guidelines-for-covid-19">Vacation Rental Management Association</a> have released best practice guidelines and standards. </p>
<p>No matter what type of stay you’re planning, the primary concern is coming into close contact (less than six feet) with an infected person. That probability is higher when you travel. Keep in mind a person with COVID-19 <a href="https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2607.201595">can spread the virus</a> before developing symptoms. From the start, you must assume that everyone around you may be infected. Including yourself.</p>
<p>Contact with contaminated surfaces is of less concern, but still something to consider. We are learning more about the <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973">potential for infections</a> from them, but we do know coronavirus has been detected on <a href="https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2609.201435">guest room surfaces</a>. Try to minimize your contact with surfaces – tabletops, chairs, bathroom sinks, duvet covers – that haven’t been cleaned or disinfected.</p>
<p>A further complication: The <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html">pattern and extent of COVID-19</a> can vary between communities, even in the same region. Laws and public health guidelines vary as well, so make sure you check for updates before traveling. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341034/original/file-20200610-34692-1dcq3uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341034/original/file-20200610-34692-1dcq3uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341034/original/file-20200610-34692-1dcq3uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341034/original/file-20200610-34692-1dcq3uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341034/original/file-20200610-34692-1dcq3uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341034/original/file-20200610-34692-1dcq3uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341034/original/file-20200610-34692-1dcq3uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A tourist checks into a hotel in Savannah, Ga., on April 25, 2020, shortly after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp lifted some social distancing measures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tourist-wears-a-mask-amid-fears-over-the-spread-of-the-news-photo/1211025499?adppopup=true">Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Before you book</h2>
<p>There’s no way to make a stay 100% safe, but there are certainly ways to make a stay safer. Remember each lodging scenario is different; for example, unlike hotels or rental homes, campgrounds typically have only <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-goes-into-the-toilet-doesnt-always-stay-there-and-other-coronavirus-risks-in-public-bathrooms-139637">shared bathrooms</a>. But wherever you may stay, start by checking out the establishment’s website, or call to ask what management is doing to reduce transmission risk. </p>
<p>Make sure to ask about:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Air quality. Cleaning with <a href="https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/list-n-disinfectants-use-against-sars-cov-2-covid-19">approved products</a> should be frequent. Ask if hand washing or hand sanitizing stations are available in common areas. Engineering controls, like increasing air exchange or HEPA filters in the ventilation system, should be in place. If that’s not the case, consider bringing a portable air purifier with a HEPA filter. On the low-tech side: Can windows be opened for better air flow? A fan can help bring in more outdoor air and increase the mixing rate if used near an open window. </p></li>
<li><p>No-contact options, like digital keys.</p></li>
<li><p>Policies on masks and health screenings for guests and staff.</p></li>
<li><p>Is the rental business limiting capacity to promote distance? That is, are they booking only every other room? And are they preventing one-night stays, which would bring in more people and therefore introduce more risk? Avoid lodgings with same-day turnovers. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>Strategies for a safer stay</h2>
<p>Once you’ve determined the management is doing all it can, you need to do all you can to minimize exposure. Wear a face covering and practice social distancing in common areas. Minimize time in enclosed, less ventilated spaces, like elevators. Avoid contact with “high-touch” surfaces in shared spaces, like the elevator call button, door handles, and dining tables and chairs; they are less likely to have been disinfected between each individual’s touch. Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer after spending time in common areas. If gyms and pools are open, remember to social distance, wear your mask, and wipe down equipment before and after use. </p>
<p>Use plastic zip bags for personal items that others may handle. That includes your driver’s license, credit card and key. Bring extra bags to put these things in after you disinfect them. Handle your own luggage, or arrange for no-contact delivery.</p>
<p>Disinfect surfaces following <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/disinfecting-your-home.html">CDC guidance</a>. If housekeeping is available, opt out. Request that decorative pillows and duvet covers be removed before your arrival. </p>
<p>Lowest-risk options for dining: bring your own food or do room service or no-contact delivery. Outdoor dining can be a reasonable option, but if you dine inside, make sure there’s reasonable ventilation and adequately spaced tables. </p>
<p>Bring enough masks or face coverings for each day, or bring detergent to wash between uses. You’ll also need hand sanitizer or hand wipes, a surface disinfectant, paper towels and disposable disinfectant wipes. </p>
<p>All this helps, but remember: Even doing everything on this substantial list still may not eliminate your chance of getting the virus. The bottom line is, we don’t recommend nonessential travel for everyone right now. You may need a vacation, but COVID-19 never takes one.</p>
<p>[<em>Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-facts">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140211/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Marder is Chair of Communications and Outreach for the International Society of Exposure Science, a not-for-profit organization.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paloma Beamer is President of the International Society of Exposure Science, a not-for-profit organization and receives funding from NIH, EPA, Agricola Alta Pozo Manuel and the Pima County Health Department.</span></em></p>Taking a trip this summer? You can do a lot to prevent coronavirus exposure, but you cannot take away all risk. It is important to practice caution.Elizabeth Marder, Instructor, Department of Environmental Toxicology, University of California, DavisPaloma Beamer, Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1345442020-04-13T19:47:38Z2020-04-13T19:47:38ZHotels are no ‘luxury’ place to detain people seeking asylum in Australia<p>In Australia, much of the discussion about detaining asylum seekers has focused on offshore sites on Manus, Nauru and Christmas Island. </p>
<p>But, as the recent ABC drama series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4878488/">Stateless</a> reminds us, detention of asylum seekers within Australia has a longer history and continues today.</p>
<p>The Department of Home Affairs <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/immigration-detention-statistics-29-february-2020.pdf">recorded 1,436 people in detention</a> on mainland Australia at the end of February. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stateless-review-remembering-a-time-when-we-were-outraged-132967">Stateless review: remembering a time when we were outraged</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Not all are in the standard detention centres. We’ve seen a return of hotels used for detention and that’s a worrying trend, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government has been told hotels are “<a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/asylum-seekers-and-refugees/publications/risk-management-immigration-detention-2019">not appropriate places of detention</a>”.</p>
<h2>Kept in hotel detention</h2>
<p>The use of hotels as Alternative Places of Detention (APOD) is not a new practice. For example, the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-12-14/human-rights-body-blasts-detention-facilities/2373638">Asti Motel in Darwin</a> was used to detain unaccompanied minors and families with children in 2010.</p>
<p>Hotels are being used now to detain asylum seekers, specifically at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/30/like-a-criminal-inside-the-brisbane-hotel-where-medevac-refugees-are-detained">Kangaroo Point Central</a> in Brisbane and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/19/asylum-seekers-transferred-to-australia-under-medevac-laws-held-in-melbourne-hotel">Mantra Bell City in suburban Melbourne</a>.</p>
<p>Most of those detained in these hotels were transferred throughout 2019 – following several years of detention in Papua New Guinea and Nauru – under the <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2019/11/30/the-importance-medevac/15750324009164">now-repealed Medevac provision</a>.</p>
<p>Some media have portrayed the use of hotels to detain asylum seekers as a form of <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/asylum-seekers-medically-treated-in-australia-cost-taxpayers-14-billion-in-accommodation-expenses/news-story/448b9b26e061be786acbbfe3c7697ff1">luxury accommodation at taxpayers’ expense</a>.</p>
<p>In Queensland, <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/410k-fourstar-treatment-public-still-paying-high-cost-of-medevac-program/news-story/039dcbe572777cc05bda07fb770156e2">The Courier Mail</a> adopted this tactic when it said the 45 asylum seekers detained in Brisbane were in a four-star, city hotel costing Australian taxpayers more than $410,000 a week.</p>
<h2>No luxury for ‘guests’</h2>
<p>But this <a href="https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/the-truth-about-the-medevac-four-star-asylum-seekers,13439">supposed luxury accommodation</a> is indisputably a site of detention, rather than a comfortable holiday, with untold impacts on physical and mental health.</p>
<p>Those detained in Brisbane and Melbourne are typically held <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/19/asylum-seekers-transferred-to-australia-under-medevac-laws-held-in-melbourne-hotel">two or more to a room</a>, under the constant watch of security officers. They are allowed use of the hotel’s gym facilities for only a few hours a day at most.</p>
<p>In order to physically go outside, those held at Kangaroo Point Central or the Mantra Bell City must be <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahryan/brisbane-australia-motel-refugees-locked-up?bfsource=relatedmanual">transferred by bus to other immigration sites in Brisbane and Melbourne</a>, after being subjected to body pat-downs, where they may briefly access the exercise areas.</p>
<p>Independent reviews of the detention situation in Australia are relatively minimal and infrequent.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth Ombudsman, tasked with immigration detention oversight since 2011, <a href="https://www.ombudsman.gov.au/media-releases/media-release-documents/commonwealth-ombudsman/2020/report-into-the-current-state-of-immigration-detention-facilities">released its first review</a> to the public only in February of this year.</p>
<p>But this report only covers its inspections from January to June 2019, at roughly the time the hotels were brought into use. It said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>During this reporting period, we continued to highlight our concern about the facilities provided in the non-medical APODs. These include shortfalls in daily access to outdoor recreation areas, dining areas also being used as multi-purpose rooms, and medical and mental health clinics that do not support the detainees’ right to private consultations.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Australian Human Rights Commission conducts periodic reviews of detention sites. It said in its <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/our-work/asylum-seekers-and-refugees/publications/risk-management-immigration-detention-2019">May 2019 report</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… hotels are not appropriate places of detention, given their lack of dedicated facilities and restrictions on access to open space.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It found the restrictions on the mobility of detainees was significantly greater within hotel APODs than in any mainland detention centre.</p>
<h2>Hotels for ‘short period’ use</h2>
<p>In response to the AHRC’s recommendation that hotels only be used in exceptional circumstances or for very short periods of detention, the <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/home_affairs_response_ahrc_risk_report2019.pdf">Department of Home Affairs responded</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Hotels are designated as APODs, and are used as transit accommodation. Transit accommodation is generally used for detainees required to be in held detention for a short period, detainees subject to airport turnaround and detainees ready to be removed.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Those held in the hotels in Brisbane and Melbourne – many previously transferred due to severe physical and mental health issues in Manus or Nauru – have described how their <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/medevac-asylum-seekers-detained-in-a-melbourne-hotel-for-months-20191217-p53kmh.html">health concerns have been exacerbated</a> since arriving.</p>
<p>Most say they have now been detained for several months, often <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-19/medevac-refugees-locked-in-melbourne-hotel/11813008">spending 19 hours or more per day</a> in their rooms. That’s anything but a “short period” of detention.</p>
<h2>Coronavirus concerns</h2>
<p>The COVID-19 crisis has generated <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/24/we-are-sitting-ducks-for-covid-19-asylum-seekers-write-to-pm-after-detainee-tested-in-immigration-detention">considerable additional concern</a> for the hotel detainees, who have reported minimal or non-existent measures to prevent an outbreak.</p>
<p>A guard at Kangaroo Point Central <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/19/fears-for-refugees-as-guard-at-brisbane-immigration-detention-centre-tests-positive-for-coronavirus">tested positive</a> for COVID-19 on March 18.</p>
<p>Visits to detainees have been <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahryan/visits-banned-immigration-detention-coronavirus-covid19">suspended</a>, as well as transfers to the Brisbane and Melbourne immigration centres for outdoor recreation time. The cramped conditions in hotel rooms, common spaces and eating areas have not been addressed. The Ombudsman has now been <a href="https://twitter.com/CaruanaSteven/status/1247327683526062080">banned from conducting inspections</a>.</p>
<p>Across the globe, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/coronavirus-call-to-release-uk-immigration-centre-detainees">calls and petitions</a> have been made to “decarcerate” or reduce the number of people in prisons and detention centres in light of COVID-19.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-refugees-succeed-in-visa-reviews-new-research-reveals-the-factors-that-matter-131763">How refugees succeed in visa reviews: new research reveals the factors that matter</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the UK, the Home Office <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/21/home-office-releases-300-from-detention-centres-amid-covid-19-pandemic?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">released almost 300 asylum seekers</a> from detention, roughly a quarter of the total detained. </p>
<p>In Australia such action has yet to be taken. <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/coronavirus-asylum-seekers-in-three-detention-centres-protest-over-virus-fears">Protests</a> within the hotels and immigration detention centres, statements by <a href="https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/release-immigration-detainees-for-covid-an-interview-with-advocate-margaret-sinclair/">lawyers</a> and <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/hannahryan/coronavirus-australia-doctors-covid-detention-immigration">health experts</a>, and <a href="https://www.change.org/p/peter-dutton-stop-the-spread-of-covid-19-in-immigration-detention-centres-saferathome">online petitions</a> are increasing pressure on the government to release detainees into the community.</p>
