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Tag: asia

  • Air Asia accepts vax cards as primary travel requirement

    Air Asia accepts vax cards as primary travel requirement

    All AirAsia Philippines domestic destinations continue to accept vaccination cards as a primary travel requirement, except for Caticlan, Kalibo, Tacloban, Bacolod, Iloilo and Zamboanga, which now require negative RT-PCR test results taken 72 hours prior to departure, regardless of vaccination status, the airline stated in its latest travel advisory.

    Amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila plus (Metro Manila and CALABARZON), the low-cost carrier said in a statement Tuesday, Jan. 11, it has elevated its internal COVID-19 response to ensure the safety of employees and guests, optimizing operations to avoid canceling flights.

    AirAsia Philippines established a Safety Plus 24/7 Team composed of different department leaders and the People and Culture – Medical team to monitor the health of employees and distribute medication to those who have contracted the virus.

    The airline now requires all employees, including those who are working at home, to submit online daily health check forms to monitor their health.

    Its flight operations department is also clustering schedules and does regular onsite Antigen tests for flight deck and cabin crew.

    “Adequate planning and anticipation are key to mitigating the risks entailed on the unprecedented surge of COVID-19 cases,” said AirAsia Philippines Spokesperson Steve Dailisan.

    “Thankfully, we initiated the reintegration training of our hibernated staff as early as December, and this January, they will complement the requirements for manpower,” he noted.

    “Internally, we have added layers in monitoring and clustering among our Allstar frontliners to make sure our flight schedules remain unhampered during these times,” according to Dailisan.

    AirAsia Philippines also prioritized securing booster shots for all of its employees who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

    On top of this, the airline offered enhanced flexibility among guests who wish to move their flights.

    They can avail of the unlimited rebooking option with no change fees by accessing the manage my flight option through the airasia Super App or airasia.com.

    However, AirAsia Philippines guests traveling over the next few days should check their flight status and visit the airasia flysafe page for the latest updates on travel requirements.

  • HungryPanda acquires Easi to strengthen Asian food delivery

    HungryPanda acquires Easi to strengthen Asian food delivery

    HungryPanda, the global leader in Asian food delivery, is today pleased to announce that it has acquired Australian food delivery platform EASI and New Zealand Asian food delivery platform BUY@HOME.

    These two transactions will help HungryPanda improve its local operations, empower restaurants to achieve greater business success, and improve consumer experience by widening their choice of authentic Asian restaurants. Coming on the back of HungryPanda’s successful US$130m fundraising in December 2021, these transactions now position the business strongly to capture the huge overseas Asian food delivery market globally.

    Founded in 2017, HungryPanda has become the largest overseas Asian food delivery platform in ten countries, including the US, UK, and Australia, operating across more than sixty cities. With these transactions HungryPanda is now the Asian food delivery leader in Australia and New Zealand, bringing the greatest choice of authentic Asian food to customers in all the major cities.

    Founder and CEO of HungryPanda, Kelu Liu said: “These acquisitions are an important milestone for HungryPanda in continuing to build the leading overseas Asian food delivery platform. By combining our world-class technology and delivery network with the wider coverage of restaurants we can now offer consumers, I am hugely excited about the future potential for our business in these important markets.”

    Kitty Lu, National Operations Manager at EASI, explained, “This is a strategic alliance that will increase our effectiveness and reach in a busy marketplace, both regionally and internationally. EASI has been growing nationally at a rapid pace since our launch in Australia and internationally and we are excited by the potential we can achieve working with Eric and the team at HungryPanda.”

    Mr. Liu continued “Improving the local Asian food delivery service is only the first step for us. We are dedicated to introducing a complete Asian fresh food and grocery delivery service, and adding local merchants’ activities and targeted discounts for our consumers with our aim to establish a comprehensive one-stop lifestyle service for overseas Chinese and local residents who have an interest in Asian food culture.”

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  • Papa John’s opening 1,350 stores in China

    Papa John’s opening 1,350 stores in China

    The pizza chain plans to open over 1,350 stores in South China by 2040 in partnership with the Asian private equity firm FountainVest Partners, it said on Friday. The deal will increase Papa Johns’s current global count by 25%, and marks the largest franchisee development agreement in the pizza company’s history.

