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Quest Means Business
California Fires Destroy Homes, Force Evacuations; Deadly Melbourne Knife Attack Treated as Terrorism; German Chancellor Angela Merkel Condemns Worrying Rise in Anti-Semitism; Wall Street Journal: Feds Gather Evidence of Trump Involvement in Payments That Violated Campaign-Finance Laws; Tourism Ministers Make Their Pitch to the World; Philippines Tourism Minister Advocates for a Balance Between Business and the Environment; Egypt's Tourism Minister Wishes that Every One Person in Every Egyptian Household will Work in the Tourism Industry; Stocks Rise Off Lows in Final Moments of Trade; The Bears Are Loose In The Oil Market; A Minister In The British Government Has Resigned Over Brexit; Disney Doesn't Want To Let It Go As It Announces The Name Of Its New Service; There Are Deep Discounts On Alibaba's Shares Today. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired November 09, 2018 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: We're in the last hour of trade on Wall Street and the chart tells the tale. Red for the moment, the low
point of the day down more than 320. A small rally going on. But, frankly, all the markets, this is the best of the markets. The NASDAQ is
even further down. And these are the drivers of the day.
The bears are loose in the oil market. We'll factor how oil and equities relate. Brent is off 20% from its highs. There are earnings misery that
are dragging down the tech sector. Alibaba is off. Netflix is off more than 3%. And Disney unveils its latest weapon in the streaming wars that
is also hitting Netflix hard. Put it together, we are on Friday, November the 9th, I'm Richard Quest in London. I'm here as always, but I mean
business.
Good evening. We are in the final hour 37 and as you can see, Dow may be off the lows of the day, but the market is having the worst day this month
even it's only nine days in to November, but you get the general idea. The reasons for all of this, and look at this, not only is the Dow off, but
also the S&P. It is the NASDAQ - it is the NASDAQ that once again is causing perhaps the most concern. The Dow is following in the wake.
It is disappointing data from China, fears about a global slowdown, you have GE - GE is off more than 8% in one day. In fact it was down as much
as 10% at one point during the day because JP Morgan has cut the price target to what they say will be $6.00 a share and they say that the net
asset value of the company still isn't reflected by its share price.
So it is a pretty grim day on a Friday to end the week. Thankfully Guru La Monica is tracking the numbers. Is there any specific reason why the
market should fall - why the volatility should be to the down side today?
PAUL LA MONICA, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, I think that you do have the fact that oil prices are really a problem for Wall Street right now. Wall
Street is definitely worried about lower energy prices affecting the oil market, but also what does it mean about the global economy? Do we have to
worry that fears of a China slowdown are real and are going to impact many companies throughout the globe and as you pointed out also, I think tech
companies are heading lower just because the earnings, while good, may not have been good enough to justify what were sky high valuations for many of
those companies.
QUEST: Paul, thank you. The overview of the markets, we will track in the last hour very closely. Have a good weekend.
LA MONICA: Thank you.
QUEST: ... with these sort of numbers. Paul talked about the price of oil and how it has fallen so sharply, down more than 20% since its recent
highs while energy shares are falling along with oil prices. Brent, the global benchmark, is in now a bear market. A drop of 20% from its high,
and in the US prices are down for the tenth the day in a row. It's the longest streak of losses in more than three decades.
Traditionally, of course, we talk about supply and demand being the defining factors. Well, let's look at the supply factor. The sanctions on
Iran, those haven't yet hurt prices as expected because if there is restricted supply from Iran, you'd have expected prices to go up. Since
the Trump administration has granted waivers to Iran's biggest buyers, arguably, that has neutered at least for the time being, the Iran factor.
Also on the supply front, the US, Russia and Saudi Arabia Are all pumping more, the question and the issue is how long that will last and it might
not be that long. The world's biggest producers are meeting this weekend at an OPEC and supply cuts could be on the table. And finally the third
factor, demand, that's the other side of the scale if you like.