<p>Yet, rather than reducing the numbers, transfers are instead increasing numbers within hotels. Last week, detainees at the <a href="https://www.abf.gov.au/about-us/what-we-do/border-protection/immigration-detention/detention-facilities">Brisbane immigration transit accommodation</a> in Pinkenba (up to 204 men according to <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/immigration-detention-statistics-29-february-2020.pdf">February statistics</a>) began to be <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/413433/doctors-want-refugees-out-of-hotels-because-of-covid-19-risk">transferred to the Kangaroo Point Central Hotel</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134544/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Burridge is affiliated with the Centre for Policy Development. </span></em></p>The use of hotels as alternative sites for detention is a worrying trend, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.Andrew Burridge, Lecturer in Human Geography, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1234012019-09-12T11:06:57Z2019-09-12T11:06:57ZHotels play vital roles in relief efforts when disaster such as the Maui wildfires strikes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542230/original/file-20230810-16-6db21d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=129%2C105%2C5262%2C3484&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lahaina, Hawaii, was a wasteland of burned-out homes and obliterated communities after wildfires ripped through the town.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXHawaiiFires/9d084f2d3a504d8f97b0d1cf6d3f8809/photo?Query=maui%20wildfire&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=35&currentItemNo=11">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hotels are more than a place to stay while on vacation. They are also critical for disaster relief and recovery. </p>
<p>When major hurricanes, wildfires or other disasters strike, relief <a href="https://www.fema.gov/es/news-release/20200220/fema-federal-agencies-ready-hurricane-dorian-heads-florida">organizations like Federal Emergency Management Agency</a> and the <a href="https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/2019/red-cross-commits-initial-2m-to-help-bahamas-helps-evacuees-coming-to-us.html">Red Cross</a> are usually seen at the heart of the disaster response. Less publicized are the essential roles hotels play in aiding and supporting the efforts of first responders and residents. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://theconversation.com/maui-wildfires-extra-logistical-challenges-hinder-governments-initial-response-when-disasters-strike-islands-211384">wildfires rage on the island</a> of Maui, Hawaii, hotels hooked up to diesel generators <a href="https://lodgingmagazine.com/ahla-partners-with-hawaii-hotel-alliance-to-support-relief-efforts-in-west-maui/">are doing their best to support the needs</a> of not only their guests and employees but other residents of the community as well.</p>
<p>To better understand their role in relief efforts, my colleagues <a href="https://www.rit.edu/gis/academics/faculty/schneider">Jennifer L. Schneider</a>, <a href="https://www.rit.edu/directory/mxkism-muhammet-kesgin">Muhammet Kesgin</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gNiId2AAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Sarah Dobie</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=o_ZBzNIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">and I</a> interviewed over 40 hotel general managers in Florida in 2017 and collected online survey data on 156 more to study what they did during and after Hurricane Irma struck that year. </p>
<p>We were impressed by the range of roles hotels said they take on in a disaster, whether a massive storm in Florida or a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/08/10/us/wildfires-maui-hawaii">wildfire in Maui</a>. </p>
<h2>Preparing for the storm</h2>
<p>Hotels located in the vicinity of a disaster are in a unique position to help, because unlike other first responders, they are already physically there with large and fortified buildings. </p>
<p>Our interviews in Florida showed that hotels take steps every year to mitigate the impact of hurricane season. This annual preparedness involves continued education, planning and sharing of best practices through local hotel associations, such as the <a href="https://frla.org/hurricane-resources/">Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association</a> and <a href="https://www.keyslodging.org/hurricane-conference.htm">Lodging Association of the Florida Keys and Key West</a>. </p>
<p>“There is no way FEMA could set up temporary housing as fast as hotels in providing immediate places for people to stay in impacted areas,” one general manager told us. </p>
<p>Hotels mitigate the potential of being closed by signing advance contracts for diesel fuel to run generators in case electricity is lost. They also line up contractors ahead of time to repair any damage that might occur. </p>
<p>One manager even reported taking out US$5,000 in cash to make sure she was able to buy groceries for local residents in need, since the lack of electricity was forcing stores to accept cash only.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="an aerial view shows a patch of houses and busineses destroyed next to others that weren't damaged near the water" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292113/original/file-20190912-190031-3qcxiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292113/original/file-20190912-190031-3qcxiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292113/original/file-20190912-190031-3qcxiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292113/original/file-20190912-190031-3qcxiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292113/original/file-20190912-190031-3qcxiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292113/original/file-20190912-190031-3qcxiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292113/original/file-20190912-190031-3qcxiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hurricane Irma was a Category 4 storm when it crossed the Florida Keys in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/two-more-hurricane-irma-pix/bc989567ebb24b6abd84952a74c9fcb5/2/0">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Offering shelter and aiding recovery</h2>
<p>During Hurricane Irma, residents and visitors were forced to evacuate certain parts of the state and sought shelter from the storm wherever they could, including at hotels, some of which <a href="https://www.hotel-online.com/press_releases/release/florida-cre-proves-resilient-in-face-of-hurricane-irma-due-to-long-term-pre/">are resilient to Category 5 hurricanes</a>. </p>
<p>How much a hotel can help with disaster response can depend on how severely its own infrastructure is damaged. But even when there is damage and no electricity, hoteliers reported that lodging was the key resource they were able to provide victims of Irma, whether they were local residents who fled homes or insurance adjusters and response teams trying to get things back up and running. </p>
<p>Managers told us they offered discounted room rates for people trying to get out of the way of the oncoming storm and waived their usual pet policies to help those fleeing the hurricane with animals. </p>
<p>Some managers said their hotels transformed from four-star resorts to simple shelters where first responders or power repair workers could find a safe and free place to sleep. One manager reported setting up dozens of cots in a ballroom for a National Guard command post.</p>
<p>Hotel employees who felt unsafe in their homes were allowed to ride out the storm with their families for free. And in some cases, they provided housing for months after the storm. </p>
<p>Beyond lodging, in some cases hotels sent out engineers to inspect employee homes to determine whether they were habitable while they waited for official inspections.</p>
<p>Beyond the humanitarian value of providing assistance, separate research I helped conduct also found that hotels that provide relief <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103360">may produce goodwill</a> through the shared vulnerability that employees and customers experience. When customers receive assistance during periods of vulnerability and recognize that employees are facing similar challenges, they become advocates for public support of the business, its workers and the broader industry and destination impacted by the disaster.</p>
<p>Whether in Florida or Maui, hotels serve as <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures3040046">critical hubs for disaster relief and recovery</a>. As such, policymakers should be aware of their dual role as both private sector businesses and community resources.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on Sept. 12, 2019.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rick Lagiewski received funding from the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Foundation (AHLEF) for this study. </span></em></p>Hotels are helping the Hawaiian island of Maui recover from the catastrophic impact of wildfires, just as they have in Florida following hurricanes.Rick Lagiewski, Principal Lecturer – Management, Rochester Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1080262018-12-11T23:22:32Z2018-12-11T23:22:32ZRewarding your shopping loyalty with points<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249843/original/file-20181210-76974-1sjhfvs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many of us collect points via loyalty programs. They're popular, but can cause headaches for the companies who head up loyalty and rewards programs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How many “points” have you collected so far this holiday shopping season? </p>
<p>Like millions of consumers, you likely belong to at least one loyalty rewards program. These programs give you “points,” “miles” or some virtual currency when you buy from specified airlines or retailers. You can later redeem your points for rewards that might range from <a href="https://theconversation.com/woolies-new-loyalty-program-offers-a-glimpse-into-the-future-49737">cheaper groceries</a> to exotic vacations.</p>
<p>Of course, such rewards don’t represent corporate generosity. Like <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-brands-turn-customers-into-devoted-followers-78662">inspirational brand reputations</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/tailoring-the-customer-experience-boosts-online-sales-84941">slick e-commerce websites</a>, rewards programs encourage you to patronize certain businesses instead of their competitors, although some question how well they work.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/loyalty-marketers-could-be-turning-friends-into-frenemies-19462">Loyalty marketers could be turning friends into frenemies </a>
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</em>
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<p>The programs also gather data about your spending habits. This lets businesses promote their products to the most promising prospects.</p>
<p>Some loyalty programs <a href="https://theconversation.com/inside-the-massive-market-for-loyalty-cards-and-frequent-flyer-miles-51329">are huge</a>. AccorHotels, which operates Novotel, Fairmont and other brands, has <a href="https://www.accorhotels.group/en/group/our-brands-and-services/our-loyalty-program">27 million members</a>. Marriott International has <a href="https://marriott.gcs-web.com/encrypt/files?file=nasdaq_kms/assets/2018/04/04/11-42-13/Marriott_2017_Annual_Report.pdf&file_alias=44526">110 million</a>.</p>
<p>(China could make even those figures look small. Its experimental <a href="https://theconversation.com/chinas-social-credit-system-puts-its-people-under-pressure-to-be-model-citizens-89963">social credit programs</a> might some day cover its entire population. But those reward a different kind of loyalty.)</p>
<p>The most complex programs involve alliances of otherwise unrelated companies. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/promotion-air-miles-fine-print-1.4651577">Air Miles Canada members</a> can shop at thousands of participating stores. Aeroplan has <a href="http://media.aeroplan.com/our-partners/">partners</a> representing more than 150 brands. And in Europe, <a href="https://www.miles-and-more.com/online/portal/mam/de/general_information?nodeid=72265641&l=en&cid=18002&WT.svl=img2sc_484897711">Miles & More</a> includes 300 businesses.</p>
<p>A “host” company runs each of these programs. It tracks your points while managing interactions among the partnering businesses.</p>
<h2>Hosts handle the details</h2>
<p>For example, suppose you stay overnight at a participating hotel. The host company will subsequently credit points to your account.</p>
<p>But the host also collects revenue from the hotel. In effect, the host sells points to the hotel, which then gives them to you as an incentive for staying there.</p>
<p>Later, you might redeem some points to book a flight. The host reduces your point balance while paying the airline on your behalf for the ticket.</p>
<p>In between accumulation and redemption, the host company tracks your points and holds the cash. To you, the points are an asset. To the host, however, they’re a liability it must some day redeem.</p>
<p>In Canada, the outstanding points balance <a href="https://www.moneysense.ca/spend/unredeemed-loyalty-points/">reportedly approaches CDN$16 billion</a> across all loyalty programs combined. In the U.S., Marriott alone has US$5 billion outstanding.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249847/original/file-20181210-76974-1j5ji0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249847/original/file-20181210-76974-1j5ji0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249847/original/file-20181210-76974-1j5ji0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249847/original/file-20181210-76974-1j5ji0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249847/original/file-20181210-76974-1j5ji0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249847/original/file-20181210-76974-1j5ji0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249847/original/file-20181210-76974-1j5ji0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some points go unredeemed because they expire or the owning members quit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some points go unredeemed because, for example, they expire or the owning members quit. This “spillage” benefits the host company, which keeps the previously collected cash. Consequently, hosts can boost profits by adjusting programs to increase spillage. But such measures can <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/aimia-aeroplan-points-1.4806060">anger consumers</a>.</p>
<h2>Advance arrangements needed</h2>
<p>Before any transactions can occur, the host company and its partners must negotiate the numbers of points earned per purchase or redeemed per reward. They often also commit to specific numbers of rewards redeemed per year per partner.</p>
<p>Aeroplan, for instance, promised to buy <a href="https://www.aimia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Aimia-2017-Annual-Report_Final_EN.pdf">$581 million in Air Canada tickets</a> in 2017 for anticipated rewards.</p>
<p>This presents a problem. Host companies must make these arrangements in advance. But only later will they discover how many rewards consumers want from each business.</p>
<p>Of course, hosts can simply pre-arrange for more rewards than they expect to need, to ensure a safety margin. But that’s expensive, as some rewards will go unused.</p>
<p>We worked with doctoral student Yuheng Cao and associate professor <a href="https://www.business.uconn.edu/person/moustapha-diaby/">Moustapha Diaby</a> to study this rewards-supply planning problem. We created mathematical models to simulate point accumulation and redemption in a loyalty program over time. We then used the models to evaluate potential host company decisions.</p>