    Pizza companies have lately been expanding their footsteps in the region, where they see an opportunity to boost sales.

    Pizza Hut, for example, opened 103 new stores in China in the third quarter. And Domino’s (DPZ) CEO Ritch Allison said in October that “with each passing quarter, we become even more confident about the long-term growth potential for the Domino’s brand in China.” He noted that in the third quarter of 2021, Chinese locations open at least a year grew sales by a percentage in the double-digits — way better than in the United States, where sales fell in the third quarter.

    Late last year, Papa Johns CEO Rob Lynch pointed to China as fertile ground for growth for his company, as well.

    Papa Johns has a “huge development opportunity in markets where we already compete but are much less penetrated,” compared to the competitors, Lynch said at the time. “I would offer China as an example,”

    Papa Johns has also been expanding into other regions. In November, the company announced plans to open 60 restaurants in Kenya in Uganda in the coming years along with franchise partner Kitchen Express. Over the summer, it expanded its partnership with its largest franchise, Drake Food Service International, with plans to open 220 restaurants globally, including in the UK and Latin America, by 2025.

    The “partnership with FountainVest marks another major milestone in achieving Papa Johns’s global growth potential,” Lynch said in a statement on Friday.

    The move follows a rebrand undertaken by Papa Johns last year when the company dropped the apostrophe in “Johns” and updated its log and store designs.

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  • The Philippines to loosen restrictions on foreign retailers

    The Philippines to loosen restrictions on foreign retailers

    President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a measure that would further open up the Philippine retail sector to more foreign retail businesses by lowering their required paid-up capital.

    Republic Act (RA) 11595, which amends RA 8762, also known as the Retail Liberalization Act of 2000, was signed by Duterte on Dec. 10, 2021, and was released to reporters on Thursday.

    Duterte earlier certified the bill as urgent as part of efforts to encourage the entry of more investors and further boost economic recovery amid the prevailing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

    Under the law, “a foreign retailer shall have a minimum paid-up capital of PHP25 million.”

    The current law sets the required capital at USD2.5 million or PHP119.67 million.

    The law also mandates the entry of foreign retailers coming from countries that do not prohibit the entry of Filipino retailers.

    In the case of foreign retailers engaged in retail trade through more than one physical store, the minimum investment per store must be at least PHP10 million “provided that this requirement shall not apply to foreign investors and foreign retailers who are legitimately engaged in retail trade and were not required to comply with the minimum investment per store at the time of the effectivity of this Act.”

    The Department of Trade and Industry, Securities and Exchange Commission, and the National Economic and Development Authority shall review the required minimum paid-up capital every three years and their recommendations should be submitted to Congress.

    Foreign retailers are encouraged to have a stock inventory of products that are made in the Philippines.

    As for penalties, violators may face imprisonment of not less than four to six years and a fine of not less than PHP1 million but not more than PHP5 million.

    In the case of partnerships, associations, or corporations, the penalty shall be imposed upon its partners, president, directors, general manager, and other officers responsible for the violation.

    If the offender is not a citizen of the Philippines, he or she shall be deported immediately after the service of sentence.

    If the Filipino offender is a public officer or employee, he or she shall, in addition to the penalty prescribed, suffer dismissal and permanent disqualification from public office.

    RA 11595 is a consolidation of House of Representatives Bill 59 and Senate Bill 1840 passed by the House and the Senate on September 21 and 20 last year, respectively.

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  • Vietnam car maker VinFast to build US battery factory as it goes all-electric

    Vietnam car maker VinFast to build US battery factory as it goes all-electric

    Vietnam’s VinFast plans to build electric vehicle battery cells and packs in a new U.S. manufacturing complex, its global chief executive told Reuters, as the company pledged to transform itself into an all-electric automaker by the end of this year.

    VinFast, part of Vingroup JSC, the largest conglomerate in the country, became the country’s first full-fledged domestic car maker when gasoline-powered models built under its own badge hit the streets in 2019.