Oil traders have to make their best guess and bets months in advance and they are betting on a global slowdown that will reduce the demand for oil.
Put it all together with Antoine Halff who was the chief oil analyst for the International Energy Agency, now a senior research scholar at Columbia.
I've gone through the various potential reasons ....
ANTOINE HALFF, SENIOR RESEARCH SCHOLAR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: Do tell me, yes.
QUEST: ... which one to you is driving it because 20% off Brent is one heck of a fall.
[15:05:00]
HALFF: Yes, you did a terrific job. I really don't have so much to add. I'll hire you anytime. I think this is a combination of all those. And
also the fact, I think that the sanctions on Iran have not really curtailed so much Iranian production just yet. We monitor what Iran does with
satellites, looking at production, looking at storage. It looks like there were some cuts in August and September, but October production was pretty
much flat and exports were flat as well.
So the stocks have been rising dramatically. Inventories are on the way up in OECD countries, in non-OECD countries as well, except in China. But
people are concerned about the slowdown in the Chinese economy.
QUEST: Is there in your view a natural flaw for these price falls below which you do not believe the price would go? I'm thinking back just a few
years ago when it goes down to 30 or 40. Once the process of falls begin, it can be very difficult to arrest it.
HALFF: Sure, sure. I mean, it starts hurting pretty quickly. Actually, today's prices, it probably hurts for some producer countries not so much
in terms of making production economically in terms of meeting budget requirements. I think the discussion at OPEC, there's going to be some
talk about maybe reinstating some production cuts.
QUEST: Well, that would obviously give a potential boost to the price. Finally, can explain to me why when oil falls, why when the price of oil
falls, we see equities usually fall in sympathy or tandem when one would have assumed a fall in the price of oil is good except for oil companies
because it does make it cheaper for industry to buy energy.
HALFF: True. A good point. And it hasn't always been the case. In the old days, oil was considered to be a good hedge against equity prices -
shifts in equity prices and that can still be the case. I think today there is concerns about the economy, effect of the trade war, and just in
oil, just a lot of supply, Saudi supply at a record, US supply unstoppable shale production not stopped by any shortfall in takeaway capacity as
people thought and still Iranian supply on the market.
QUEST: Good to see you, sir. Thank you.
HALFF: Likewise.
QUEST: Thank you for joining us from New York. A minister in the British government has resigned over Brexit. It is a major embarrassment
for Theresa May, the Prime Minister as she tries to conclude the deal with Brussels. It was Jo Johnson who was Transport Minister voted remain in
2016. Now, interestingly his brother Boris who was the Foreign Secretary, of course, voted to leave. This evening, he is now demanding a new vote on
Brexit and warns that the emerging deal will leave Britain trapped by the EU.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JO JOHNSON, BRITISH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: We are barreling towards an incoherent Brexit that is going to leave us trapped in a subordinate
relationship to the EU with no say over the rules that will govern huge suedes of our economy. This is completely unacceptable and unsustainable
for a proud democracy such as our own. I think it is imperative that we now go back to the people and check that they are content to proceed on
this extraordinary basis. We will be instead of in Europe, but not run by Europe, we will be out of Europe and yet wholly subject to European rules.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: So joining me to put perspective is Peter Westmacott, the former British ambassador to the United States. He was also a former ambassador
to France. Peter, wonderful to see you.
PETER WESTMACOTT, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Good to see you again.
QUEST: Was it a surprise Jo Johnson going?
WESTMACOTT: I think it was a surprise, it was to me, anyway, but I think it is a significant development.
QUEST: Why?
WESTMACOTT: Partly because he is Boris' younger brother, partly because although he is not a Cabinet Minister, he is a Minister who is widely
regarded as a man of integrity and intelligence, and partly because of the arguments that he has made are not particularly partisan, it is about
looking at the realities, concluding that all the options out there are not really what the people were promised and none on the good for the country,
and so therefore perhaps the government ought to ask people what they really want to do before going ahead. I think it is quite an important
argument that he has made.