<h2>Uncertainty hurts performance</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2014.81">One study</a> examined the effects of uncertainty about future demand for rewards. Not surprisingly, higher uncertainty tends to reduce profits for the host company. It becomes more difficult to accurately plan reward needs in advance.</p>
<p>Less obviously, performance also suffers if hosts try to limit their annual rewards budgets or their outstanding points balances. To cap point balances, hosts must purchase more rewards at higher prices. That reduces immediate profitability. Conversely, with restricted budgets, host companies must pay out fewer rewards. That increases their future liabilities.</p>
<p>Both problems worsen as demand uncertainty increases. Hosts increasingly lack enough flexibility to handle demand surprises.</p>
<p>This implies hosts should try to reduce demand uncertainty where possible. They might do this in advance through improved forecasting. </p>
<p>Or as the year unfolds they could offer discounts on underused rewards. For example, suppose an airline normally charges 25,000 points per ticket. It might temporarily cut that to 15,000 for flights on unpopular days.</p>
<h2>Options could compensate</h2>
<p>Alternatively, hosts could include “options” clauses in their agreements with their loyalty program partners. With this strategy, host companies would still agree to buy a set number of rewards from each partner. But the contract would also give hosts the option to buy more rewards later if demand ends up being higher. Hosts would pay extra for that privilege.</p>
<p>This approach would mean loyalty program partners absorb more of the program’s risks. In exchange, they’d get more of the program’s revenue.</p>
<p>We explored this option contract concept in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00207543.2015.1059519">another modelling study</a>. Our results suggest options contracts should indeed perform better overall than traditional fixed-size contracts.</p>
<p>Options are particularly valuable in large loyalty programs facing high demand uncertainty. They let host companies spread their greater risks across many redemption partners.</p>
<p>By comparison, the common practice of prearranging extra rewards is less effective in those cases. It leaves many rewards sitting unused at many partners.</p>
<p>Overall, our research suggests that reducing uncertainty about redemption demand, and using reward supply option contracts, would both benefit hosts. They could increase their profitability while controlling their rewards budgets and accumulated points liabilities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108026/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aaron Luntala Nsakanda receives funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Armstrong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The companies that head up loyalty rewards programs must compensate for their uncertainty about your reward preferences.Michael J. Armstrong, Associate professor of operations research, Goodman School of Business, Brock UniversityAaron Luntala Nsakanda, Associate Professor of Management Science and Supply Chain Management, Sprott School of Business, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1002292018-07-19T10:41:06Z2018-07-19T10:41:06ZMGM is suing the victims of the worst mass shooting in US history. Here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228322/original/file-20180718-142423-18aacnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The scene in Las Vegas several days after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Gun-Background-Checks-Nevada/b9b5faef764a4af091cf21a4cee294b6/11/0">AP Photo/Gregory Bull</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last October, Stephen Paddock unleashed a barrage of automatic gunfire from a 32nd-floor hotel room overlooking a large crowd of concertgoers attending a country music festival in Las Vegas. With a body count of 59 dead and another 500 wounded, it was the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/us/las-vegas-shooting.html">worst mass shooting</a> in U.S. history. </p>
<p>Victims of the attack <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/21/us/vegas-shooting-lawsuits.html">filed lawsuits last fall</a> against MGM Resorts International, the owner of the hotel and the festival grounds, alleging that the company provided lax security, ignored warning signs that Paddock was stockpiling guns and ammunition in his hotel rooms for days, and failed to respond quickly once the shooting was underway.</p>
<p>On July 13, MGM fired back.</p>
<p>The company <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/us/mgm-resorts-sues-victims.html">filed a lawsuit in federal court</a> against the victims, seeking a declaration that, under federal law, it is immune from any liability for injuries arising out of the Las Vegas mass shooting. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yQUI6yEAAAAJ&hl=en">two decades of writing</a> about litigation arising out of gun violence, I believe that MGM’s legal strategy is unprecedented but not entirely unexpected. If successful, MGM’s lawsuit would fundamentally alter the duties that hotels and concert venues owe to their patrons at a time in our nation’s history when mass shootings have made them especially vulnerable.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228314/original/file-20180718-142432-6w8at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228314/original/file-20180718-142432-6w8at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228314/original/file-20180718-142432-6w8at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228314/original/file-20180718-142432-6w8at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228314/original/file-20180718-142432-6w8at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228314/original/file-20180718-142432-6w8at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228314/original/file-20180718-142432-6w8at8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A sign asks for prayers outside of the MGM hotel in Las Vegas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Las-Vegas-Shooting/fafbf3241e044b7b9415cd10b4266b66/6/0">AP Photo/John Locher</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The basis for MGM’s lawsuit</h2>
<p>MGM’s claim of immunity is based on a federal statute called the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/6/chapter-1/subchapter-VIII/part-G">Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act</a> – known as the SAFETY Act – passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. </p>
<p>The act limits the liability of companies that develop new technologies or sell services to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks. More importantly for MGM’s purposes, the act makes the customers of such companies entirely immune from liability. These liability provisions apply to any claims arising out of “an act of terrorism.”</p>
<p>To provide security at the Route 91 music festival, MGM hired the <a href="https://csc-usa.com/">Contemporary Services Corporation</a>, a company whose security services have been certified by the secretary of Homeland Security to fall under the provisions of the SAFETY Act, which would render MGM, as a client, immune from liability.</p>
<h2>Why is MGM suing the victims?</h2>
<p><a href="http://cdn.cnn.com/cnn/2018/images/07/17/mgm.complaint.pdf">MGM’s complaint</a> asserts that more than 2,500 individuals have filed or threatened to file lawsuits against the company for injuries – ranging from death to emotional distress –arising from the shooting. </p>
<p>Because MGM’s lawsuit is based on a federal statute, it will be heard in a federal court. The company likely expects a federal judge would be less sympathetic to the victim’s claims than the local state court judges by whom the victims’ lawsuits will be heard. If the federal judge decides in MGM’s favor, that would put an end to the lawsuits in state courts.</p>
<p>MGM’s lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment that it is immune from liability under the SAFETY Act, which would dispense with all 2,500 potential claims against it in one fell swoop. </p>
<p>The initial public response to MGM’s lawsuit has been <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/07/17/mgm-resorts-sues-victims-las-vegas-massacre-denies-liability/791511002/">highly critical</a>, but the company is likely betting that reducing its potentially disastrous liability exposure – which could run into hundreds of millions of dollars – is worth any damage to its brand.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228315/original/file-20180718-142417-sb9q16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228315/original/file-20180718-142417-sb9q16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228315/original/file-20180718-142417-sb9q16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228315/original/file-20180718-142417-sb9q16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228315/original/file-20180718-142417-sb9q16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228315/original/file-20180718-142417-sb9q16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228315/original/file-20180718-142417-sb9q16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People carry flowers as they walk near the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino during a vigil for victims and survivors of the mass shooting in Las Vegas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Las-Vegas-Shooting/51db84d4431e4459914f110d41609c98/3/0">AP Photo/John Locher, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>MGM’s odds of success</h2>
<p>To obtain immunity under the SAFETY Act, MGM will have to convince the court that the Las Vegas mass shooting was an act of terrorism, which <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/6/444#2_A">the law</a> defines as an illegal act that “uses or attempts to use instrumentalities, weapons or other methods designed or intended to cause mass destruction.” Just how the court will decide that issue remains unclear.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/us/mgm-resorts-sues-victims.html">According to MGM’s own lawyer</a>, this is the first litigation invoking the act, and no court has yet interpreted the provisions of the act.</p>
<p>Gun sellers and retailers are already immune from such lawsuits arising out of the criminal misuse of the weapons that they sell under the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. </p>
<p>If successful, MGM’s lawsuit would extend similar protection to the hotels, concert halls, fairgrounds, schools and other venues currently responsible under the law for taking reasonable measures to protect the public. MGM’s denial of any responsibility for public safety on its property represents a new strategy by public accommodations for responding to mass shootings: run for the exits.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100229/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy D. Lytton has provided expert consulting services to law firms representing gun violence victims</span></em></p>The hotel company filed an unprecedented lawsuit against the victims of the mass shooting in Las Vegas last October, arguing it has immunity from liability under federal law.Timothy D. Lytton, Distinguished University Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/946892018-04-16T17:28:29Z2018-04-16T17:28:29ZBefore Trump was anti-Cuba, he wanted to open a hotel in Havana<p>Presidents Raul Castro and Donald Trump both <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/us/politics/trump-cancels-trip-latin-america-crisis-syria.html">canceled trips</a> to April’s Summit of the Americas in Peru, avoiding a potential confrontation – though U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article208907504.html">lobbed insults</a> at each other in their stead. </p>
<p>Relations between the United States and Cuba have grown tense under the Trump administration, which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/us/politics/trump-tightens-cuba-embargo-restricting-access-to-hotels-businesses.html">tightened economic sanctions against the Communist Caribbean island in 2017</a>. </p>
<p>“We do not want U.S. dollars to prop up a military monopoly that exploits and abuses the citizens of Cuba,” <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-policy-united-states-towards-cuba/">Trump declared in June 2017</a>. “We will enforce the ban on tourism. We will enforce the embargo.”</p>
<p>Those who follow Cuba-U.S. relations closely, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/search?filters%5BauthorTerms%5D=WILLIAM%20M.%20LEOGRANDE&eventCode=SE-AU">as I have for 40 years</a>, may recall that Trump has not always been so antagonistic toward Havana. Back when he was a real estate mogul, he was happy to overlook the embargo – twice, in fact – for a chance to open a Trump-branded hotel or golf resort in Cuba. </p>
<h2>Trump Tower Havana</h2>
<p>In September 2016, when Trump was the Republican presidential candidate, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2016/10/14/donald-trump-cuban-embargo-castro-violated-florida-504059.html">Newsweek magazine revealed</a> that in 1998, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts hired a consulting firm to explore business opportunities on the island.</p>
<p>Reportedly acting with Trump’s knowledge, representatives from Seven Arrows Investment and Development Corp. traveled to Cuba, which was then led by Fidel Castro. </p>
<p>There, they met with government officials and business leaders. The goal, a former official with Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts told Newsweek, was to get a jump on the competition if President Bill Clinton opened up Cuba to U.S. business. Ever since President John F. Kennedy <a href="http://time.com/4076438/us-cuba-embargo-1960/">imposed an economic embargo on Cuba in 1962</a>, the Cuban market has been closed to most American companies, including the hospitality sector. </p>
<p>Because their business trip <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/donald-trump/article104851671.html">violated the embargo</a>, Seven Arrows advised the Trump organization to <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2016/10/14/donald-trump-cuban-embargo-castro-violated-florida-504059.html">disguise its payment</a> to them as a charitable project, according to documents obtained by Newsweek. </p>
<p>The story broke in the homestretch of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. In his defense, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/29/trump-campaign-manager-suggests-candidate-broke-embargo-by-spending-money-in-cuba/?utm_term=.72d34486ebff">Trump argued</a> that although Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts had paid for the exploratory trip, it had done nothing wrong because it did not ultimately invest in Cuba. </p>
<p>Trump was courting conservative Cuban-Americans at the time. Because they generally oppose any dealings with the Castro regime, the Newsweek story was a <a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2016/09/revelations-about-trump-attempt-to-do-business-in-cuba-roil-miami-politics.html">political problem</a>. </p>
<p>Soon after the article’s publication, Trump was in Florida making campaign promises to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/pence-vows-reverse-new-cuba-policies-n666796">“reverse” President Barack Obama’s Cuba policy</a>, which had relaxed restrictions on travel and re-established diplomatic ties. </p>
<h2>Golfing and bird-watching in Cuba</h2>
<p>But just months before the Newsweek report, Trump had been actively seeking to take advantage of Obama’s opening to Cuba, which <a href="http://files.thecubaconsortium.org/media/TheCubaConsortiumAnnualReport11.3.16.pdf">created</a> a wide range of exceptions to the embargo, including allowing U.S. companies to do business on the island.</p>
<p>Between 2012 and 2015, several Trump Organization executives responsible for developing golf properties traveled to Cuba repeatedly. According to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-donald-trump-golf-cuba/">Businessweek</a> magazine, they claimed to be going to the island for golfing and bird-watching. </p>
<p>Businessweek asked Donald Trump’s son Eric, then an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, whether these trips had a business purpose. </p>
<p>“In the last 12 months, many major competitors have sought opportunities in Cuba,” he replied. “While we are not sure whether Cuba represents an opportunity for us, it is important for us to understand the dynamics of the markets that our competitors are exploring.”</p>