    The company, which began selling electric vehicles (EVs) in Vietnam at the end of 2021, said in a statement on Thursday it planned to become what it said would be the first car company to cease making gasoline-powered cars and transition to all-electric vehicle production from late 2022.

    VinFast is betting big on the U.S. market, where it hopes its electric SUVs and a battery leasing model will be enough to tempt consumers away from the likes of Tesla and General Motors.

    “We will build our gigafactory in the U.S. as well,” Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vingroup vice chair and VinFast Global CEO said, referring to the new battery facility in an interview during her U.S. visit to attend the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

    The company will continue to source batteries from its suppliers, she added. Thuy said VinFast will initially assemble battery packs with cells sourced from its supplier at its U.S. complex before starting its own production there.

    “We have narrowed down from I think, over 50 sites to about three sites,” she said.

    She will visit some sites during her trip before making a decision this year, adding that the “mega site” would also include an electric bus factory.

    In December, Vingroup said it had started building a battery cell plant in Vietnam. The company is looking to initially produce 100,000 battery packs per year, with $174 million in investment, and then upgrade capacity to one million.

    VinFast previously said it had plans to start producing electric cars in the U.S. in the late 2024. The company said that on Thursday it was seeking to establish an EV plant in Germany.

    “The era of shipping cars around the world is over, especially since Covid-19. You must have the factory close to the market in order to win over your customers,” VinFast said in a statement.

    VinFast said prices for its VF8 sport utility vehicle (SUV) started from $41,000 in the United States, and that it would apply blockchain technology to record orders and confirm ownership. By comparison, a Tesla SUV sells for around $50,000. Vingroup said it was targeting global electric vehicle sales of 42,000 in 2022. Shares of Vingroup rose as much as 5.8 percent on Thursday after it revealed VinFast’s EVs line-up and the plans to go all-el

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  • AirAsia scaling new heights with drone training

    AirAsia scaling new heights with drone training

    AirAsia Group has become the first in Malaysia to obtain a license to conduct drone training: a game-changer in the drone delivery revolution in the country. This would, at the same time be a boost to the fast-growing domestic e-commerce industry.

    Group chief executive officer of AirAsia Aviation Ltd Bo Lingam said the move to train drone pilots would drive drone delivery. AirAsia Aviation Ltd is a unit of AirAsia Group.

    “It’s a lucrative and incredibly fast-growing market. Globally, the industry has already taken off and is projected to reach US$7.39bil (RM31bil) by 2027.

    “This new training program provides an opportunity to upskill our ‘Allstars’ and offer exciting new programs for the broader community, as well as supporting the drone industry in providing quality training to have more qualified remote pilots in Malaysia.

    “No prior experience is necessary, making this a great opportunity for everyone to learn to fly,” he told StarBiz.

    Ultimately, he said this would support the company’s vision to launch urban drone delivery for goods and retail items from airasia’s e-commerce platforms.

    The sky is the limit as the company could also potentially scale up to support remote areas for essential supplies during natural disasters, he added.

    President AirAsia Group (digital), Aireen Omar said: “Innovation has always been in our DNA and we can’t wait to launch our AirAsia Drone Academy through our digital edutech arm, airasia academy, as we continue to support the digitalization of Malaysia through a broad range of innovative tech-based training programs.

    “Drone delivery will soon become our latest logistics solution, providing a strong boost to support the ever-growing e-commerce industry.

    “Most importantly, this innovation will allow us to create new high-tech job opportunities for Malaysians.

    “The ability to pivot is part of our culture and while some are losing their jobs in aviation, we offer a second chance for them to build a new career with us through e-commerce,” she said.

    As a disruptive leader, Aireen said AirAsia is ready to take on new innovative challenges and embrace the wave of Industry Revolution 4.0 to its advantage.

    AirAsia Group chief safety officer and head of unmanned aircraft system (UAS) Captain Ling Liong Tien said the company is thrilled to be the first in Malaysia to win approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) for the accreditation of the remote pilot training organisation (RPTO).