QUEST: George Osborne says that he thinks - primarily, he thinks that - former Chancellor - that ultimately it will be a muddle swing, there will
be transitional arrangements in place that will last for years. That seems to be - if what we hear in the latest leak of the deal being put together
from Cabinet letters is that that is exactly what is being put together. Some form of arrangement that keeps Britain in the customs union and the
single market, but thereby means it is a vote - a rule taker, not a rule maker.
WESTMACOTT: Yes. Some form of arrangement of that sort is what is being mooted for quite a while. It is not yet a done deal partly because of the
Northern Ireland issue, and I think if it does go ...
[15:10:06]
QUEST: But that solves the Northern Ireland issue, doesn't it? In that sense. That solves it.
WESTMACOTT: It solves it if the whole of the United Kingdom remains for the time being in the Customs Union. That is a perfectly logical way to my
mind of doing it, but it is not acceptable to a number of people in the Conservative Party and might not be acceptable in Northern Ireland. I
think George Osborne is right, the likelihood is that something like that gets voted through and then we muddle along for a long time with
uncertainty and a lot of problems and no band which to do anything else except Brexit.
But as Jo Johnson says, the problem with that muddle through policy is that it is a never ending purgatory where we became rule taker, not rule maker
and there is a big price to be paid for it like interest rates policy, like losing the budget rebate. A whole lot of reasons why a lot of people don't
think it is a good idea. So it is not in the bag even if Theresa May manages to conclude this deal.
QUEST: Is it your feeling this ends badly?
WESTMACOTT: Yes.
QUEST: I mean the negotiation, your long term view of Britain outside the European Union and about the negotiation ending badly.
WESTMACOTT: No. My honest - who knows. My hunch is that there will be a fudge - an agreement and that Parliament will reluctantly hold its nose
and vote for it. It is not a good deal for Britain, it's much worse than what everybody was promised, but there is still a possibility that
Parliament rejects that and we crash out and at that point, then the second referendum thing comes back on to the agenda.
QUEST: Peter from Europe to the United States, Donald Trump on the midterms, I was reading your notes on that this morning. All right, so the
result was largely as predicted in that sense. With your wisdom of diplomacy, does this embolden the President? It would seem to have already
done so, he fired Jeff Sessions barely was the ballot papers counted, but does it embolden him further? Or when you look underneath the numbers, is
there cause for worry?
WESTMACOTT: I think that he feels relatively triumphant. Tremendous success.
QUEST: Invincible?
WESTMACOTT: Other people are saying something else. I think there is an element of bluster here. He has also slugged off a few of your colleagues
and journalists and gone back to fake news and evil people, you know, the usual characteristic. I think in practice, he is going to have some
problems because of what we're going to have with the democratically controlled House is a series of committees which are issuing subpoenas and
getting to the bottom of a number of things which the Trump administration hasn't wanted them to get to the bottom of.
QUEST: Are your diplomat friends, other Ministers you speak to, because you are well connected, Peter ...
WESTMACOTT: Of course.
QUEST: Do they still sort of hold their heads in sort of what are we going to do? Damn if we don't, damned if we do, if (inaudible) if we
don't.
WESTMACOTT: I think the view now is that following this result, not brilliant for him, but not that bad. There is a realistic possibility that
there may be four more years of Donald Trump and we are going to have to work with that. I think many privately might have hoped that there might
be a change after one term, but I think they are beginning to say to themselves, "We're going to have to work out some way of dealing with this
guy."
QUEST: In a sentence, do you think business leaders should become ambassadors? After your job.
WESTMACOTT: Occasionally. We've tried it before though and usually they didn't think the pay was good enough.
QUEST: That was not the answer I was expecting, but it is a good one. Thank you, Peter, Sir Peter. We're going to talk more about that later in
the program. That issue of business, the ruling Conservative Party or the British government wants to do that. When it comes to streaming, Disney
doesn't want to let it go as it announces the name of its new service. We'll look at that upcoming battle with Netflix. Netflix has been hit hard
as a result. Could have gone and play, Peter.