<p>Eric’s dad was more direct when asked to comment on the Bloomberg story. “They had some meetings,” <a href="http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2016/10/trump-on-employees-scouting-deals-in-cuba-they-had-some-meetings.html">Donald Trump admitted</a> to Jim DeFede, an investigative reporter for CBS Miami. </p>
<p>In fact, two business consultants reportedly introduced the Trump executives to possible partners in Cuba and even prepared sketches of what <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-donald-trump-golf-cuba/">Trump Tower Havana</a> might look like. <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article118435048.html">Miguel Fluxà</a>, chief executive of Spain’s Iberostar Hotels and Resorts, which operates 17 hotels in Cuba, also said that the Trump Organization was trying to negotiate opening its own hotels there.</p>
<p>In early 2016, Wolf Blitzer interviewed candidate Trump and <a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1603/21/se.02.html">asked if he would open a hotel in Cuba</a>. </p>
<p>“I would, I would,” he said, before apparently acknowledging the legal limitations imposed by the embargo. “At the right time, when we’re allowed to do it.” </p>
<h2>American hotels in Havana</h2>
<p>Trump’s surprising November 2016 victory put any possibility of a Cuba property deal on ice. To avoid potential conflicts of interest, the president’s attorney pledged that the Trump Organization would enter “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/02/13/514935064/critics-say-trump-group-doing-new-foreign-deals-despite-pledge-to-refrain">no new foreign deals</a>” while Trump occupied the White House. </p>
<p>In June 2017, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/us/politics/trump-tightens-cuba-embargo-restricting-access-to-hotels-businesses.html">Trump announced</a> new sanctions tightening the U.S. embargo on Cuba. They specifically <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-donald-trump-change-cuba-79734">target the country’s tourist industry</a>, effectively prohibiting U.S. hotels from doing business on the island. </p>
<p>Trump’s regulations also ban U.S. visitors from patronizing hotels or services run by the Cuban military’s tourism holding company, GAESA, which controls 40 percent of the hospitality business in Cuba. Americans cannot stay at hotels <a href="http://www.abc.es/internacional/abci-estados-unidos-prohibe-hacer-negocios-diez-hoteles-melia-iberostar-cuba-201711082144_noticia.html">managed by European hotel groups</a> like Iberostar or Meliá, either, if those companies are partners with GAESA.</p>
<p>As a result, the only American hotel company currently operating in Cuba is <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article168072462.html">Marriott International</a>, which was given a license by the Obama administration in 2016 to renovate and manage several Havana hotels. Its contract would be illegal under current regulations. Airbnb is <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1251/can-i-book-an-airbnb-listing-in-cuba">also authorized to work in Cuba</a> because it connects visitors with privately-owned home rentals.</p>
<p>Mainly, though, foreign hotel chains are reaping the benefits of <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/fp_20161202_tourism_cuba_feinberg_newfarmer.pdf">Cuba’s booming tourism industry</a>. The number of foreign visitors is projected to reach <a href="http://wp.caribbeannewsnow.com/2017/12/20/cuba-projects-five-million-visitors-2018/">5 million</a> in 2018, up from 2.5 million in 2010.</p>
<p>The Spanish hotel group Meliá, which currently runs 33 hotels in Cuba, will soon open <a href="https://hoteldesigns.net/industry-news/melia-cuba-to-open-seven-new-hotels-by-2020/">seven more</a>. Iberostar is <a href="http://www.abc.es/economia/abci-presidente-iberostar-desvela-trump-estudio-este-comprar-hoteles-cuba-201612011730_noticia.html">planning another 12</a>. </p>
<p>But there’s no Trump Tower Havana on the horizon. With its former CEO in the White House, the Trump Organization is missing out on Cuba’s business bonanza. </p>
<p>Of course, thanks to President Trump’s sanctions, his American competitors are, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94689/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William M. LeoGrande does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As president, Donald Trump has taken a harsh stance toward Cuba. But his real estate company has tried twice to open Trump properties on the Communist island, allegedly even skirting the law to do so.William M. LeoGrande, Professor of Government, American University School of Public AffairsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/891702018-01-21T07:21:31Z2018-01-21T07:21:31ZEthiopia’s hotel industry needs help to encourage tourism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202293/original/file-20180117-53317-uwd56g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are few hotels of an international standard in Ethiopia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adam Jones/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The global tourism industry has huge economic importance. It <a href="http://mkt.unwto.org/publication/unwto-tourism-highlights">contributes</a> 10% of the world’s gross domestic product and 6% of exports. One billion people a year travel somewhere in the world. </p>
<p>Africa’s natural and cultural points of interest give the continent tremendous tourism potential. This shows in the <a href="http://mkt.unwto.org/publication/unwto-tourism-highlights">numbers</a>. In 2015, the sector generated USD$ 36 billion in Africa (7% of all exports in the region), up from USD$ 10 billion in 2000. Travel and tourism also directly <a href="https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/countries-2017/ethiopia2017.pdf">supports</a> 466,000 jobs. It’s <a href="https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/pdf/10.18111/9789284419029">expected</a> that by 2030 the number of tourists will reach 134 million annually. </p>
<p>But African countries’ tourism industries are often constrained by a lack of infrastructure development, air connectivity and financing. </p>
<p>Ethiopia, in East Africa, is an example. The <a href="https://www.export.gov/article?id=Ethiopia-Tourism">country</a> has immense natural, cultural and historical attractions, but is a <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201707100523.html">largely untapped</a> tourism market. It suffers from a lack of infrastructure and the negative publicity the country received after the famine in the 1980s and various conflicts. It needs to make a big effort to market its potential and develop the measures to support the industry. </p>
<p>Ethiopia’s tourism sector showed a <a href="https://www.tralac.org/news/article/10510-ethiopia-s-sustainable-tourism-master-plan-2015-2025.html">steady increase</a> in the last decade. International tourist arrivals rose from 64,000 in 1990 to 680,000 in 2013 and are expected to reach 815,000 by 2024. This 2024 figure would mean a <a href="https://www.tralac.org/news/article/10510-ethiopia-s-sustainable-tourism-master-plan-2015-2025.html">contribution</a> of USD$2 billion to the country’s GDP. Over the next five years the sector is <a href="https://www.tralac.org/news/article/10510-ethiopia-s-sustainable-tourism-master-plan-2015-2025.html">expected</a> to create over a million jobs, or 3.6% of total employment. </p>
<p>Comfortable hotels play a <a href="https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/61014/Thesis_Final_SP.pdf?sequence=1">vital role</a> in attracting tourists. After the fall of the <a href="http://blog.victimsofcommunism.org/communism-in-africa-the-ethiopian-experience/">communist government</a> 27 years ago, Ethiopia started <a href="http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/250056/2/Worku%20Gebeyehu_HAS%20PRIVATIZATION%20PROMOTED%20EFFICIENCY%20IN%20ETHIOPIA.pdf">privatising</a> most of the state owned hotels and tourism establishments. To support this, the government <a href="https://www.ethiopia.travel/about-ethiopia/investing-in-ethiopia/investment-incentives-for-tourism-companies">adopted</a> a policy that allows duty-free imports of hotel furniture, fixtures and equipment. It also <a href="https://www.hotelmanagement.net/development/ethiopia-offering-financial-incentives-to-develop-hotels">provides</a> for favourable loans to investors for the construction of new rated hotels. </p>
<p>But, while the hotel industry is growing, the number of available hotel rooms is still the lowest. In terms of room availability, Ethiopia is globally <a href="https://www.tralac.org/news/article/10510-ethiopia-s-sustainable-tourism-master-plan-2015-2025.html">ranked</a> 134 out of 140, compared to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania at positions 122, 121 and 118 respectively. Furthermore, there are few hotels of an international standard, and many are old and unattractive. Infrastructure to support the hotels is lacking. There are no zoning policies to establish the areas where hotels should be constructed, or tourist activities to complement them when they are built. </p>
<h2>Hotel performance</h2>
<p>Until <a href="http://www.ethiosports.com/2015/08/17/ministry-evaluates-awards-star-ratings-to-95-hotels/">recently</a>, Ethiopia did not have enough hotels recognised under international rankings or ratings – they generously awarded themselves their own stars. This made it hard for visitors to judge the quality of a hotel. This changed in 2015 when the Ethiopian government, with the help of World Tourism Organisation, started rating hotels in the country. Though participation in the grading process is mandatory, the graded hotels still haven’t undergone annual audits to ensure they’re keeping up with the standard they were awarded. </p>
<p>Ethiopia also only has <a href="https://asokoinsight.com/news/addis-gets-one-more-international-brand-hotel-ethiopia">six</a> internationally branded and managed hotels. This is a very low figure bearing in mind that the average number of tourists per year is <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201706201042.html">nearly</a> 700,000 and these six hotels have a combined total of less than 1,500 rooms. By comparison, Nairobi in neighbouring Kenya already hosts most of the international hotel brands – and <a href="https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/corporate/companies/13-new-hotels-to-enter-Kenya-in-next-five-years/4003102-4064776-lirkn4z/index.html">expects</a> 13 more to open their doors over the next five years. </p>
<p>There are also only three five star hotels in Ethiopia and the majority of the “rated” hotels which guarantee a certain standard of service <a href="https://www.tralac.org/news/article/10510-ethiopia-s-sustainable-tourism-master-plan-2015-2025.html">are situated</a> in the capital, Addis Ababa. Other hotels, rated only by online travel agents based on the guests’ comments and with fewer than 100 rooms, are <a href="https://www.tralac.org/news/article/10510-ethiopia-s-sustainable-tourism-master-plan-2015-2025.html">scattered</a> throughout major towns. This is a problem because most of the tourist attractions are located in the countryside. There is also a scarcity of budget facilities, like youth hostels, to cater for budget travellers and backpackers. </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://www.tralac.org/news/article/10510-ethiopia-s-sustainable-tourism-master-plan-2015-2025.html">major issue</a> is the hotel structures. After the fall of the communist regime, from 1995, Ethiopia started privatising. Over 287 enterprises <a href="http://etd.aau.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/2595/3/AWEKE%20TENAW.pdf">were transferred</a> from the public to the private sector – out of which 34, or 11.8%, were hotels. The aim was to improve economic efficiency, stimulate the private sector and mobilise more foreign and domestic investment. However, the process has been weighed down with problems which <a href="https://addisfortune.net/columns/privatisations-challenges-in-ethiopia/">include</a>; corruption, loss of jobs and a lack of ownership and transparency. The state <a href="http://www.academia.edu/6541541/Full_Length_Research_Paper_HOTEL_SECTOR_INVESTMENT_IN_ETHIOPIA">retains</a> control of many of the most valuable assets in the sector. These are not well maintained, as they are about to be privatised. For example, Addis Ababa’s Hilton hotel, completed in 1987, now needs urgent refurbishment. </p>
<p>Finally, the hotel industry needs to be supported by tourism infrastructure. It needs physical facilities like car parks, sewerage and water works, transport projects and roads. These have to be based on zoning policies, to establish where the hotels should be built. With the exception of Addis Ababa, there are also hardly any offerings of recreational or entertainment activities like parks, concerts or cinemas. And there are logistical gaps like the lack of adequate ATM machines and foreign exchange bureaus outside Addis Ababa. This means visitors need to carry large amounts of cash in local currency, which is inconvenient and unsafe. </p>
<p>To spur tourism growth and development, Ethiopia must improve the hotel industry and the infrastructure that supports it. It will take the cooperation of all stakeholders – government, hotel professionals, hotel owners and hotel trade associations – to achieve a competitive and sustainable sector.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89170/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Orthodox Tefera does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ethiopia must address hotel industry challenges to take advantage of its huge tourism potential.Orthodox Tefera, Lecturer, University of KwaZulu-NatalLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/823422017-09-01T01:05:49Z2017-09-01T01:05:49ZRemembering America’s lost buildings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183860/original/file-20170829-32486-oyd6pz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A photograph of Penn Station's interior from the 1930s.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Penn_Station%2C_Interior%2C_Manhattan_%28NYPL_b13668355-482603%29.jpg">Bernice Abbott</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In June 2017, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/873993/new-renderings-of-penn-stations-1-dollars-6-cents-billion-renovation-released-as-project-gets-greenlight">announced a US$1.6 billion project</a> to transform New York City’s much-maligned Penn Station in hopes of restoring it to its former glory.</em></p>
<p><em>The original structure – an iconic example of the <a href="https://www.crt.state.la.us/Assets/OCD/hp/nationalregister/historic_contexts/beauxartsREVISED.pdf">Beaux-Arts architectural style</a> – was destroyed in 1963 and replaced by a bleak, underground network of tunnels and walkways.</em></p>
<p><em>“One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat,” architectural historian Vincent Scully Jr. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/arts/design/a-proposal-for-penn-station-and-madison-square-garden.html">lamented</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>If there’s a silver lining, the 1963 demolition <a href="https://savingplaces.org/stories/loss-law-that-gave-life-to-modern-preservation-movement#.WYDk7YWcHn8">did spur</a> the formation of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/15/arts/architecture-view-a-commission-that-has-itself-become-a-landmark.html">the New York City Landmarks Commission</a> in 1965 and the passage of the <a href="http://www.achp.gov/nhpa.pdf">National Historic Preservation Act</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Unfortunately, all cannot be salvaged. Preservation efforts must be galvanized; they require mobilization, time and resources. We reached out to five architecture professors and posed the following question: What’s one American structure you wish had been saved?</em></p>
<p><em>While their responses vary – from an unassuming home nestled in the suburbs of Boston to a monument of 19th-century wealth and glamour – none of the structures could resist the tides of decay, development and discrimination.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>A mecca for black Chicago</h2>
<p><strong>Daniel Bluestone, Boston University</strong></p>