    He said the team has been working closely with CAAM for months and looks forward to starting its first class in the coming weeks.

    “The idea behind becoming an RPTO is to support the industry by providing quality remote pilot training leveraging our strong aviation background and decades of expertise. The UAS has become an important element in many industries driving cost effectiveness and numerous efficiencies.

    “Our commitment is to develop a strong foundation, supported by our existing robust safety management system, crew resource management and human factors training programs along with the remote pilot training modules – both in the class and out in the field,” he said.

    Commercial remote pilot training classes would commence from Jan 24.

    Interested candidates may register to enrol for one of the courses through the airasia academy website.

  • 300,000 tonnes of dragon fruit have no buyers

    300,000 tonnes of dragon fruit have no buyers

    Around 300,000 tonnes of dragon fruit will soon be ripe for harvest but without buyers, as China clamps down on border trade, industry insiders said. With the northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Lang Son having both restricted trade at the border with China due to containers pilling up, many Chinese buyers have stopped purchasing Vietnamese dragon fruit, Phan Van Tan, deputy director of Binh Thuan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, told a forum Thursday.

    Dragon fruit prices have dropped in the last few weeks as China tightened its Covid-19 measures that caused thousands of container trucks to get stuck at the border.

    Some exporters said they have tried to transport goods via sea but this is not a sustainable solution as shipping fees have surged three times from before.

    China has been the biggest buyer of Vietnamese agricultural produce and dragon fruit for years. Dragon fruit exports to China exceed that of 50 other markets, said Nguyen Khac Huy, CEO of Hoang Phat Fruit in Long An Province.

    China’s proximity to Vietnam explains why exporters prefer to send their fruit there over other destinations like Europe, which could take up to 42 days. Vietnam produces around 1.4 million tonnes of dragon fruit every year. Eighty percent comes from the three provinces of Binh Thuan, Long An, and Tien Giang.

    Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Thanh Nam suggested supermarkets nationwide buy the fruit to support farmers.

    The ministry will also hold a forum with trade offices in Europe to diversify output, he added.

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  • Do not install this fake Flash Player Android app even if a friend urges you to

    Do not install this fake Flash Player Android app even if a friend urges you to

    What do you get when you combine the untimely death of a hugely popular piece of software once used on everything from smartphones to PCs with the insatiable thirst for unlawful financial gains of highly skilled hackers?

    A scary new malware campaign that, to be perfectly honest, should be pretty easy to avoid by now for anyone who’s done even the least amount of research possible on this sort of stuff before. Of course, it’s never too late to start educating yourself on the daily dangers of modern mobile life, and the first thing you need to keep in mind is that you should never, ever, ever, EVER download an Android app from an untrusted source.

    Unfortunately, because the bad actors behind this latest “FluBot” distribution scheme know exactly what they’re doing, you might receive a link to a shady website trying to feed you the vicious aforementioned banking trojan via a bogus Flash Player app from someone you 100 percent trust, like a close friend, family member, or someone else from your contacts list.

    That’s because, once your phone is infected, one of the symptoms of said infection will be the unauthorized access of your contacts, with the added malware ability to send text messages without user permission.

    Bottom line, no matter where a link seems to be coming from, you should exercise good judgment and refuse to install random APK (Android Package) files. We know, we miss Adobe’s Flash too, but the San Jose-based software giant would never use APKs to revive something that’s been dead since 2020 and dying since 2017.

    Of course, the sneakiness of this malware campaign’s authors can often go beyond just sending a text from one random Android user to a friend or family member. Because asking someone to download a “Flash Player” app from outside the Play Store would be too obvious a tell for many people, the malicious texts you should… simply ignore may try to fool you into opening links by advertising various video-related things.

    A good idea in such a case would probably be to ask whoever sends you a message containing a potentially malicious link one or two simple questions, thus making sure their intentions are pure.

    If the name FluBot happens to ring a bell, that might be because the same trojan has infected countless devices in the past using methods as diverse as posing as a security update, parcel delivery notice, and other legit apps from popular developers.