[15:15:00]
QUEST: Disney stock having languished and done nothing for oh so long is now heading higher up over 2% in the last hour, falling back a bit to 1.7%.
At the highest level though, in some three years of the share price, it is on the back of a strong quarter and a key announcement about the streaming
wars. The Chief Executive Bob Iger has revealed that the upcoming streaming service now has a name, it will be called Disney Plus and it sets
it up in the streaming wars for a battle with Netflix whose stock is down 4%.
Hadas Gold is with me to talk - to put this in perspective. Hadas, so Disney - we knew this was coming and we are getting more details. Netflix
would appear to be today, although the whole market is down.
HADAS GOLD, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Right.
QUEST: But Netflix would appear to be bearing something of the brunt.
GOLD: They are because it is seen as a direct competition to them. But you have to keep in mind that Netflix has a lot of these global expansion
plans. Just this week, they announced 17 original shows in Asia. They see a huge growth market in places like India where they think that they can
have 100 million new customers there. So while the stock might be down a little bit because of the Disney announcement, and, yes, Disney is a
content king, Netflix is showing that they are quite a big player on the scene and they can compete with all of these new original shows.
QUEST: Is Disney dramatically behind the curve? I mean, I know all our own sister problem, HBO is looking at one, and obviously AT&T, our parent
company is looking at putting in place more streaming. Disney doing it takes it to a different league.
GOLD: Definitely and you would have expected that Disney might have wanted to get involved at least two years ago, a while before, because
remember, although they announced the name today, it is not actually being launched for another year or so. But I mean, they had such the huge
content library there to choose from. It is a little bit surprising that they didn't choose to do this a while ago.
QUEST: You were talking to Netflix and you were hearing about how they changed or how they - the reason I mention this is, I was watching recently
on a plane a Netflix film, an original production, which I didn't realize until I started playing it was in Dutch.
GOLD: Right.
QUEST: I had no idea that like Nazi Banker or German Banker or something - I had no idea that Netflix made so much in foreign language.
GOLD: They are and this is a huge investment area for them. I spoke with the Chief Product Office, Greg Peters for Netflix this week. That
interview is online, but what he said specifically is they are trying to change the way the nonnative speakers look at these shows by making the
dubbing more quality, for example, using the original actors to dub themselves in English, which makes it more authentic, and also just when
you go online, not marketing these shows, these series as foreign language movies.
QUEST: Is it working?
GOLD: You'll stumble upon them. They say it is. He actually quoted a German show called "Dark," he said 90% of the audience is outside of
Germany.
QUEST: Netflix has a production budget this year.
GOLD: Yes, $8 billion.
QUEST: That's what they claim, $8 billion. It could be up to $11 billion. Now, if you add in what Yahoo's production budget would be or
Apple's production budget, and all of the other streaming services, these are phenomenal sums of money.
GOLD: Yes, and they are producing a lot of content to the point that I even asked Greg Peters, isn't it too much? Because sometimes, you can get
lost in all of this, and he said, it's not enough, they want to become the world's TV channel.
QUEST: But what about the regulation that they become - I think you might remember, we described as the Walmart of television, while HBO is
meant to be the Tiffany network.
GOLD: Well, that's not what - I mean, Netflix has not described itself yet as a Walmart, but it definitely sounds like it. They want to be
everything to everybody.
QUEST: And maybe they will be as profitable as Walmart. Good to see you. Lovely. Thank you for coming in on a Friday night and joining us
live.
GOLD: Of course. For you, anything.
QUEST: I think I - good, you can have just ...
GOLD: Another go.
QUEST: You can have one go.
[15:15:08]
GOLD: Yes. I didn't knock it off the table this time.
QUEST: Not yet. Thank you. There are deep discounts on Alibaba's shares today. They fell as much as 4%. They have rallied back. Alibaba
is gearing up for its tenth annual single's day on Sunday. It's the biggest shopping event of the year for them, more than twice as big as
America's Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend. And so hardly surprising Alibaba is pulling out all of the stops to hit new records.
