The World Side

BEIJING, Sept 29 (Reuters) – Travel during China’s Golden Week holiday, which begins on Saturday, is set to hit its lowest in years, analysts say, as COVID-19 concerns spur calls for people to avoid travel and keep to their cities, while economic woes damp spending.

One of the longest stretches of public holidays, which celebrates the founding of modern China in 1949, the period is a bellwether for consumer demand in the world’s second largest economy, when travel and spending traditionally peaks.

While global travel has started to open up as many countries opt to live with COVID-19, China’s tourism sector has crumpled under authorities’ decision to double down on their zero-COVID approach with drastic curbs, such as citywide lockdowns.

“It is not realistic to hold high hopes for tourism this year,” said Liu Simin, an official of the tourism arm

By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Terje Solsvik

COPENHAGEN, Sept 29 (Reuters) – AP Moller-Maersk’s chief executive said on Thursday he expects a “modest” pick-up in trade for the upcoming holidays this year amid concerns about the slowing global economy and consumer demand.

“Volumes headed into the Christmas season are lower than a normal year,” Soren Skou said in a Reuters Newsmaker interview.

Ocean freight volumes will be flat or lower this year, though there is still congestion in global supply chains, he said. US consumers aren’t buying as much as they did during the pandemic and confidence has been hurt by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

His comments come as freight rates have this year started falling from near record highs, following a period of surging consumer demand and pandemic-related logjams at ports.

They remain well above pre-pandemic levels. Maersk has raised its 2022 profit guidance twice this year as high freight

Walmart has worked tirelessly for the past year to ensure our supply chain remains stable and strong for our customers, no matter when, where or how they want to shop this holiday season.

Walmart has a long history of supporting customers, especially during the busiest and most important time of the year – the holiday season. In recent weeks, you’ve probably seen us highlighting how we’re kicking off the holiday seasonoffering the best deals on the season’s top toys and bringing on additional associates to ensure we’re getting customers what they want and need during the holidays.

Our supply chain is essential to how we serve customers during the holiday season, and we all know the challenges of the past year. This year, customers are facing new challenges like economic pressure from inflation. Additionally, global supply chains have improved – but not fully recovered – post-pandemic. We’re also