    While the main goal is and always has been to steal money with the help of banking credentials you might have stored on your Android phone, the secondary purpose is to spread like wildfire by hijacking your contacts and messages.

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  • Google executive accuses Apple of using peer pressure and bullying to sell iPhones

    Google executive accuses Apple of using peer pressure and bullying to sell iPhones

    Back in October, Google Senior VP Hiroshi Lockheimer suggested that Apple end the blue bubble vs. green bubble battle by incorporating Google’s Rich Communication Services (RCS) into the iOS Messages app. As you might know, features found on iOS such as end-to-end encryption, are broken when an Android user is part of a group chat. Lockheimer, whose official title at Mountain View is Senior Vice President of Platforms and Ecosystems, has more to say about RCS.

    First, for those uncertain what RCS is, it is Google’s attempt to build an SMS/MMS platform to compete with Apple’s Messages app. With RCS, Android users could send larger text messages, share larger media files, and have privacy thanks to end-to-end encryption. Google was even talking about using the platform as an e-commerce system allowing companies to get in touch with customers.

    RCS also gives Android users read receipts, and would allow them to send messages over Wi-Fi and mobile data. With iOS support for RCS, the Google executive notes that there would be less pressure among American youths to purchase an iPhone. With RCS, messaging an Android user would be a more modern and similar experience.

    Before RCS, Google had an Android messaging app and most U.S. carriers also loaded Android phones with their own messaging app bloatware leading to a confusing mish-mash of features on different carrier apps.

    Lockheimer, who is a strong supporter of RCS, tweeted comments related to a Wall Street Journal article about iMessage’s domination among texting teens. This had led young Android users to feel left out when texting iOS users. Lockheimer wrote, “Apple’s iMessage lock-in is a documented strategy. Using peer pressure and bullying as a way to sell products is disingenuous for a company that has humanity and equity as a core part of its marketing. The standards exist today to fix this.”

    Not all Twitter users took Apple’s side of things. A subscriber named Remon (@TheGreatUsurper) stated, “Typical iPhone user missing the point. Android has an iMessage equivalent, it uses a protocol to replace SMS. All major carriers already support the standard. Android users text over wifi & data, (receive) read receipts, great group chats, (and) reactions. Apple intentionally hurts communication.”

    ion not to support RCS is being done so that Apple continues to benefit from the vendor lock-in effect. Back in 2016, Apple’s Phil Schiller said “moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us.” Apple’s software head Craig Federighi stated that “iMessage on Android would simply serve to remove [an] obstacle to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones.”

    The Google SVP believes that with iOS support for RCS, there would be less pressure on teens to buy an iPhone. Along those same lines, there also would be less pressure on the parents of teens to buy them an iPhone instead of an Android phone. And since some Android handsets are much cheaper than iPhone models, not allowing Apple’s Messages platform to integrate with RCS is theoretically costing consumers a large amount of money every year.

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  • BMW To Create Up To 6,000 New Jobs Next Year

    BMW To Create Up To 6,000 New Jobs Next Year

    Germany’s BMW plans to create up to 6,000 new jobs next year to prepare for the growing demand for its electric vehicles, the carmaker’s chief executive said.

    BMW is on a very good path through the transformation and has its plants prepared for e-mobility, Oliver Zipse was quoted as saying in an interview published on Wednesday. “That is why we will increase our workforce by up to five percent next year.”

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  • Honda China JV Announces 120,000 Units-A-Year EV Factory

    Honda China JV Announces 120,000 Units-A-Year EV Factory

    Honda Motor and its Chinese joint venture partner Dongfeng Motor said on Thursday they would build a new factory in Wuhan to exclusively manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) from 2024.

    The factory would have a production capacity of 120,000 vehicles a year, Honda said in a statement.

    Honda, Japan’s second-largest automaker, is set to launch a new EV brand in China this year called e:N Series with plans to roll out 10 models with partners Dongfeng and GAC.

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  • Sony Looks To Electric Cars For Its Next Big Hit

    Sony Looks To Electric Cars For Its Next Big Hit

    Japan’s Sony Group Corp plans to launch a company this spring to examine entering the electric vehicle market, looking to harness its strengths in entertainment and sensors to play a bigger role in next-generation mobility.

