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The U.S. Federal Reserve has said that the uncertainty surrounding the new variant of COVID-19, omicron, also has raised uncertainty about inflation, according to the BBC. The BBC also reported the Fed recently started reducing its financial support in connection with asset purchasing.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell told a congressional committee that his previous comments that recent high rates of inflation are “transitory” should be “retired,” and he added that the reserve “should consider tapering its bond-buying stimulus more quickly.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Eurozone rose 4.9%, its highest year-over-year increase in inflation recorded.

Egypt is leading the way in North Africa's hotel industry recovery, with its market performing well above expectations, spurring hope it can help pull up performance in other destinations along the African Mediterranean coast. The biggest boost is the return of flights from Russia, which were suspended after the bombing of a Russian aircraft over the Sinai Peninsula in 2015, according to Hotel News Now contributor Vladislav Vorotnikov.

The recovery of Egypt’s hotel industry was constrained by government edicts that hotels needed to limit capacity to 50% of rooms, a rule that was increased to 70% but now has been abandoned. Hoteliers there expect that decision to fuel further improvement in operational performance.

Madrid-based private-equity firm Azora has completed the acquisition of Bluserena SPA, Italy’s second-largest resort operator, for an undisclosed price from the Maresca family. The purchase is from its Azora European Hotel & Lodging fund, which now has deployed approximately 55% of its 1.8 billion euros ($2.04 billion) pool of capital, according to a news release.

Bluserena was founded in 1985 and has a portfolio of 13 hotels — eight under ownership — with 4,200 rooms in coastal destinations. Azora will inject 30 million euros into those owned assets and continue to "grow the company through new hotel acquisitions, as well as new leasing and management contracts in the Italian market.” Azora spoke to Hotel News Now in August about its acquisition strategy.

One of Saudi Arabia’s so-called giga-projects, Diriyah — close to capital Riyadh — has announced the first 14 of its planned 38 hotels that will be opened in line with the country’s ambitious Vision 2030 project. Its owner, the Diriyah Gate Development Authority, said it intends to “simultaneously open, ground-break and announce world class assets every year from 2022 until completion in 2026,” according to Dubai-based news agency Zawya.

The first of such projects to open, Diriyah will have a combination of regional and international brands and operators, including Address Hotels & Resorts, Baccarat Hotels & Resorts, Campbell Gray Hotels & Resorts, Capella Hotels & Resorts, Fauchon Hotels, The Luxury Collection, LXR Hotels & Resorts, Orient Express, Raffles, Park Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton and Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. The project’s Wadi Safar component will house brands Oberoi and Six Senses.

Street protests in Turkey have occurred over the government’s handling of the economy, with its currency, the Turkish lira, having “lost more than 45% of its value this year, and nearly 20% in the last week, continuing its downward trend on [Nov. 30],” according to the New York Times. Some economists point the finger at Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s insistence that lowing interest rates is the best solution to taming inflation.

The newspaper reports it is the second monetary crisis in Turkey this year, following the March decision by Erdogan to fire the head of the country’s central bank, Naci Ağbal, who had raised the benchmark interest rate from 10.25% to 19% to help inflation, which led to the lira declining 7% against the U.S. dollar in one day.

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