Month: March 2022

How to Keep Your Camera Safe While Traveling: 8 Tips

How to Keep Your Camera Safe While Traveling: 8 Tips

The world is full of beautiful places, from the photogenic scenery in the Swiss Alps to the vast plains of the Serengeti National Park. Even if you aren’t traveling to one of the most photogenic places in the world, it’s always a good idea to 

Rob Curley: Las Vegas travel guide for the Zags fan who’s already done all the Sin City classics

Rob Curley: Las Vegas travel guide for the Zags fan who’s already done all the Sin City classics

Glance, we aren’t rookies in this article. Basketball admirers from all around these components have migrated each individual spring to Las Vegas given that 2009. We know things. A single of the only confident bets in Sin Town is that any self-respecting Gonzaga fan can 

Russian, Ukrainian tourists stranded abroad amid war back home | DW Travel | DW

Russian, Ukrainian tourists stranded abroad amid war back home | DW Travel | DW

In the Dominican Republic alone, there are currently about 14,800 Russian and almost 3,000 Ukrainian tourists stranded due to travel restrictions imposed after Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor.

The Caribbean country has announced it would guarantee them the right to stay in their lodgings “until a conclusive solution is found to their situation in light of the conflict in their countries,” according to a statement from the Tourism Ministry. An agreement to that effect had been reached by the government and the Asonahores Hotel and Restaurant Association, as well as hotel representatives, it said.

In addition, a process for the repatriation of tourists to Russia has been agreed with Russian tour operators. According to the main Ukrainian tour operator, the approximately 1,900 visitors will stay in their assigned hotels until a solution is found for their return home.

Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops on February 24, many countries suspended air traffic with Russia and banned Russian aircraft from flying over their territory. In return, Russia closed its airspace to aircraft from 36 countries. As a result, about 150,000 travelers worldwide are stranded because they can no longer get back to their home countries.

Ukrainian Honorary Consul to the Dominican Republic, Ilona Oleksandrivna, making an appeal at a press conference

Ilona Oleksandrivna, Ukraine’s representative in the Dominican Republic, made an appeal for help on Wednesday

A tearful appeal

Ilona Oleksandrivna, Ukraine’s honorary consul to the Dominican Republic, tearfully pleaded with President Luis Abinader at a press conference earlier this week to help stranded Ukrainians. Oleksandrivna said more than 1,200 of her compatriots had been forced to leave their hotels due to lack of money and were now “living on the streets.”

An adviser for immigration issues at the Ukrainian consulate said many of those affected could not be helped with travel insurance, as it did not cover them in the event of war.

Tourism Minister David Collado has announced a meeting with representatives of the private sector to ensure that the stranded Ukrainians could remain without encountering further difficulties. “The Dominican state will respond responsibly and with human sensitivity,” he said. 

Tourists from Russia and Ukraine account for about 10{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} of all visitors to the Dominican Republic. In the first two months of this year alone, there were almost 110,000 arrivals.

Egypt offers three-star accommodation

Thousands of tourists have also been stranded in Egypt. According to official estimates, around 20,000 Ukrainians are unable to travel back to their home country.

View of the cityscape of Cairo, Egypt

Cairo is one of the many Egyptian destinations popular with both Russian and Ukrainian holidaymakers

According to the online portal mein-aegypten.com, a tourism blog, the Egyptian Tourism Ministry has instructed the managers of three-star hotels to provide stranded Ukrainian tourists with three meals a day and refreshments. A tourism fund will cover the cost of accommodation and meals, the ministry said.

Guests in four- and five-star accommodation, on the other hand, were to decide for themselves whether to stay in their hotels at their own expense or move to the subsidized three-star establishments.

The ministry also announced, following a meeting with representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs and transport, that tourists from all countries whose international air traffic has currently been affected could stay in their hotels until their safe return home is guaranteed.

Tourists from Ukraine usually receive a “tourist visa on arrival,” which allows them to stay in Egypt for up to 30 days. As the Egyptian Embassy in Berlin told DW, many of the vacationers have not yet exhausted this time period. The government has not yet decided on possible extensions beyond this time limit.

Last year, more than 1.4 million people from Ukraine spent their vacations in Egypt. This made them the second-largest group of European tourists in the country on the Nile.

Ukrainian tourists chat on the beach of a hotel

Ukrainian tourists have also been left stranded on the Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar

Zanzibar trying to ‘help’ stranded Ukrainians

Several hundred Ukrainians are also stranded on the island of Zanzibar, which belongs to Tanzania, according to local authorities. The newspaper The East African, based in Nairobi, reported that the “almost 1,000” people were “tourists” who could no longer return to their homeland after the invasion by Russia. Now they are seeking a diplomatic solution. The question is whether they should be sent on to Poland.

According to Zanzibar’s tourism minister, Lela Muhamed Mussa, the vacationers are staying in hotels. Some of them were staying free of charge and receiving humanitarian assistance, according to authorities. Hussein Mwinyi, president of the semi-autonomous region, said they were trying to “help” the stranded Ukrainians as best they could. They’ve also received consular support from the Ukrainian Embassy in Kenya.

Tourists also stuck in Europe

In Europe, Greece and Turkey are among the most popular vacation destinations for people from the two countries currently at war. Last year, Turkey recorded more than 2 million guests from Ukraine and 4.7 million from Russia. The Turkish Embassy in Berlin could not say on Friday how many travelers from the two countries are currently abroad in Turkey.

Sotiris Krystallis, the press attache for the Greek Embassy in Berlin, told DW that only a few tourists from Ukraine are currently in the country, according to the authorities in Athens. However, there are now more than 2,700 Ukrainian refugees who are being helped in Greece. 

