PH tourism recovery lags behind peers

International tourism recovery in Asia has been uneven, with the Philippines still lagging due to its heavy reliance on Chinese tourists, a Bank of America (BofA) Global Research said.

In terms of tourism recovery, countries like Japan and Vietnam are leading the way, BofA said in a report, while China, Hong Kong and the Philippines are lagging.

"Hong Kong and the Philippines have been hurt by the slow return of Chinese travelers, who increasingly prefer domestic destinations," BofA said.

Tourist arrivals in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Taiwan remain below 80 percent of pre-Covid levels.

China, meanwhile, stands out as an outlier due to its significantly delayed reopening, with foreign border entries/exits at less than 40 percent of pre-Covid levels as of the end of 2023.

Chinese residents resumed traveling abroad in 2023, much later than visitors from other countries, impacting tourism recovery in destinations like the Philippines and Hong Kong that rely heavily on Chinese tourists.

BofA said that Chinese arrivals in the Philippines are only at 20 to 30 percent of pre-Covid levels, which is lower than other regions.

It noted that besides the delayed reopening of Chinese borders, the shifting preferences of Chinese consumers are also influencing trends.

It revealed that Chinese travelers are showing more interest in domestic cities with unique cultural experiences, which has slowed their return to international destinations.

"Accessibility is an important factor when it comes to travel decisions ... this helps explain why some regions have seen faster recovery while the others have not," it said.

BofA also pointed out the impact of currency fluctuations on tourism recovery in certain countries.

Although Asia has typically been more affordable than Europe and North America, BofA said that the recent sharp depreciation of some Asian currencies against the US dollar has made the region even more attractive to tourists.

It was explained that the recent tourist arrivals, compared to local currency performance against the US dollar in 2023, revealed that Japan's tourism benefited from a notable decline in the value of the yen, and Vietnam may have benefited from a weaker Vietnamese dong.

In contrast, the tourism sectors in Taiwan, the Philippines and Hong Kong, which had relatively stable currencies in 2023, did not experience this advantage.

"Looking ahead, we think the FX (foreign exchange) factor bodes well for the region's tourism outlook, while the return of Chinese visitors might mean a bumpy recovery," BofA said.

BofA anticipates that currencies across Asia will generally strengthen against the US dollar over the next two years but remain relatively weak compared to historical levels.

Consequently, countries with weaker currencies, especially Japan, are expected to continue attracting tourists in the near and medium term.

Source: Manila Times

The Meaning of "Home"

Four approaches to studying "home" show how home affects our experiences.

Key points

• “Home” researchers might study environmental psychology, memory and attachment theory, a hierarchy of needs, and identity.

• Resources guide us toward different ways of thinking about, understanding, and developing notions of “home.”

• "Home" and "family" are not necessarily synonymous; nor are they always "happy".

When you ask yourself, “What does home mean to me?," how does your inner voice respond? Has your answer to the question changed as your life and circumstances have changed?

I wonder how many people remember learning to read and to print and then endlessly writing out their name, street address, town or city, state, perhaps a zip code, country, continent, and then maybe “World,” possibly followed by “Universe.” What is this urge to situate ourselves in space, in a geographic location, especially one centered around our earliest memories of where we lived?

Four ways of looking at these questions ask if “home” is defined by the following:

1. Environmental cues and their impact on our perception, cognition, emotions, behaviors, and relationships.

2. A hierarchy of needs and the context in which the most basic of them are met.

3. Emotional memories and fantasies along with their impact, including memory-driven attachment scripts that a person wants to implement or avoid.

4. Our sense of identity and belonging, extending to and beyond group memberships.

4 Perspectives on Home

1. Environmental psychology. Research on person–environment relationships can include the study of spaces where people dwell. Environmental psychologists have documented qualities to which homes expose people, like noise levels, toxins, emotional climates, crowding (or its absence), and their impact on all aspects of experience, from the personal (biological, cognitive, emotional, behavioral) to the social. Organizational psychologists often use or adapt these methods and the literature to maximize an organization’s goals. Another branch, architectural psychology, focuses on the impact of design to amplify positive or minimize negative impact. Applications range from single-person dwellings to community institutions, from a treehouse to a hospital.

Around the world, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, people became interested in homes in new ways. They sought housing opportunities that would provide more inside space and greater access to the outdoors. Alternately, isolated living “pods” popped up, housing university students banished from their dorm, families educating small children, people yearning to be in a situation that included a “safe” community.

2. A hierarchy of needs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes to mind as we examine what people who moved during the pandemic were searching for: greater attention to meeting survival needs for shelter, nutrition, hygiene, safety, work and play, and interpersonal needs for contact, communication, companionship, and belonging.

