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1. Canada, Bahamas implement Ebola travel bans
The governments of Canada and the Bahamas have initiated temporary travel bans on residents from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and South Sudan over concerns of the Ebola outbreak, Reuters reports. Canada's ban will last 90 days while the Bahamas is set to end after 30 days.
The U.S. government last week banned non-citizens who traveled to those countries from entering the U.S.
On Friday, the World Health Organization on raised the risk of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola turning into a national outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo to "very high" and has declared the outbreak there and in Uganda an international emergency, according to the article.
2. US consumer confidence falls in May
The Conference Board's consumer confidence index dipped by 0.7 points to 93.1 in May, the first drop in three months, the Associated Press reports. Pre-pandemic, the index would regularly reach 130.
The University of Michigan released its consumer sentiment survey last week showing a record low for May, the AP reports.
“The prospect of higher prices and faster inflation continues to loom over confidence readings with many households taking a more cautious approach to purchases this year,” said Ben Ayers, Nationwide senior economist.
3. For hotels in World Cup cities, it's about rate, not occupancy
In a podcast interview, Didio Pequeno, director of hospitality market analytics, Northeast and Midwestern U.S. for CoStar Group, said occupancy in markets hosting the upcoming FIFA World Cup isn't playing out to the lofty expectations made months ago, but hoteliers are still seeing opportunities through rates.
"When I talk to people, whether that be general managers or revenue managers around the country, I'm getting a lot of mixed signals, but I think the prevailing thought is that yes, the World Cup will still boost performance through the summer," he said. "Performance is going to vary market by market, some will perform better than others, of course, but it's not really about demand, it's more so about markets being able to drive rate."
4. Cuba's tourism industry in trouble
Increased political and economic pressure from the U.S. and worsening infrastructure problems are rapidly deteriorating Cuba's once thriving tourism industry, the Wall Street Journal reports. In 2017 and 2018, the island nation welcomed about 400,000 international visitors a month, but during the first quarter of this year, only about 298,000 international visitors arrived, a 48% year-over-year decrease.
“I didn’t think it would fall so hard and so fast,” said Sarah Foda, destination manager for Cuba at Caribbean Tours. “But worsening infrastructure problems combined with negative international press coverage about blackouts and garbage piling up hurt demand.”
5. Italian court rules hotel doesn't have to serve tap water
Italy's high court ruled that a high-end hotel in the Dolomites did not break any laws when it refused to serve a guest at its restaurant tap water, the BBC reports. The guest argued that water was "a universal human right" after being offered a €7 ($8.15) bottle of mineral water.
Lower courts had either rejected the case or rule in the hotel's favor, according to the article. The country's Supreme Court wrote that Italian laws and regulations did not require restaurants to provide tap water to guests and that they could decide themselves what to serve.
The plaintiff sought €2,700 for emotional distress and economic damage, the BBC reports, citing Italian media coverage.