By contrast, there are currently about 2,000 Russian visitors in Greece, according to the data. They usually receive a visa that allows them to spend 90 days in Greece within six months. The Greek authorities are working closely with the embassies of both countries to provide the best possible assistance to their respective nationals.

A person holding a mobile phone next to the SWIFT payment logo

There are increasing reports that credit cards and other means of payment are no longer being accepted from Russians

Problems with payments

Many Russian travelers are increasingly struggling with substantial logistical problems. Increasingly, people have reported on social networks that their credit cards and other means of payment are no longer being accepted after various Russian banks were excluded from the SWIFT system for international payments.

According to the Romanian travel portal AirlinesTravel, payment systems such as Apple Pay and Google Pay have also been affected, as are withdrawals from ATM cash machines. This information comes from both banks and tourists, who have left numerous comments to this effect on social networks.

But these organizational problems are only one side of the story. There’s also the fact that they are stranded far from home, and many don’t know what their home will look like when they’re eventually able to return.

This article was originally published in German

Cocoa Beach Pier resort gets City Commission support on Meade Avenue

Cocoa Beach Pier resort gets City Commission support on Meade Avenue

Guidance nearby journalism. Unlock unlimited digital accessibility to floridatoday.com Click right here and subscribe now. Westgate Cocoa Beach Pier officials have been given an early vote — of great import — to broaden by developing a $60 million hotel-timeshare vacation resort and parking garage. Orlando-primarily based Westgate 

Scotland, Florida, Texas, or Home? BU Students Share Their Spring Break Plans | BU Today

Scotland, Florida, Texas, or Home? BU Students Share Their Spring Break Plans | BU Today

The journey marketplace is rebounding from the pandemic, and some Terriers are touring, but others are deciding on to stay, help save, or stick close to dwelling Photo by Philip Myrtorp/Unsplash Spring Split The travel business is rebounding from the pandemic, and some Terriers are 

2 of the Cheapest Stocks I Own

2 of the Cheapest Stocks I Own

To start, I assume it really is crucial to disclose how I establish no matter if a stock is costly or low-cost. In that regard, the price-to-earnings (P/E) and the selling price-to-cost-free-hard cash-stream (P/FCF) ratios are the two key metrics I take into account. The P/E steps how a lot you shell out for every greenback of earnings for every share. It can be affected by modifications in the market place price tag of a stock, adjustments in web gains, and improvements in shares superb. 

Similarly, the P/FCF ratio measures how a lot you are paying for each dollar of absolutely free hard cash move. This metric can be influenced by adjustments in the market cost, changes in shares remarkable, as properly as factors that determine a company’s free money circulation, such as revenue and capital expenditure requirements.

With out even more ado, here are the two most affordable shares I have in accordance to these metrics. 

A person shopping in a store.

Image resource: Getty Photographs.

1. Macy’s 

Famed office-shop chain Macy’s ( M -4.72{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} ) is buying and selling at P/E and a P/FCF ratios of 5.6 and 3.8, respectively. At the pandemic’s onset, the company was devastated when it quickly closed its doorways to in-human being purchasers. The stock cratered as a end result. That said, it is recovering really very well, and the stock is up 70{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} in the past 12 months.

Administration can be commended for pivoting rapidly and early in the pandemic, emphasizing its digital channel. Right before the outbreak, it was hesitant to speed up this system simply because it would cannibalize income from brick-and-mortar spots. Like a lot of other businesses, Macy’s prefers prospects to shop in-keep rather than on the net. Buys built in-retail store are much more lucrative simply because Macy’s does not bear the expenditure of shipping and delivery the product to people’s residences. What is extra, individuals are far more probably to make an impulse acquire whilst shopping in particular person.

Even so, Macy’s experienced no option but to emphasize the electronic enterprise when its stores ended up shut for in-particular person procuring, and the go is paying out off. In its most recent quarter, net sales were being more than $300 million bigger than in the same quarter in 2019.

In the course of the pandemic, management has also slash prices considerably. In 2021, Macy’s earnings for every share (EPS) were being $4.55, additional than double the $1.81 it attained in 2019 — and it was the 2nd-maximum in its previous ten years, topped only by the $5.10 it delivered in 2018.

2. Tilly’s

Tilly’s ( TLYS -2.33{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} ), a specialty retailer for pre-teenagers to young grownups, is investing at a P/E and P/FCF of 6.6 and 7.7, respectively. Like Macy’s, Tilly’s was pressured to shut its retailers to in-individual browsing at the pandemic’s onset. The organization has about 240 spots. Nonetheless, contrary to Macy’s, its restoration has much more to do with management’s skill in securing inventory throughout times of popular shortages.

The accomplishment has allowed Tilly’s the strategic advantage of possessing products in inventory when opponents are in small provide. As a final result, Tilly’s is getting no issues promoting its items at higher earnings than at any time in its record. In truth, management gave credit score to these things when it current traders on its vacation income results on Jan. 10. Ed Thomas, President and Main Executive Officer, commented:

Dependent on our powerful 2021 holiday break interval final results, we expect to report our most profitable fourth quarter considering that getting a public enterprise and our most lucrative whole fiscal calendar year on file. We believe that these final results have been driven by favorable market place situations and a persuasive items assortment.

When will I sell? 

Commonly, I program on holding these two low-cost stocks as prolonged as the valuation metrics are below double digits. If their values rise previously mentioned people ranges, I will consider the reasons at the rear of the improve and identify if it can be an exceptional time to provide. Until finally then, I will gladly hold these retail shares that have been fantastic to my portfolio returns so far. 

This article signifies the feeling of the writer, who may well disagree with the “official” suggestion posture of a Motley Fool top quality advisory service. We’re motley! Questioning an investing thesis – even just one of our personal – aids us all feel critically about investing and make conclusions that support us turn out to be smarter, happier, and richer.