When social interaction changed dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, external sources of spiritual and cultural nourishment decreased, and countless people, rather than searching for an alternative living arrangement like a different residence or a pod, turned their attention to their current homes, what they might potentially provide, and what they required in maintenance. Countless practical modifications were put in place. They expanded exponentially as the number of people in a living space grew. “Family” definitions broadened to include those related by blood, marriage, or choice, with “home” embracing those who lived together and intended to continue living together following the crisis, at least according to the American Red Cross.

3. Attachment and memory. A broader definition of “family” makes room for another aspect of “home,” that which sees home as the center for forging and nourishing human attachment bonds. "Home" includes primary locations where early memories and their emotions result in attachment scripts and their consequences. A sense of belonging securely or less so persists into adulthood or until changes in unconscious expectations make room for revised understanding.1

Two more caveats: “Family” and “home” can be separate as well as associated, and they can be temporary. Long-distance relationships are currently flourishing; those in them dwell apart. And, as mentioned above, “family” can refer to people who live together by choice and are not related by legal or blood bonds, at least for many purposes. Therefore, attachment-oriented researchers often focus on the symbiotic relationships of those who cohabit by choice.

In contrast, scholars who study migration more broadly emphasize the “push” away from a current residence and “pull” toward a new one. Attachment to either "homeland" can be weak or fierce. Along these lines, researchers might investigate places in which basic cultural beliefs are imprinted along with the geography of the location.2 In both cases, culture and a sense of belonging (or not) are absorbed systemically and often unconsciously, as suggested by Bronfenbrenner's theory of ecological development.

4. Identity and possible selves. From a personality perspective, we craft an identity from internal experiences like temperament, needs, and desires, as well as through our relationships with others and with the larger social and cultural systems in which we are embedded. Our own imagination creates what Hazel Markus has labeled “possible selves,” imagery of who we might become. From this perspective, “home” is one context in which such creation can take place. It can become an expression of personal choices and aspirations as well as history.

In a different approach, family process psychologists often talk about ways in which people use or construct boundaries, connections, and communications. Space is both material and metaphor. It represents how a small group of related individuals expresses values and their implementation.

What has “home” been for you? Has its meaning changed during your adult life?

Source: Psychology Today

Wood may not be the climate-friendly building material we used to think

Study shows logging has a higher carbon footprint than expected.

Cement and steel are key ingredients of buildings, bridges, and skyscrapers but they have a big impact on the planet. Production of cement creates 2.3 billion tons of CO2 per year, while iron and steel release 2.6 billion tons. If the cement industry were a country, it would be the third-largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, behind only the U.S. and China.

This has led many to start looking at wood as a cleaner alternative. Wood looks good on paper but it may not be such an ideal option.

Researchers at the World Resources Institute (WRI) found that wood consumption accounts for about one-tenth of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. This is less than electricity and heat generation but more than passenger cars. This is especially concerning as global demand for wood will increase by 54% between 2010 and 2050.

“We do find that using wood to replace concrete and steel could have lower emissions under certain conditions, but they’re challenging to achieve. And currently, the fast-growing plantations that could supply wood in these conditions are already needed to meet other growing demands for wood,” the researchers wrote in a blog post.

Not a climate-friendly solution

As they grow, trees transform carbon in the air into carbohydrates, removing it from the atmosphere and storing it. If a whole tree were transferred into a building, the carbon would remain stored for decades. But only a small portion of a tree makes it into a building, with a third left behind in the forest as roots and branches, the team said.

Bark, which accounts for 10-15% of the wood removed from the forest, is usually burned. Also, when logs are transformed into lumber, much of the wood becomes chips or sawdust, which is burned. These industrial processes from the forestry sector emit carbon dioxide that would be avoided if the forests were kept standing.

The researchers surveyed papers claiming that the use of wood is carbon neutral as long as a forest is harvested sustainably – meaning that the amount of wood removed by a year’s harvest matches the forest growth in that period. However, this isn’t accurate, they said. Harvesting increases carbon even if forests don’t diminish year to year.

“Logically, if forests would grow and absorb more carbon if some parts were not harvested for wood, then harvesting and only maintaining pre-existing carbon stocks decreases the carbon the forest stores relative to a no-harvest scenario,” the team wrote, comparting this with a savings account that’s left alone to grow and not spent.

In the study, the researchers also found that using wood in construction will probably increase carbon emissions relative to using concrete and steel. They estimate a 54% increase in demand for wood by mid-century, which would lead to clearing three million square miles of woodland– an area about the same size as the continental US.

The resulting emissions are likely to be between 3.5 and 4.2 billion tons of CO2 each year, they said, which is about the same emissions caused by deforestation for agriculture. “We project wood used for timber, paper and all purposes other than fuel will be 90% higher in 2050 than in 2010,” the researchers wrote in their blog post.

However, there’s still a way forward. In their study, they suggested limiting how much wood is logged and encouraging more efficient uses of wood, such as burning less for heat and cooking. They also for us to look for more promising solutions for concrete and steel for the construction sector instead of thinking just of relying on wood.

The report is accessible here.

the-global-land-squeeze-report

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Source: ZME Science