Dear Members and Friends
The European summer holidays are just
around the corner. The news is full of travel tips and travel reports from an
industry where demand and forecasts have fluctuated between extremes in just
two years.
And in China? No one dares to travel far
away from their home base out of fear of being caught by the “dynamic
zero-covid” restrictions. The country's tourism industry is struggling to
survive, and the number of passports issued to Chinese citizens is at a
historical low. The light at the end of the tunnel for international business
travelers is the reduction of quarantine days to 7+3 announced on June 28 and
the prospect of more international flights starting soon. As soon as more
details are known, we will inform you.
When you look at the situation, you get the
feeling that we are living in two different worlds and at different times. Both
sides cannot comprehend and understand how this can be. The Chinese ask how
European governments can be so reckless in the face of the pandemic, and
European citizens ask how the Chinese government can be so harsh and risk the
future of its economy and the financial well-being of its citizens.
The fabric woven in the past 30 to 40 years
between China and the Western world has been stretched in the past few years,
but right now, at the beginning of the European summer break, we see that the
seams are starting to tear. No one wants to see a decoupling of the markets,
and it is hard to conjure it up because the manufacturing processes of the
global economy are still tightly interwoven. To see the hospitality and tourism
industry falling apart raises the question which other sectors might follow,
which are safe, and which we should focus on to reduce tensions and damage to
the global economy.
Solutions must be found, because at stake
are the world economy and global institutions that have bound the globe
together in the fight against poverty and war, creating prosperity and peace.
The ideological positions that endanger these achievements must be thrown
overboard by all stakeholders, and genuine dialogue must take place. The
Ukraine conference in Lugano at the beginning of July could be a start.
The next few weeks, when news are slow and
business quiets down, would be a good time to work on platforms that replace
the exchange of arguments and position papers with real dialogue to find
solutions to the threats that not only endanger our way of life but also put
the world’s poorest at risk of a food catastrophe and hundreds of millions of
middle-class families slipping back into poverty as global warming runs its
course.
As a chamber, we had a busy month in June
with the AGM and other events. We are monitoring the easing of travel
restrictions to China and are involved in some initiatives that could be useful
for our members. As soon as they become reality and are implemented, we will
inform about them.
We are sad to inform you that our former
board member and advisory board member Richard Wang has passed away. We will
miss him and extend our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.
This is what goes through our minds during
the summer pause, a more sober message than the usual one wishing you all a
good break. We wish you to recover and recharge your batteries, because we all
need the energy to face the challenges when we come back from the holidays, as
the difficulties will stay and not disappear in the summer heat.
The next newsletter will be published in
September, with news about the events that have taken place in the meantime.
Kind regards
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