<p>In 1943, when the storied, half-century-old Mecca apartment building in Chicago’s South Side was about to be demolished, something extraordinary happened: The Illinois legislature passed a bill to preserve it.</p>
<p>Designed in 1891 by Edbrooke and Burnham, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/991458?origin=JSTOR-pdf&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">the 96-unit Mecca immediately captured the public’s imagination</a>. It was Chicago’s first residential building with a landscaped courtyard open to the street, a design that fused two seemingly incompatible ideals: to build densely while preserving and cultivating the natural landscape. </p>
<p>In the late 19th century, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1447986/">Chicago’s tenement reformers</a> had demanded more light and fresh air for the city’s apartments; they wanted small parks and playgrounds to be able to dot the city’s swelling neighborhoods. The Mecca’s innovative design was a paean to these progressive concerns.</p>
<p>The complex had two atria with <a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f906345d2ce61419.html">skylights</a> that flooded the interior with light. Residents accessed their apartments via open galleries that encircled the atria, with railings that featured foliated ironwork. This form – the courtyard within an apartment complex – inspired a hugely popular Chicago vernacular tradition.</p>
<p>In the early 20th century, the Mecca was enveloped by the South Side’s <a href="https://www.chipublib.org/housing/">expanding Black Belt</a>. Between 1912 and 1913, the complex’s occupancy changed from overwhelmingly white to completely African-American. The massing of black residents in the iconic building inspired residents and artists to view the building as an symbol of black Chicago. South Side blues bars improvised the “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mEkZPJ_XMs">Mecca Flat Blues</a>,” which were tales of love and heartbreak, while poet Gwendolyn Brooks memorialized the building with her poem “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/In_the_Mecca.html?id=3E1aAAAAMAAJ">In the Mecca</a>.” </p>
<p>By the 1930s, officials at the adjacent Armour Institute (later Illinois Institute of Technology) <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/991458?origin=JSTOR-pdf&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">grew concerned about their ability to attract students and faculty</a> to a campus located in the heart of the black community. In 1938 they bought the Mecca, planning to swiftly demolish it in order to create a buffer between town and gown. </p>
<p>Illinois Governor Dwight Green vetoed the legislation that would have preserved the Mecca, and in 1952 – <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=owgcDRTKLxUC&pg=PA236&lpg=PA236&dq=dwight+green+mecca&source=bl&ots=O4VAjlyAd7&sig=DoZRxZNyPx7irPmqajvyxenZmqU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwir6_vCuv_VAhXC4yYKHQe6BPsQ6AEIQTAI#v=onepage&q=dwight%20green%20mecca&f=false">after years of legal wrangling and community protest</a> – the courts allowed the demolition of an architectural and cultural icon to proceed. </p>
<p>The only consolation is that it was replaced by Mies van der Rohe’s famed <a href="http://arch.iit.edu/img/ce7d6a8d9a30a9b1/5804-l.jpg">Crown Hall</a>, now home to IIT’s architecture school. </p>
<hr>
<h2>A Fifth Avenue palace</h2>
<p><strong>Carol A. Willis, Columbia University; Founding Director, The Skyscraper Museum</strong></p>
<p>Many New Yorkers are familiar with the iconic Waldorf Astoria, which sits on Park Avenue. But they might be surprised to learn that this is the second iteration of the luxury hotel. The original was located along Manhattan’s fashionable Fifth Avenue, and the structure took up the entire block between 33rd and 34th streets. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184312/original/file-20170901-22416-v1mqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184312/original/file-20170901-22416-v1mqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184312/original/file-20170901-22416-v1mqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184312/original/file-20170901-22416-v1mqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184312/original/file-20170901-22416-v1mqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184312/original/file-20170901-22416-v1mqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184312/original/file-20170901-22416-v1mqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184312/original/file-20170901-22416-v1mqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The original Waldorf-Astoria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/det.4a08045/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in late November 1929 – after the stock market had crashed and the slow slide into the Great Depression began – workers began demolishing it. </p>
<p>Designed by the noted architect <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/07/realestate/streetscapes-henry-janeway-hardenbergh-architect-who-left-indelible-imprint.html">Henry Hardenbergh</a>, the imposing building had been built in two parts, campaigns that reflected the progress of <a href="http://skyscraper.org/tenandtaller/grid/">modern construction technology</a> and a “bigger and better” mantra of American architecture. </p>
<p>The first building, the Waldorf, was an 11-story structure that opened in 1893. It was built on the site of the mansion where Mrs. Caroline Astor had entertained New York’s “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_McAllister#.22The_Four_Hundred.22">Four Hundred</a>,” an exclusive group of New York’s social elite. In addition to 530 rooms, the Waldorf offered stately apartments on the second floor and a majestic ballroom that could be closed off for lavish private events. </p>
<p>In 1897, the deluxe Astoria section of the hotel was completed. Facing 34th Street, its 16 stories employed a steel skeleton structure – <a href="http://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/products/throwback-thursday-looking-back-at-the-rise-of-metal-in-construction_o">at the time, a cutting-edge technique</a> – that allowed for taller buildings.</p>
<p>With 1,300 rooms, it was the largest hotel in the city, and like many high-class “palace hotels” of the period, the Waldorf Astoria housed permanent and transient patrons; as The New York Times <a href="http://skyscraper.org/tenandtaller/nw.php">noted</a> in 1890, they were designed “to provide a series of magnificent homes for wealthy New Yorkers as an economical alternative to maintaining private mansions.”</p>
<p>By 1929, however, the owners of the Waldorf Astoria decided to decamp to Park Avenue, where they erected an equally lavish modern, Art Deco monument. </p>
<p>The demolition of the old hotel, completed by the winter of 1930, made way for the construction of the ultimate expression of the city’s architectural ambitions: the Empire State Building.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Traditional New England goes modern</h2>
<p><strong>Kevin D. Murphy, Vanderbilt University</strong></p>
<p>Preservationists are still waiting for something positive to come from the demolition of the house that architect <a href="http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=kt5b69q3pk&chunk.id=ch11&toc.id=ch11&brand=ucpress">Eleanor Raymond</a> designed for her sister Rachel. Today, <a href="https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/capobject/?gusn=196000">photographs</a> are all that remain of the pioneering, modernist Rachel Raymond House, which was built in Belmont, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston.</p>
<p>Raymond was a graduate of Wellesley College <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=OpY0KmICqKYC&lpg=PA25&dq=cambridge%20school%20of%20domestic%20architecture&pg=PA25#v=onepage&q&f=false">and received her professional training</a> at the Cambridge School of Architecture, an all-women’s design school founded in the early 20th century.</p>
<p>The Rachel Raymond House is important example of how American architects incorporated aspects of European modernism into their own work. Inspired by European luminaries Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, Raymond’s home featured abstract, geometric blocks. She employed flat roofs, metal railings and steel sash windows – modernist elements that were virtually unheard of in early 1930s American homes.</p>
<p>Yet the house is no more.</p>
<p>The Belmont Hill School, a private school for boys, purchased the home and – despite protests from preservationists – demolished it in November 2006. At the time, architecture critic Robert Campbell <a href="https://secure.pqarchiver.com/boston-sub/doc/405038375.html?FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+4%2C+2006&author=Campbell%2C+Robert&pub=Boston+Globe&edition=&startpage=D.4&desc=Historic+house+loses+bulldozer+battle">wrote</a> that it was “considered by many to be the earliest modern dwelling in New England.” </p>
<p>The Rachel Raymond House actually predated another iconic modernist house: the home of émigré architect <a href="http://www.archdaily.com/375067/happy-birthday-to-bauhaus-founder-and-acclaimed-modernist-walter-gropius">Walter Gropius</a>, located in nearby Lincoln, Massachusetts. While the Rachel Raymond House was eventually razed, the Gropius House <a href="https://www.historicnewengland.org/property/gropius-house/">has been preserved as a house museum</a>. </p>
<p>So why did these two important houses received such vastly different treatment?</p>
<p>The obvious answer is that the work of women architects has been consistently undervalued. In her book “<a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10665.html">Where Are the Woman Architects?</a>,” architectural historian Despina Stratigakos points out that many female architects seem to possess fewer opportunities for advancement than their male counterparts. One source of the problem, according to Stratigakos, is a dearth of prominent female role models in the field. </p>
<p>The Rachel Raymond House could have been a living icon and source of inspiration. Instead, it fell to the wrecking ball.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Paving paradise</h2>
<p><strong>Kerry Traynor, University at Buffalo</strong> </p>
<p>It might seem odd to lament the loss of a roadway; but Humboldt Parkway wasn’t just a road, it was an urban oasis of green parkland – a crucial component of a much larger park and parkway system.</p>
<p>In 1868, landscape architect <a href="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2011/09/04/travel/04FOOTSTEPS2/04FOOTSTEPS2-popup.jpg">Frederick Law Olmsted</a> arrived in Buffalo, New York to design a park for the city. </p>
<p>Instead, he created a <a href="https://www.bfloparks.org/">Park and Parkway System</a> that consisted of six parks, seven parkways and eight landscaped circles. The brilliance of the plan, however, was in the parkways: over 200 feet wide, lined with elm trees and their canopies, they created a ribbon of green that wove its way through the city, connecting its parks and neighborhoods. <a href="http://www.buffaloah.com/h/ferry/jpegs/38.jpg">Humboldt Parkway</a> connected Delaware Park – Olmsted’s largest – with Humboldt Park.</p>
<p>The result: a city within a park, not just parks within a city.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184080/original/file-20170830-24257-1hfl1t2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184080/original/file-20170830-24257-1hfl1t2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184080/original/file-20170830-24257-1hfl1t2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184080/original/file-20170830-24257-1hfl1t2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184080/original/file-20170830-24257-1hfl1t2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=335&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184080/original/file-20170830-24257-1hfl1t2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184080/original/file-20170830-24257-1hfl1t2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184080/original/file-20170830-24257-1hfl1t2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 1953 photograph of Humboldt Parkway.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.buffalorising.com/2014/12/restore-our-community-coalition-launches-i-remember-campaign/">Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But with <a href="http://blog.buffalostories.com/tag/kensington-expressway/">calls for urban renewal</a> in the 1950s and a growing dependence on the automobile, the city no longer saw <a href="https://www.wnyheritage.org/content/old_photo_album_humboldt_parkway/promo-full.jpg">the pastoral quality of Humboldt Parkway</a> as an asset. </p>
<p>To city and state planners, Humboldt Parkway was the ideal location for an expressway – a highway that could carry automobiles to and from the suburbs and the downtown core, while relieving congestion on neighborhood streets. </p>
<p>In order to clear the way for the new highway – dubbed the Kensington Expressway – the state <a href="http://www.buffaloah.com/h/ferry/jpegs/41.jpg">cut down trees</a>, tore up the parkway and demolished homes. The new highway displaced families, divided neighborhoods by race and income and caused property values to plummet. As <a href="http://bit.ly/2u9gidC">neighborhoods fell apart</a>, businesses shuttered their doors. </p>
<p>Olmsted’s parkway had, quite literally, <a href="https://urbansimplicty.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/humboldt_best1927-19952.jpg">been paved over</a>. As Joni Mitchell sings in her hit song “<a href="http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=13">Big Yellow Taxi</a>,” “They paved paradise / And put up a parking lot.”</p>
<hr>
<h2>From the rubble, a preservation movement is born</h2>
<p><strong>Sally Levine, Case Western Reserve University</strong></p>
<p>When I moved to Chicago in 1982, <a href="https://architecturefarm.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/old-chicago-skyscraper-of-the-week-stock-exchange/">the Chicago Stock Exchange Building</a> had long disappeared, but people still spoke of it with a hushed reverence. </p>
<p>Not only was it considered one of the finest accomplishments of architects <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-Sullivan">Louis Sullivan</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dankmar-Adler">Dankmar Adler</a>, its demise also indirectly led to the tragic death of architectural photographer and preservation activist <a href="http://interactive.wttw.com/a/chicago-stories-richard-nickel-story">Richard Nickel</a>, who lost his life snapping photographs of the structure during its demolition.</p>
<p>Built in 1893, the 13-story structure housed the stock exchange for just 14 years. Subsequently the building had a variety of tenants, but leases became fewer and farther between, until the City Council <a href="http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1971/10/20/page/4/article/final-attempt-to-save-stock-exchange-fails">approved its demolition in 1972</a>. </p>
<p>But in its heyday, it was magnificent. </p>
<p>Reflecting Sullivan’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_follows_function">famous phrase</a> “form ever follows function,” the facade demarcated the building’s three parts – the base (the stock exchange), the middle levels (offices) and top (the building’s “crown”). The base contained an exquisite two-story-high trading room. The nine stories of offices were notable for their columns of bay windows and Chicago windows (composed of a large fixed window flanked by operable ones), and the building was adorned with a row of recessed windows and a distinctive cornice. </p>