    The new company, Sony Mobility Inc, comes as the Japanese tech giant is “exploring a commercial launch” of electric vehicles, Sony chairman and president Kenichiro Yoshida told a news conference, speaking ahead of the CES technology trade fair in the United States.

    “With our imaging and sensing, cloud, 5G and entertainment technologies combined with our contents mastery, we believe Sony is well-positioned as a creative entertainment company to redefine mobility,” he said.

    Although its once-dominant position in consumer electronics has been eroded by Asian rivals like South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, Sony still has an arsenal of sophisticated technology in areas such as sensors critical to autonomous driving.

    It also remains one of the world’s biggest entertainment companies, home to prominent video game and movie franchises. Audio and entertainment systems are increasingly a focus for next-generation vehicles.

    Shares in Sony jumped 4.2% in Tokyo after the electric vehicle plans were announced, easily outpacing a flat Nikkei index.

    Yoshida unveiled a prototype sport utility vehicle (SUV), the VISION-S 02, which uses the same electric vehicle platform as the previously announced VISION-S 01 coupe that began testing on public roads in Europe from December 2020.

    He said the company saw mobility as an “entertainment space” where passengers could choose individual entertainment options and use 5G internet connection.

    Wall Street is betting heavily on electric cars and the global auto industry has been upended by Tesla Inc, now the world’s most valuable automaker. Many investors also expect Apple Inc to launch its own vehicle within the next few years.

    Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp in December committed $70 billion to electrify its automobiles by 2030.

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  • Thousands strike work after Nike supplier cuts Tet bonus

    Thousands strike work after Nike supplier cuts Tet bonus

    Thousands of workers of Taiwanese-invested footwear maker Pouchen Vietnam, a Nike contract manufacturer, struck work Friday, demanding the same Tet bonus as last year.

    They refused to return to work after finishing their lunch to protest the company’s policy to pay less bonus than last year for the coming Tet (Lunar New Year) festival. Tet, the most important Vietnamese festival, falls in early February this year. The workers stood on national road 1K in front of their factory’s entrance, causing traffic congestion for hours. The strike affected others and all 14,000 workers of the factory in Bien Hoa Town, southern Dong Nai Province, stopped working.

    A mobile police team was dispatched to maintain order in the area. A female worker said that the company had announced Thursday that employees who have worked for it a full year or more will be given Tet bonuses of 1-1.54 months’ salary – around VND5 million ($217) to nearly VND20 million.

    The highest bonus in 2021 was 1.87 months’ salary, and in previous years, 2.2 months. “With this (coefficient), workers’ Tet bonus in 2022 will be lower than before,” she added.

    A Pouchen representative said that in 2021, the company had faced difficulties in production and business. When the fourth wave of Covid-19 broke out, the factory had to stop working from July 12 to Sept. 30, 2021. On Oct. 5, 2021, it resumed production, but at 60 percent capacity.

    Due to the failure to fulfill the production plan, profits fell, so the Tet bonus, the biggest and most anticipated reward for workers, could not be the same as the previous year. The rep also said that under the collective labor agreement, the company would pay Tet bonus to employees based on its business performance.

    Nguyen Thi Nhu Y, head of the Dong Nai Provincial Labor Confederation, said the union was coordinating with authorities to resolve the situation. She noted that Pouchen’s Tet bonus was higher than the local industry average.Nguyen Huu Nguyen, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Bien Hoa, said relevant agencies are trying to negotiate with the board of directors of Pouchen to increase the Tet bonus. “However, employees need to share the company’s difficulties, because Covid-19 has caused businesses to suspend operations for months,” he said.

    Pouchen Vietnam, part of Taiwan’s Pouchen Group, has one more factory in Dong Nai and six others in HCMC and the three southern provinces of Tien Giang, Tay Ninh and Ba Ria – Vung Tau for a total of 130,000 employees. The group is expected to spend more than VND1.2 trillion on Tet bonuses this year.

