Germany’s Mercedes is the most valuable brand in Europe according to Brand Finance Global 500 ranking to exceed US$200 billion value mark and retains title of world’s most valuable brand for third consecutive year. Mercedes speeds ahead as most valuable brand in Europe, narrowly missing out on entering global top 10. Twenty other German brands make ranking, including Volkswagen (25th, US$44.9 billion), BMW (30th, US$40.5 billion), Deutsche Telekom (31st, US$40.0 billion), and new entrant Munich Re (449th, US$4.7 billion).
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in association with Globalia, the leading tourism group in Spain and Latin America, has selected the finalists of the 2nd Global Tourism Startup Competition, an initiative that the two entities have been working on since 2018 when its first edition was held. The countries with the highest number of projects submitted have been Spain, followed by India, the United States, Portugal, Nigeria and Colombia.
This annual competition is one of the flagship projects of Wakalua, the tourism innovation hub. Solutions that combine location data with artificial intelligence can be used to identify tourism regions, associate them with nearby airports, optimize, and offer opinion mining, among others.
S&P Global Ratings said that the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by the U.S. and its ongoing fallout has rapidly escalated event risk in the Gulf region. For now, this development does not alter the base-case assumption that any military action by either side will not lead to a fully fledged direct military confrontation. S&P continues to believe that any escalation will remain contained given that a direct conflict would be economically, socially, and politically destabilizing for the entire region, including U.S.-Gulf allies. We consider that a potential intensification of proxy conflicts will further undermine confidence and investment in the region. Our ratings on Gulf sovereigns already take into account a certain level of regional geopolitical volatility.
We talk to Patricia Parosselló Palmer, a Senior Travel Industry Professional. She has worked in the travel industry for over 20 years and is founder of several companies. She is for instance the founder of Hoppa.com (former Resorthoppa), an online transfer business that was sold to Albion Ventures and the Lowcosttravel Group in 2008. She tells us about how the bankruptcy of Thomas Cooks has changed the whole travel industry.
by Stefanie Claudia Müller, Madrid
“We are moving on very thin ice,” believes Ingrid Hofmann-Schmitz. The successful auditor, art collector and real estate investor is old enough to know when economic crises are imminent: “I have never had such a strong feeling that we were only one day before 1929. A chaos builds up from global debt, real estate bubbles and refugee flows. The German government is the best example that nobody really addresses the dangers. I am not alone among my colleagues with this opinion, ”says the 70-year-old from the Rhineland. According to the specialist portal immowelt, the purchase prices for apartments in Germany rose on average from 1550 euros per square meter in 2011 to 2460 euros in 2017: “Such increases are not sustainable and are not justified,” says Hofmann-Schmitz.
Latin Americans are migrating masively to Europe for a long time, especially from Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Venezuela, suffering Economic crisis and insecurity for many years. In 2020 the flow of people trying to live and work in Berlin, Madrid or Lisbon will increase. From the uncertainty and the global economic slowdown, to the trade tensions and the evolution of the raw materials prices, all of which undermine the growth of Latin America, with forecasts in 2019 pointing towards an economic stagnation (0.2% annual GDP growth). The growth forecasts for the main economies of the region have been revised downwards. Specifically, growth forecasts for Mexico and Brazil are below 1%, and the recession in Argentina intensifies. Inflation remains within the central bank’s target range in most Latin American countries, except in Argentina and Uruguay.