<p>But perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the building was the large arched entry, which represented a major development in Sullivan’s skill. Sullivan also adorned the stock exchange room with breathtaking low-relief ornaments and brilliantly painted stenciled patterns.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184247/original/file-20170831-26448-fkwxm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184247/original/file-20170831-26448-fkwxm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184247/original/file-20170831-26448-fkwxm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184247/original/file-20170831-26448-fkwxm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184247/original/file-20170831-26448-fkwxm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184247/original/file-20170831-26448-fkwxm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184247/original/file-20170831-26448-fkwxm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184247/original/file-20170831-26448-fkwxm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The preserved trading floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chicago_Stock_Exchange_(7405590890).jpg">Juan Carlos Martin</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many consider its demolition the impetus for <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/586.html">Chicago’s preservation movement</a>. Another important Chicago architectural icon, <a href="http://kubuildingtech.org/sarcweb/Assemblages00/CaseFinals/Mann_Reliance/Reliance%20View.jpg">the Reliance Building</a>, ended up being saved after vigorous efforts by activists. Through the efforts of Nickel and other preservationists, the arched entry and the interior of the trading room were saved – both are now owned by the Art Institute of Chicago. The arch sits at the corner of Monroe Street and Columbus Drive next to the museum, and the trading room has been reconstructed within the museum itself. </p>
<p>While not as satisfying as seeing the actual building, these remnants testify to the beauty of the Chicago Stock Exchange Building – and the importance of preservation efforts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184246/original/file-20170831-2020-1e1j0a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184246/original/file-20170831-2020-1e1j0a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184246/original/file-20170831-2020-1e1j0a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184246/original/file-20170831-2020-1e1j0a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184246/original/file-20170831-2020-1e1j0a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184246/original/file-20170831-2020-1e1j0a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184246/original/file-20170831-2020-1e1j0a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184246/original/file-20170831-2020-1e1j0a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The preserved arch of the old Chicago Stock Exchange.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/old-chicago-stock-exchange-entrance-bit-89177836?src=9bPzUG_q4bQg9TqH1zYQlQ-1-0">Thomas Barrat</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82342/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We asked five architecture experts to name one building or structure they wish had been preserved, but couldn’t resist the tides of decay, development and discrimination.Kevin D. Murphy, Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Humanities and Professor and Chair of History of Art, Vanderbilt UniversityCarol Willis, Founding Director of The Skyscraper Museum, Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture, Columbia UniversityDaniel Bluestone, Director, Preservation Studies Program; Professor, History of Art & Architecture; Professor, American and New England Studies, Boston UniversityKerry Traynor, Clinical Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University at BuffaloSally Levine, Lecturer of Architecture, Case Western Reserve UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/724672017-02-22T13:59:34Z2017-02-22T13:59:34ZTourist trap: how news of terrorism skews our holiday choices<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157845/original/image-20170222-1344-vj1md3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=241%2C58%2C4580%2C2858&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/ovda-israel-february-07-boarding-ryanair-582224425?src=h8gP6UUySOrMN-8OqPddQA-2-12">Adam Przezak / Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Terrorist attacks are designed to intimidate and change behaviour. It should be no surprise then that we allow fear to be a great motivator when we plan trips abroad. News of an attack is a vivid factor as we decide where to travel with our families, perhaps to places of which we know little else. Efforts by reporters to appeal to our concerns end up feeding us the prompts to avoid certain countries or cities, hammering an often crucial tourism industry in the process. </p>
<p>Ever since real-time news coverage brought the horror of the 2001 World Trade Center attacks into people’s homes, global audiences have become used to watching such events unfold on screen. Recently, we have witnessed shootings at Port El Kantaoui beach, near Sousse in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-33304897">Tunisia</a> in 2015, the Bataclan attack in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/20/bataclan-witnesses-recount-horror-paris-attacks">Paris</a> in the same year, and the New Year’s Eve nightclub <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/istanbul-attack-turkey-santa-claus-dead-armed-men-reina-nightclub-bar-a7504061.html">shootings in Istanbul</a> less than two months ago.</p>
<p>These are all key holiday destinations. The tactics used and the damage inflicted may differ, but every attack has the potential to stop us in our tracks. This is clearly of huge significance to the tourism and hospitality sectors.</p>
<h2>Choices</h2>
<p>The first problem is obvious. Uncertainty around safety often translates into <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/jan/27/terrorism-fears-see-uk-tourists-opting-for-safer-holiday-destinations">avoidance</a> of those places considered dangerous. Holidays are postponed or cancelled. Ultimately, limitations are placed on tourists’ freedom of mobility. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the tolerance of potential physical harm is low in discretionary travel, where other options are readily available and the destination can be incidental. Terrorism has served to highlight the fragility of the tourism industry: the displacement of holidaymakers has caused severe economic losses. In <a href="http://blog.euromonitor.com/2015/11/the-impact-of-terrorists-attacks-on-tunisia-and-other-mea-countries.html">Tunisia</a>, where tourism accounts for 15% of GDP, the effect has been stark, with 2016 revenues <a href="http://www.tourisme.gov.tn/en/achievements-and-prospects/tourism-in-figures/figures-2016.html">cut by half from a year earlier</a>.</p>
<p>In Turkey, which suffered from a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/31/world/europe/turkey-recent-attacks.html?_r=0">wave of attacks during 2016</a>, the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/oct/05/turkey-tourism-industry-reels-year-to-forget-istanbul-antalya">has predicted</a> a negative impact on tourism revenues of £2-2.5 billion.</p>
<p>In truth, many potential holiday destinations will have a recent or more distant history of safety issues of one kind or another. In an era of uncertainty, under pressure of time, family member concerns, and the risk of financial loss, many tourists turn to the news media for explanation. The question is, how do we arrive at our final decisions?</p>
<h2>Judgement call</h2>
<p><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2013/01/16/how-do-we-perceive-risk-paul-slovics-landmark-analysis-2/">Years of study </a> on the psychology of risk suggests that the way the public assess danger has much more to do with stuff like emotional responses, their perceived level of control, or their familiarity with a hazard, <a href="http://socsci2.ucsd.edu/%7Earonatas/project/academic/risk%20slovic.pdf">than official statistics</a>. </p>
<p>News stories of new and emerging hazards often entail multiple storylines, especially in times of conflicting accounts and factual uncertainty. These act as qualitative indicators of risk that allow audiences to simplify complexity and categorise the situation as involving more or less danger. And so terrorism which is framed as religious extremism can appear irrational, beyond compromise and uncontrollable, and can lead to higher levels of perceived risk. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517716301030">One recent study</a> I carried out with Bournemouth Professor Barry Richards has shown that small variations in news reports can lead to significant changes in leisure tourists’ risk perception. We all have our own unique set of experiences that dictate how we digest news. However, it seems likely that tourists, who instinctively seek to minimise risk will – after years of exposure to coverage – share a deep pool of associations to terrorist attacks: why they are carried out, and who is likely to be targeted. This allows them to create a coherent picture, a mental shortcut which feeds decision making around a fraught and complex task.</p>
<p>It can come down to details. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517716301030">One experiment in the study mentioned above</a> suggests that if articles emphasise the proximity of a bomb explosion to points of tourist interest, or reference other events where tourists were harmed, then there tends to be a greater judgement of risk. It’s the same for an alleged link to religious extremism as opposed to other things, such as a domestic separatist movement.</p>
<h2>Moving target</h2>
<p>We are also sensitive to accounts from the general public when assessing risk related to terrorism. Reports which quote reactions from local people and which stress the relative newness of the problem, and a lack of confidence in maintaining order and normality, lead to higher estimations of risk. Portrayals of the incident that stress resilience decrease perceived risk.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean that the media has an agenda in pushing an intimidating interpretation of these events, or that audiences can be easily influenced. The point is that journalists who report on these tragic incidents do so in a style that seeks to resonate with the audience. That means using templates which appear to give information which helps us protect ourselves and our loved ones. It is this transaction which can end up devastating a country’s tourism revenues. </p>
<p>In fact, interviews I carried out with my colleague after the study demonstrated that news consumers have become able to do the job themselves. Even when exposed to reports that aim to soften perceived risk, the audience can use examples of other events when tourists were targeted to interpret destinations as particularly dangerous. For example, a report that stressed a focus on military targets in remote areas of a destination was met with distrust by a tourist who believed the information was intended to downplay the magnitude of risk to Western tourists. </p>
<p>Those “gut feelings” we use to make difficult decisions like this under pressure may actually be wired in from exposure to news coverage. The hard bit is to acknowledge that and manage our responses to emotive and vivid content which can cloud reason and lead us to over- or underestimate risk.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72467/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grzegorz Kapuscinski receives funding from John Kent Institue in Tourism - Bournemouth University. </span></em></p>Where we choose to go on trips abroad is easily skewed by the nature of news reports, and that can have huge impacts on destinations.Grzegorz Kapuscinski, Lecturer in Marketing Management, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/642122016-09-15T01:57:42Z2016-09-15T01:57:42ZThe twilight of the mom and pop motel<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137653/original/image-20160913-4980-1dj0vk9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona, is one of the few remnants of America's mid-20th century motel boom. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Wigwam_Motel,_Holbrook,_AZ_04048u_edit.jpg">Library of Congress</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1939, when John Steinbeck <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/01/0102_020104wir66.html">imagined Highway 66</a> as “the road of flight,” he evoked the crushing realities of Depression-era migrants who’d been pushed off their land by failing crops, relentless dust and heartless banks. </p>
<p>Struggling to find some sense of home on the road, these environmental and economic refugees searched for hope against a backdrop of unfathomable loss. On the road to California, they’d rest and recuperate in army surplus tents, hastily constructed Department of Transportation camps and <a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/rosethornil/media/A%20A%20A%201%20Sears%20Homes/Hillrose%20in%20West%20Lafayette/p97b_SMH1916_Chicks1_zpsb237d905.jpg.html">Sears Roebuck chicken-coop cabins</a>.</p>
<p>They could hardly imagine the surreal indulgences of the tourist road that would begin to emerge after World War II: renting a room built to resemble a country cottage and adorned with plastic flowers; snapping photos of a neon cactus glowing through half-drawn window shades; sleeping in a concrete tepee appropriated from Native American culture. </p>
<p>They could, in short, never foresee the rise of the roadside motel. </p>
<p>But after its heyday in the mid-20th century, the traditional mom and pop motel – once ubiquitous along American highways and byways – has largely slipped from the public imagination.</p>
<p>Today’s road-tripper generally prefers lodging that boasts a professional website, guarantees a fast internet connection and promises easy-on-easy-off interstate access, leaving the older motels built along two-lane roads and numbered highways to go to seed. </p>
<p>As Mark Okrant writes in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/No-Vacancy-Demise-Reprise-Americas-ebook/dp/B008EFC3J4#nav-subnav">“No Vacancy: The Rise, Demise and Reprise of America’s Motels,”</a> approximately 16,000 motels were operating in 2012, a sharp drop from a peak of 61,000 in 1964. In subsequent years, that number has surely declined further. </p>
<p>Even so, <a href="https://savingplaces.org/stories/in-defense-of-historic-motels">efforts to preserve</a> mom and pop motor lodges – particularly along Route 66, “the highway that’s the best” – indicate a desire among many historians and motorists to reclaim something of the motel spirit not yet entirely lost. </p>
<h2>Before the motel…the farmer’s field?</h2>
<p>To understand America is to travel its highways. </p>
<p>In the first three decades of the 20th century, America cemented its love affair with the automobile. For the first time, most people – no matter their struggle or station in life – could hop in their cars, hit the road and escape from the places and circumstances that bound them. </p>
<p>Of course, there were few of the amenities available to today’s interstate traveler. West of the Mississippi, camping was the most common alternative to expensive hotels. For motorists who didn’t wish to traipse across stuffy lobbies in road-worn clothing, the convenience and anonymity of a field or lake shore was an attractive option. </p>
<p>Back east, tourist homes provided another alternative to hotels. If you look around in dusty attics or antique shops, you can still find cardboard signs that advertise “Rooms for Tourists.” For example, the Tarry-A-While tourist home in Ocean City, Maryland, advertised, “Rooms, Running Water, Bathing From Rooms. Apartments, Modern Conveniences. Special rates April, May, June and after Labor Day.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137796/original/image-20160914-4963-1sj2gho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137796/original/image-20160914-4963-1sj2gho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137796/original/image-20160914-4963-1sj2gho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137796/original/image-20160914-4963-1sj2gho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137796/original/image-20160914-4963-1sj2gho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137796/original/image-20160914-4963-1sj2gho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137796/original/image-20160914-4963-1sj2gho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137796/original/image-20160914-4963-1sj2gho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Tarry-A-While tourist home in Ocean City, Maryland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because tourist homes were frequently located in town, they differed from most contemporary motels, which are often found near highways, away from the city center. However, each tourist home was as unique as their owners. In this, they contributed to a central tradition of the American motel: mom and pop ownership.</p>
<h2>Fill up your tank and grab a bite to eat</h2>