The President of Alibaba told Julia Chatterley how that will happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL EVANS, PRESIDENT, ALIBABA: We are taking this shopping festival not only to our online business, but also to the offline markets. Not only
domestic in China, but also international. Not just business to consumer, but also business to business. So when we leverage our entire ecosystem of
businesses, we are expecting a very big result this year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, this weekend, single's day will be Jack Ma's last as Company Chairman. Doreen Wang is with me, Global Head of BrandZ which track
perceptions of the world's best known companies.
The perception of Alibaba has been traditionally very high. But with more questions about China and the way China dictates some rules in many cases,
has that affected the perception of Alibaba?
DOREEN WANG, GLOBAL HEAD, BRANDZ: From our BrandZ data, the overall perception toward Alibaba in China has been very positive. It's an
ecosystem, it is not just an e-commerce brand, but it has Ali Pay and many other platforms that it is building. And the single's day, the day after
tomorrow, and it is the biggest shopping day on earth. And last year, the sales was $25 billion. And this year, the entire forecast is going to grow
by another 30% to 40% at least.
So one-third of the families are getting ready for this biggest shopping day. And they have all these products in the basket and ready to check out
the day after tomorrow. So it is going to be a big festival. And Alibaba initiated it, but right now, many online and offline and the big and small
e-commerce are all joining it.
QUEST: But isn't - to how much from your understanding, how much of that Millie Concertina's sales that would have happened later in the month or
the following week, further Christmas? It just sort of concentrates them into a short period, doesn't it?
WANG: You are very true, Richard. It is very concentrated within that 24 hours. But 140,000 brands are preparing for this day in the past two to
three months. And also afterwards, after that 24 hours and in the next week or so, and the festival is still continuing and still a lot of
products and lots of great discounts are happening all through the week, so it is a consumer shopping festival. And lots of brands take this
opportunity as a great branding opportunity.
QUEST: And when you look at internationally, I was talking to senior management at Alibaba this week, and they were saying obviously
internationally, it is B to B going out to companies that want to move into the Chinese market.
Does that aspect of Alibaba's business, is that important?
WANG: That is certainly important because within China domestically, it is mainly B to C, so the consumer goods products are attracting all the
consumer's attention and the overseas, the B to B is contributing and Alibaba is trying to introduce as many new brands as possible to the
consumer's life in China. And especially lots of niche and small brands. They want to take the opportunity to penetrate into the Chinese customer's
life. And after all, there are 500 million middle class in China. You win China, you win the world.
QUEST: Good to see you. Thank you for joining us from New York.
WANG: Thank you very much, Richard.
QUEST: The British government wants to increase the number of business leaders that are diplomats and is actually going out to seek the business
community to rope them into the world of diplomacy. It is all obviously because of the post-Brexit world where they will have to do more business
with more countries, business that would have been handled by the European Union.
Now, there are some examples already which you can look up. First of all, the current Ambassador - the current US Ambassador to the United Kingdom
has the name of Woody Johnson. Woody Johnson is the owner of the NFL team, New York Jets. His predecessor was Matthew Barzun who is an executive at
CNET, whilst William Hagerty who also represents the US in Japan was a private equity investor.
I am joined by Dave Penman, he is the General Secretary of the FDA - First Divisions Association, I think it used to be known as, represents the top
...
[15:25:10]
QUEST: ... civil servants in the UK. Good to see you, sir.
DAVE PENMAN, GENERAL SECRETARY, FIRST DIVISIONS ASSOCIATION: You, too.
QUEST: I'm not surprised if your first words are that you oppose this.
PENMAN: Well, I think if you look at what Jeremy Hunt said, he is talking about one or two posts a year being opened up to competition and of course,
like any organization, the idea of testing the market, seeing that enough of our good people out there as well as promoting from us and can be a good
idea, I think we were concerned this idea that it was simply concentrating on trading. The role of an Ambassador, the role of a diplomat is more than
trade. And therefore whether those people coming in from business would have the full range of skills necessary to do the full role of an
Ambassador.