  • $4 Starbucks coffee has become a daily staple

    $4 Starbucks coffee has become a daily staple

    While the franchise’s 2021 financial results took a hit because of the Covid-19 pandemic, a tangible gain has been the Starbucks VND90,000 ($4)coffee becoming a daily staple in Vietnam.

    Starbucks Vietnam general manager Patricia Marques said that despite the impacts of the nine-week social distancing orders in 2021, the global coffee brand has built up a regular customer base for its coffee worth VND90,000-100,000.

    She said it has also established more outlets away from the downtown in new urban areas, buildings, and local communities. While people used to prefer living close to the center of a locality, they are willing to live a little further away these days, she said.

    Starbucks Vietnam closed three outlets but opened nine new ones in 2021. Between December 2021 and January 2022, it opened another six: three in Hanoi; two in HCMC; and one in the southern province of Binh Duong.

    In Vietnam, Starbucks currently has 77 outlets whose takeaway sales have grown amid Covid-19 outbreaks.

    Marques said she expected instability to continue in Vietnam’s food and beverage market this year, but takeaway revenue, non-cash payment, and e-commerce would continue to grow.

    While there is still a lot of vacant space, it will not be easy for food and beverage businesses to find satisfactory locations at a reasonable price, she said. Citing data from a partner, she said the rent of commercial premises in Vietnam increased by 3 percent, while it decreased 10 percent in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.

    According to the brands’ official websites, chains with the highest number of outlets in Vietnam are the domestic brands Highlands (462 stores), The Coffee House (146), and Trung Nguyen (89).

    U.S.-based Starbucks made consolidated revenues of $29.1 billion in the fiscal year 2021 (ending in the third quarter of 2021), up 24 percent against over 2020.

    In the fiscal year 2022, the brand expects global earnings of $32.5-33 billion, beating Wall Street’s estimate of $32.07 billion, and plans to open about 2,000 new outlets globally, three-quarters of them outside the U.S. According to data recorded by Statista, as of November 2021, Starbucks had 33,833 outlets worldwide.

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  • Singapore Weighs Open Borders Amid Omicron

    Singapore Weighs Open Borders Amid Omicron

    The country’s COVID-19 task force said closing its Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) would not stop the spread of Omicron.

    Closing Singapore to visitors from countries with high numbers of Covid-19 cases would affect the republic’s reputation and connectivity with the rest of the world, and rules have already been tightened to contain the Omicron variant, the country’s multi-ministry task force on Covid-19 said at a press briefing.

    Even if we close all the VTLs, there will still be non-VTL connections between Singapore and other countries and Omicron will still be able to enter Singapore unless we impose a total lockdown and close our borders entirely, Ong Ye Kung, taskforce co-chair said about whether it was looking to review border and VTL measures.

    At the same time, the task force warned of an upcoming Omicron wave» and said that it does not intend to relax further social restrictions currently, but will try not to have to tighten them until at least the Chinese New Year in February. Current gathering limits permit groups of five.

    Compliance with safe management measures will give Singapore a much higher chance of getting through this upcoming wave without having to tighten further, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said at a press briefing.

    Switzerland is among Singapore’s top investment and trading partners, and there are around 1,000 Swiss companies and around 3,000 Swiss expatriates in the city-state. UBS is a notable example, with several thousand employees in Singapore and frequent travel between Zurich and Southeast Asia.

    The city-state stopped new ticket sales for VTL flights and buses from December 23 to January 20 amid Omicron concerns and said it would cap VTL quotas and ticket sales for travel after January 20 at 50 percent.

    Last week, it said that on-arrival tests for non-VTL travelers, who are all required to serve a 7 or 10 day Stay Home Notice (SHN) either at their place of residence or at a dedicated facility, are no longer required. From 8 January, all non-VTL travelers entering Singapore will also no longer be required to undergo a COVID-19 PCR test on arrival.

    The Ministry of Health on Wednesday said that from 14 February 2022 onwards, persons aged 18 years and above who have completed the primary vaccination series of COVID-19 vaccines and are eligible for booster vaccination will only be considered as fully vaccinated for 270 days after the last dose in their primary vaccination series.

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