<p>As the Depression wore on, it became profitable to offer more amenities than those available at campsites. Farmers or businessmen would contract with an oil company, put up a gas pump and throw up a few shacks. Some were prefabricated; others were handmade – rickety, but original. In the book <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Motel_in_America.html?id=CXzZikNoClsC">“The Motel in America,”</a> the authors illustrate the typical visit to a “cabin camp”: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“At the U-Smile Cabin Camp…arriving guests signed the registry and then paid their money. A cabin without a mattress rented for one dollar; a mattress for two people cost an extra twenty-five cents, and blankets, sheets, and pillows another fifty cents. The manager rode the running boards to show guests to their cabins. Each guest was given a bucket of water from an outside hydrant, along with a scuttle of firewood in the winter.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By the 1930s and ‘40’s, cottage courts (also known as tourist courts) emerged as a classier alternative to dingy cabin camps. Each cottage was standardized along a theme, like “rustic or "ranch,” and most were built around a public lawn. As the English Village East in New Hampshire’s White Mountains advertised: “Modern and homelike, these bungalows accommodate thousands of tourists who visit this beauty spot in Franconia Notch.”</p>
<p>Unlike downtown hotels, courts were designed to be automobile-friendly. You could park next to your individual room or under a carport. Along with filling stations, restaurants and cafes began to appear at these roadside havens. </p>
<p><a href="http://nyx.uky.edu/dips/xt7x696zwx82/data/2008ms016/03/0367/0367.jpg">The Sanders Court & Cafe</a> in Corbin, Kentucky, advertised “complete accommodations with tile baths, (abundance of hot water), carpeted floors, 'Perfect Sleeper’ beds, air conditioned, steam heated, radio in every room, open all year, serving excellent food.” And yes, that food included the fried chicken developed by Harland Sanders, the Kentucky colonel of KFC fame. </p>
<h2>The rise of the motel</h2>
<p>During the 1930s and ‘40’s, individual cabin camp and cottage court owners, known as “courtiers,” dominated the roadside haven trade (with the exception of Lee Torrance and his fledgling <a href="http://amhistory.si.edu/onthemove/collection/object_582.html">Alamo Courts chain</a>). </p>
<p>For a time, courtiers lived one version of the American Dream: home and business combined under the same roof. Then, during World War II, almost everything road trip-related was rationed, with tires, gasoline and leisure time at a premium. But many troops traveling across the country to be deployed overseas saw parts of America that they would later want to revisit upon their return. </p>
<p>After the war, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, frustrated by the difficulty of moving tanks across the country, promoted a plan that mimicked the German autobahn: the <a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/history.cfm">Federal Interstate Highway System</a>. But the first of these four-lane highways would take over a decade to build. Until then, families took to whatever highways were available – cruising over rolling roads that followed the curves and undulations of the countryside. Whenever it suited them, they could easily pull off to visit small towns and landmarks.</p>
<p>At night, they found motor courts – no longer isolated cottages, but fully integrated buildings under a single roof – lit by neon and designed with flair. They would soon be referred to as “motels,” <a href="http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/photos-from-the-vault/article39505317.html">a name coined</a> by the owner of the Milestone Mo-Tel (an abbreviation of “motor hotel”) in San Luis Obispo, California. </p>
<p>While motel rooms were plain and functional, the facades took advantage of regional styles (and, occasionally, stereotypes). Owners employed stucco, adobe, stone, brick – whatever was handy – to attract guests.</p>
<p>With families swarming to and from the rest stops that multiplied along the highways of postwar America, many of the owners settled in for a life’s work. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137665/original/image-20160913-4942-1rviuqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137665/original/image-20160913-4942-1rviuqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137665/original/image-20160913-4942-1rviuqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137665/original/image-20160913-4942-1rviuqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137665/original/image-20160913-4942-1rviuqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137665/original/image-20160913-4942-1rviuqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137665/original/image-20160913-4942-1rviuqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137665/original/image-20160913-4942-1rviuqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Roy’s Motel and Cafe in Amboy, California, along Route 66.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roy%27s_Motel_and_Cafe_under_a_full_Moon.jpg">Photographersnature/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The good times wouldn’t last. Limited-access interstates, built to bypass congested downtowns, began to snake across the nation in the 1950s and 1960s. Before long, small-time motor courts were rendered obsolete by chains like Holiday Inn that blurred the distinction between motels and hotels. Single-story structures gave way to double- and triple-deckers. The thrill of discovering the unique look and feel of a roadside motel was replaced by assurances of sameness by hosts from coast to coast.</p>
<p>Today, with most travelers using the Interstate Highway System, few people go out of their way to find roadside motels. Fewer still remember the traditions of autocamps and tourist courts. However, a growing number of <a href="http://sca-roadside.org/">preservation societies</a> and <a href="http://www.route66news.com/">intrepid cultural explorers</a> have begun to hit the exits and travel the original highways again – exploring remnants of Route 66, Highway 40, and U.S. 1 – searching for that one singular experience just around the bend.</p>
<h2>No place to escape</h2>
<p>You could argue that the decline of mom and pop motels signifies something else lost in contemporary American life: the loss of friction, of distance, of idiosyncrasy. In my book <a href="http://www.hamptonpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=978-1-57273-885-5">“City Ubiquitous: Place, Communication, and the Rise of Omnitopia,”</a> I write of a nation defined less by travel than by the illusion that one may gather up all the world – all the same and dependable parts of it, at least – and navigate its safe interiors without fear of surprise.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137663/original/image-20160913-4963-109xx54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137663/original/image-20160913-4963-109xx54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137663/original/image-20160913-4963-109xx54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137663/original/image-20160913-4963-109xx54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137663/original/image-20160913-4963-109xx54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137663/original/image-20160913-4963-109xx54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137663/original/image-20160913-4963-109xx54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The comfort of sameness: Thousands of Holiday Inns now dot the American landscape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/meshal/356748316/in/photolist-xwqR3-8LGb2X-5cojEu-4z9Q9d-bnXZNN-4z5B84-8rVcyB-dkBvLJ-4z5uFp-4z9TrA-dMTuNu-afBLAm-dkBHQ2-nH6a4P-4z5vot-4z5ymX-4z5BRP-4M8Dhq-dkBudg-4z9P3Y-4z5yTe-2gGMbd-4z9TEf-4z9PtS-5LpKMj-fv9dc7-4vabVc-7FLvaF-6TFfww-5gPJSh-boDpdb-4tg9Da-7ZcYLa-dr6DX4-7GBhUK-bg4yyt-6uTcmR-boDtDh-a3GSe4-aCrRVS-8VLRj1-dm9UeG-f4gxiK-7gf2BY-dCWZMe-cVJuhu-67iULu-boDuoh-qpPvNm-85Q5N9">meshal alawadhi/flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is pleasure – and some degree of satisfaction – in this fantasy. But there is something missing too. I don’t necessarily want to call it “authenticity.” But we might imagine motor lodges – those of the past and those that remain today – as representative of a pleasant and peculiar fantasy of freedom: a way to escape the global continuum of constant flow and effortless connection. They’re a departure from the script of everyday life, a place where travelers can still invent a new persona, a new past, a new destination.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Wood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What does the shuttering of traditional roadside motels say about America’s relationship with travel and freedom?Andrew Wood, Professor of Communication Studies, San José State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/640832016-09-05T15:49:51Z2016-09-05T15:49:51ZCompanies wrestle with new era of negative online reviews and spiky consumers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136555/original/image-20160905-15470-hys8w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C2038%2C1152&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Something's not right.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/archier/22659096231/in/photolist-AwiMSX-4cxN1C-5fwNJM-8yRxQW-dWDEMu-9pAQhe-53oV6B-tdTdy-4JKnaZ-56Tw8-4U1xcW-wu2j5-59AuUs-8kzq1-8fUzyb-71pvUr-4ssdF1-9Dmcsy-uEBPsi-aKXVkF-4FpqWF-7HABYS-5sYdbm-2B12Gd-zWrZBf-zWxVvB-AD3CU8-ppRoHJ-4joKbp-kZ4Ry-6s4Hc-8nwVT3-32qhUs-4k8j3b-7ep39d-6reJzZ-p3tB1q-by8KM2-bF8S1r-fvyNw-7bzwrz-7tMsZa-o9NXAC-8671q6-qBRrmg-8hDCms-aaakoT-55mo5k-4YUpuW-rc5J5">Archie/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reviews, recommendations and opinions are reassuring when you navigate the internet looking for a product, a place to eat or a holiday. The rapid growth of web 2.0 applications empowered user interaction and influenced how consumers create and exchange information. We now have a huge amount of user generated content that shares product and service experiences online through a host of sites. These views can be the crucial impetus to click on “buy” or moving on, but these decisions are increasingly based on shaky ground.</p>
<p>Several academic studies have established the importance of user generated content in positively influencing consumer product knowledge and purchase decisions. Online reviews and ratings do reduce uncertainty for prospective consumers. And people believe them. <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2015/digital-formats-are-among-the-most-trusted-advertising-sources-despite-slow-growth.html">Marketing researcher Nielsen found</a> that online opinions were trusted by two thirds of consumers.</p>
<p>It is no surprise then that that retailers, marketers, reputation management companies and commercial review providers are aggressively involved in exploiting the economic benefits of this – for example, <a href="http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/chrpubs/5/">research</a> suggested that a one star hotel rating increase on Travelocity generated an 11% increase in room rates. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136565/original/image-20160905-15470-gnk624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136565/original/image-20160905-15470-gnk624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136565/original/image-20160905-15470-gnk624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136565/original/image-20160905-15470-gnk624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136565/original/image-20160905-15470-gnk624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136565/original/image-20160905-15470-gnk624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136565/original/image-20160905-15470-gnk624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136565/original/image-20160905-15470-gnk624.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some hotels need a boost.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/maurizio-sorvillo/8865474881/in/photolist-evpSPc-mMgMLT-q9dftG-6GPtB9-8vqNNB-6gpnwC-e9d5Ed-bFxBra-nt7pQu-nx5G1u-djBvJc-hZmsor-8ufns1-6pC7Vg-pueUUv-9ey3MS-9ey3tY-e2ydrv-9ey41N-fUkmTs-9ey3q5-2Lunw-aa4LQ2-9eya9w-aa4Koc-62p3vt-66L1z9-5U1F66-nHtrh9-wsdR3-5BJUHZ-6w4nsh-frAMv9-dLGp2o-8FGEhB-5dyPJe-54mxz-oocBVE-7Dw3MS-9ey3GE-fwNBEY-gp9Lxh-aa4Luk-6u1Xvw-9LCHkZ-5YUF7f-DtfKHV-7RWwXG-7FNks8-8C3uLN">Maurizio/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Astroturfing</h2>
<p>As a result, some businesses are turning to fake reviews to promote their reputation or even to attack competitors. In fact, <a href="http://www.eater.com/2016/3/8/11179312/uk-fake-restaurant-reviews-crackdown">evidence suggests</a> that fake reviews – those which do not reflect <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0267364914001824">the author’s genuine opinon</a> – are on the rise. A common form of this is “astroturfing” – using paid reviewers to provide fake support for a product. </p>
<p>Fake online reviews don’t only mislead consumers. They also breach consumer laws and undermine market efficiency. Existing consumer protection laws, guidelines and industry codes seek to regulate deceptive reviews as a form of consumer misinformation. The Competition and Markets Authority <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/online-reviews-and-endorsements">opened an investigation in 2015</a> which looked into fake posts on review sites, unpublished negative reviews and endorsements paid for by businesses without an appropriate disclosure and expressed “concerns that some practices may be unlawful”. More recently it found that clothing retailer Wool Overs <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37048528">was cherry picking</a> favourable reviews for its website. The company has since told the regulator that it would publish “all genuine, relevant and lawful customer reviews on its website” in future and not “suppress unfavourable reviews”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136570/original/image-20160905-15470-w0nk11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136570/original/image-20160905-15470-w0nk11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136570/original/image-20160905-15470-w0nk11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136570/original/image-20160905-15470-w0nk11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136570/original/image-20160905-15470-w0nk11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136570/original/image-20160905-15470-w0nk11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136570/original/image-20160905-15470-w0nk11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136570/original/image-20160905-15470-w0nk11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some reviews are more playful.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Box-Canvas-Print-Paul-Ross/dp/B001N6W8U0/ref=cm_rdp_product_img">Composite image/Amazon.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Advertising Standards Authority’s <a href="https://www.asa.org.uk/News-resources/Media-Centre/2011/New-online-remit-enhances-consumer-protection.aspx#.V7xqHmNiclY">remit was also extended</a> to encompass marketing communications on company websites and other non-paid online spaces. It now regulates so called “testimonials” or user reviews requiring marketers to hold proof of authenticity. The US Federal Trade Commission is also active in enforcing its 2009 regulation, recently filing its first complaint against a company (<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/142-3255/roca-labs-inc">Roca Labs in 2015</a>) for seeking to dissuade its customers from sharing negative feedback online. Perhaps motivated by a changing regulatory landscape, Amazon started legal action in autumn 2015 accusing 1,114 people of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34565631">providing “fake, misleading and inauthentic” reviews</a> that were claimed to be tarnishing its brand reputation. And <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/04/26/amazon-more-fake-review-lawsuits/">it moved to do the same again in 2016</a>. </p>
<h2>Gripes of wrath</h2>
<p>But how can firms respond when people emboldened by social media take their gripe too far? Emerging strategies are now being used by firms who want to take affirmative action to control their customers’ damaging comments. Recently <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/12/charlton-athletic-fan-can-only-get-season-ticket-if-he-signs-beh/">Charlton Football Club</a> sought to enforce a behaviour contract on one of its season ticket holders following “certain comments that have not been particularly constructive” – diplomatic legalise for bad mouthing the club on Twitter. Of course, inappropriate comments can be removed from company Facebook pages, but you can’t do this on Twitter.</p>
<p>Breakthrough technologist <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/02/03/banned-by-tesla-elon-musk-cancels-customers-order-because-of-blo/">Elon Musk cancelled a customer’s pre-order</a> for for the Tesla Model X after an open letter that criticised the company’s launch event. Musk was reportedly “not comfortable” that this particularly disgruntled yet aspiring customer should be allowed to own a luxury Tesla. </p>
<p>From cutting-edge electric super cars, to cups of lemon water. One customer who left a tetchy review online after being charged £2 for a modest hot drink received a humbling <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12099760/TripAdvisor-York-Bennetts-cafe-owner-leaves-brilliant-response-to-one-star-review.html">response from the owner of a York cafe</a> who detailed the overheads involved in running his business.</p>
<p>There are other approaches, of course. Light-hearted <a href="http://blog.westjet.com/westjet-flights-to-london/">Canadian airline WestJet</a> claims to welcome feedback and constructive criticism and receives a constant barrage of complaints including abuse and expletives. An early adopter of <a href="http://www.travelweek.ca/news/westjet-goes-round-clock-247-social-media-support/">24/7 social media support</a>, the low-cost airline allows customers to rant a little.</p>
<p>It is not always the disaffected customer who is at fault however, sometimes company representatives can take things too far. <a href="http://boston.eater.com/2012/11/28/6516211/pigalle-to-customer-you-must-enjoy-vomit">Enraged managers at Boston restaurant Pigalle</a> perhaps overreacted with a foul mouthed rant to a customer’s Facebook complaint about a “vomit” tasting pumpkin pie desert.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136572/original/image-20160905-15470-12v2tmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136572/original/image-20160905-15470-12v2tmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136572/original/image-20160905-15470-12v2tmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136572/original/image-20160905-15470-12v2tmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136572/original/image-20160905-15470-12v2tmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136572/original/image-20160905-15470-12v2tmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136572/original/image-20160905-15470-12v2tmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136572/original/image-20160905-15470-12v2tmi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What has this pumpkin pie ever done to you?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/preppybyday/5076305261/in/photolist-8JzoGv-7kiJm3-tkdMa-5Fe7Qs-aCsR3U-hVEDv2-pApZUz-ayYqFR-8WSi7h-8RwLMz-8YXzC1-5D3MXX-6TJay-cQ2hhQ-cQ2hcq-7e8Uef-5B62U-8NRxA8-8JzoKt-aMxfpt-aSzjr8-7dUS2a-6VaiB-7px6nu-aKn5Qe-t18dL-aAdqwb-rEm7X-hRmu6c-34kYdv-7jgSf-3M2pv6-gDzsfb-3nKMro-5yFZfZ-48KME2-pAgNJg-4aAKCz-5EMoiA-aASPfN-8zxZPC-7gL3TY-5Gu5EB-sGdNi-bbnhVk-dJ9XNh-8vV8RZ-cQ2hob-i9Xq1X-5FknsX">TheCulinaryGeek/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Social media platforms like <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-permanently-bans-controversial-blogger-milo-yiannopoulos-1469025620">Twitter</a> are increasingly in the spotlight for <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/bob-mankoff/nipplegate">regulating their communities</a>. They have become more adept at managing their membership, although outright bans are a rarity. </p>
<p>With the rise in automated <a href="https://www.brandwatch.com/2015/01/understanding-sentiment-analysis/">sentiment analysis</a> of social media output and increasing corporate focus on online reputation management, it does seem that more firms are confidently taking punitive action on customers who take things too far. The Charlton Athletic example may offer a glimpse of the future. Don’t be surprised if social media behaviour requirements start appearing in your contracted terms and conditions. Will next year’s loyalty reward points be tied to a binding customer behaviour contract?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64083/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Social media feedback has made businesses think twice about what makes a good customer.Professor Justin O'Brien, Senior Lecturer Marketing & Strategy, Royal Holloway University of LondonSameer Hosany, Reader in Marketing, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/513292015-11-26T15:55:43Z2015-11-26T15:55:43ZInside the massive market for loyalty cards and frequent flyer miles<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103328/original/image-20151126-28287-iuos7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Moonshot. Enough reward points to take a longer trip?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/philopp/2485622929/in/photolist-4MDt6K-np3SxN-amEnCi-fV3Zgx-4sPzEa-jH6s7f-xhrkPJ-fV3j69-fV3jVL-np3Uh9-dbZR7m-9JpQm5-np3U4y-jH5WzC-9rCA6s-amEmrX-f4HS38-5RyYVA-jH6gwh-nqMeXk-amEsbD-amHmam-noJdQY-cPgmEy-aAyJYp-pztJFX-7WjLnu-amHkNS-7WjD2q-7Wgj4H-7WgrwV-7WgmbP-noJdqj-amH8ZJ-7WjDjQ-PSGNn-7WjGkN-7WgpEr-7WjKUQ-7vRMek-wigaf9-7WjKr9-7WjA5Y-655Ada-7Wgske-6dvWoy-6dvXr1-7WENo4-p4Ly71-a3bhYf">Ting Chen</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The rewards business has turned into its own multi-national industry. When a Chinese billionaire reportedly bagged a lifetime of free first-class flights by using his credit card to buy a single (admittedly expensive) piece of art recently, it acted as a reminder that millions of us are underwriting loyalty schemes such as this. But we’re not all benefiting quite as much as certain comfortably-off art collectors. </p>
<p>Liu Yiqian Liu – who went from <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/88ea9dec-8a1d-11e5-9f8c-a8d619fa707c.html#slide0">handbag sales, to taxi-driving,</a> to making a stock market fortune – is reported to have put the $170m purchase of Amedeo Modigliani’s Reclining Nude on his exclusive American Express card, likely accruing <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/billionaire-earns-first-class-travel-for-life-by-putting-modigliani-nude-on-amex">almost limitless frequent flyer miles</a> in the process. So how big is this rewards industry? And what are the rest of us really getting from it?</p>
<h2>Data mine</h2>
<p>Reward is a truly vast marketplace. In the UK alone, 40 mainstream schemes cover 92% of the UK adult population, each of us holding on average three memberships. We dutifully swipe in our data – as members, of course, we are also sharing details of our shopping habits with the retailers – but leave <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/11912823/Shoppers-waste-6bn-of-loyalty-reward-points.html">up to £6 billion</a> in unclaimed rewards. </p>
<p>UK reward schemes are dominated by retailers, airlines and hotels, as <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/11912823/Shoppers-waste-6bn-of-loyalty-reward-points.html">we can see from the membership rankings</a>. The Nectar card, backed by supermarket Sainsburys has 19m users, the scheme run by High Street chemist Boots has just 1m fewer. Supermarkets Tesco and Morrisons are next on the list with 16m and 7m members respectively, followed by a trio of airlines and two hotel chains.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103330/original/image-20151126-28272-1n7268x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103330/original/image-20151126-28272-1n7268x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103330/original/image-20151126-28272-1n7268x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103330/original/image-20151126-28272-1n7268x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103330/original/image-20151126-28272-1n7268x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103330/original/image-20151126-28272-1n7268x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103330/original/image-20151126-28272-1n7268x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103330/original/image-20151126-28272-1n7268x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Loyalty, or enticement?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathanrolande/15480338290/in/photolist-pzWMfj-spFVsH-d6gJUy-snoLRw-GNoMF-jLYUoG-bicZGc-kHmSEn-kHmSGg-kHmSDa-kHmjRK-kHorAS-kHmmpe-kHmU32-kHotmf-kHmmrt-25wTqj-59Cecj-kHot9w-kHmTAk-pKeNBG-46MADV-dyng3B-51QYx-kHmUi2-kHmmfB-kHmmee-kHosNS-kHosFN-kHosNG-kHotsh-kHmmt2-kHosF7-kHmUqB-kHmUqX-9YjiyJ">Jonathan Rolande</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The cards are often mistakenly synonymous with loyalty, but that doesn’t seem to come into it. In fact, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/10878570810888777">research shows that up to 85%</a> of purportedly “loyal” customers are willing to shop elsewhere, given the appropriate enticement. </p>
<h2>Valuations</h2>
<p>British Airways founded its reward currency AirMiles in 1988, partnering with leading brands such as American Express, Lloyds Bank, TSB, Tesco and Shell. Its current manifestation, <a href="https://www.avios.com/gb/en_gb/about-us/our-company/about-avios">Avios</a>, boasts a 5.5m strong active membership. Grocery retailer Tesco launched its sector-leading Clubcard in 1995, introducing a personalised data-mining marketing proposition that predated big data by nearly two decades. It is now looking to sell off its customer analytics arm <a href="http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/feature/2390197/what-does-tescos-sale-of-dunnhumby-mean-for-its-data-strategy">Dunnhumby, perhaps optimistically, for £2bn.</a></p>
<p>US rewards are <a href="http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/value-miles-points/">valued at a cent or two per point</a> but with an estimated <a href="http://greenandgold.uaa.alaska.edu/images/weekly/20120516-Accounting-for-Airline-FFP.pdf">15 trillion airmiles outstanding</a> in the US, that is theoretically a colossal liability. </p>
<p>Promotional kick backs are, of course, built in to sales and marketing costs, however. There is no such thing as a free lunch and everyone ends up paying more to cover them. </p>
<p>Half of US households participate in frequent-flyer reward progams and about 40m “free” tickets are issued annually. Startlingly, about a quarter of respondents freely admit to taking unnecessary trips to earn points, again pushing up demand, and therefore costs, for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/blake-fleetwood/frequentflier-programs-ar_b_856623.html">everyone else</a>.</p>
<p>It’s not even like we’re unaware of this wrinkle in the industry. A <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/blake-fleetwood/frequentflier-programs-ar_b_856623.html">Frequent Flyer Magazine</a> poll revealed that among those benefiting from a reward programme, more than a third saw them as unethical. </p>
<h2>Out of love with loyalty</h2>
<p>Consumer activism might yet turn on the reward industry. Socially-minded UK supermarket Waitrose already offers shoppers altruistic rewards instead, green token ‘votes’ which shoppers can use to indicate which local charities the retailer should support. Perhaps customer attitudes will encourage other retailers to do likewise.</p>
<p>The rewards industry is indisputably substantial, but it could be heading for a fall. Consumers also may well be tempted away by simpler online <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/creditcards/10027048/Best-cashback-credit-card-deals.html">cash back schemes</a> and transparent and unbundled pricing propositions, but perhaps <em>sotto voce</em> and more importantly, because the foundations of the reward industry are ethically dubious. Simply put, should we be subsidising free flights for the biggest spenders?</p>
<p>And that isn’t the only challenge schemes face. <a href="http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/">One–mile-at-a-time blogger Ben Schlappig</a> claims to be airborne six hours a day <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/ben-schlappig-airlines-fly-free-20150720">thanks to reward schemes</a>. He is a flamboyant hobbyist whose gaming of the rewards industry affords him virtually free and unlimited travel, using aeroplane cabins and hotels as his bedroom, office and playroom. Numerous dubious <a href="http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/scamming-airline-miles-isnt-scam-68745">mileage accrual schemes</a> are publicised on the web, including back-to-back <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/economist-cant-figure-out-air-miles-2012-11?IR=T">mileage run trips</a> taken merely to <a href="http://thepointsguy.com/2011/10/attaining-airline-elite-status-series-the-basics-and-why-people-mileage-run/">trigger higher reward status levels</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103336/original/image-20151126-28295-qua0zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103336/original/image-20151126-28295-qua0zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103336/original/image-20151126-28295-qua0zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103336/original/image-20151126-28295-qua0zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103336/original/image-20151126-28295-qua0zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103336/original/image-20151126-28295-qua0zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103336/original/image-20151126-28295-qua0zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103336/original/image-20151126-28295-qua0zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">George Clooney in a publicity still from</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Paramount Pictures, Dale Robinette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Anecdotally, serious business traveller mileage millionaires who I know, not unlike George Clooney’s character in the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1193138/quotes">movie Up in the Air</a>, often struggle to spend their reward mountains. Instead, they glean social status by gloating about unspendable points hordes. </p>
<h2>Reputations at risk?</h2>
<p>Few of us, however, have the time, motivation, or initial capital to exploit the system with quite such elan. We could however, detach from the system entirely, cashing in our points as we depart.</p>
<p>But even a redemption rush of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/money/shortcuts/2015/oct/06/are-you-sitting-on-a-goldmine-of-unclaimed-loyalty-card-points">the UK’s £6 billion</a> of unspent rewards is unlikely to see systemic confidence undermined. Average UK member scheme credit with supermarkets runs to £20, and it’s at around £300 in airline schemes. It is hardly likely that everyone would simultaneously rush to cash in their stash. </p>
<p>More likely is a scenario where competitive pressure on increasingly transparent business models sees schemes devalue point rewards. Banking industry regulation has already been cited as the cause of <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/602739/Tesco-customers-supermarket-slashes-Clubcard-points-rewards">Tesco halving the value of their incentive currency</a>. And cunningly, many hotels seem to have already <a href="http://www.independenttraveler.com/travel-tips/travelers-ed/the-trouble-with-hotel-reward-programs">limited points accrual</a> to direct sales only; your comparison website booking may not get you the expected reward. You see, not only have rewards turned into a global industry, they are also part of a maturing business, with all the problems of growth and innovation that brings.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51329/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin O'Brien has had/has reward memberships with Tesco, Nectar, Boots, Starwood, Marriott, although is no longer consciously collecting reward points. He is a former British Airways employee and will draw a pension from them on retirement. </span></em></p>It’s a collosal business. But who gets the most out of ‘rewards’? And what if we all used ours at once?Professor Justin O'Brien, MBA Programme Director, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.