QUEST: So you are not completely opposed to the idea?
PENMAN: No. I mean, of course, civil service always recruits from out as well as from within, but it's really about understanding diplomats are
made, they are not born. We've seen that in decades.
QUEST: No, but I guess what he wants are CEOs. The CEO mentality of strategy, commercial sense, all of the diplomacy, all of those attributes,
and maybe some of the ambassadors, don't have enough of the commercial stuff in their blood.
PENMAN: They may not. But the (inaudible) on those who become Ambassadors also do trade and I think, it also has to be known that the
role of an Ambassador is different from that in a commercial organization. You are representing a government. That government can change color as
well, and you have to represent governments when there is political change, but also if you are negotiating trade deals, you are negotiating with
countries, you're negotiating with other governments and understanding how government works may well be more important than just understanding how
business works.
QUEST: Is there potentially a risk? Peter Westmacott was joking when he just left, you may have heard him say, they wouldn't take the job, but that
could be reality because there is no question that ambassadors are the brightest of their generation and the top of the crop.
PENMAN: Absolutely.
QUEST: But to get the he equivalence of CEOs, the foreign office probably couldn't pay the money.
PENMAN: I mean, if you look at what Ambassadors are paid, mid-size embassies, you're talking about ambassadors being paid maybe 90,000 pounds
a year ...
QUEST: $120,000.00.
PEMAN: So the idea of that some of these top people in business, if you would talk about it, that's our pay cut, but I think it's more than just
about pay. It is about a commitment to public service. It is understanding what that full range of being a diplomat is about. It's not
simply about trade, it's about security.
QUEST: But trade is the fighting area for the future, for this country. Trade is - all the other stuff pales away except war, I'll grant you, but
all the other stuff pales away. Britain is going to embark on the biggest trade experiment in 50 years.
PENMAN: Yes. And so the government needs to put its money where its mouth is. So, the FCO had its budget cut by 25%, between 2010 and 2015, we
have a spend review coming up and in the spring, is the Chancellor going to put significant resources in to the FCO on that basis? So I think, that
would do more about supporting Britain's trade than a gimmick around trying to look for CEOs to come in to be ambassadors.
QUEST: Really good to see you, sir. Thank you. Have a good weekend.
PENMAN: Thank you.
QUEST: As we continue live from London tonight, a special look at tourism on "Quest Means Business." Out of all the fun in the world, travel
market to bring you after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:00] RICHARD QUEST, HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Hello, I'm Richard Quest in London. A lot more on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Greece's Tourism
Minister tells me how your holiday can help her country out of austerity. And it's the beach that got too popular too fast. the Philippines is saying
less is more.
As we continue, this is Cnn and on this network, the facts always come first. At least, five people have been killed and 150,000 people forced to
evacuate out of California as the state grapples with three major wildfires. The flames are spreading at an alarming rate due to high winds
and warmer temperatures.
Australia police are treating a stabbing spree that killed one and wounded two in Melbourne as a terrorism incident. The police shot the attacker, he
died in hospital. ISIS says he carried out the attack, so far there is proof of no evidence to back up that claim.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is urging Germans to learn from history on the 80th anniversary of the infamous Nazi rampage against Jews. She condemned
what she calls a worrying resurgence of anti-Semitism. He called on Germans to reject racism and anti-Semitism in any form.
Donald Trump's attorneys are declining to comment on a "Wall Street Journal" report that says federal prosecutors have gathered evidence that
the president took part in transactions that may have violated campaign laws. The report says he played a central role in hush payments to two
women who allege to have had affairs with him, something he denies. Erica Orden; Cnn's reporter covering law enforcement joins me. The significance
of this is what?
ERICA ORDEN, CNN REPORTER COVERING SPECIAL COUNSEL PROBE & LAW ENFORCEMENT: Well, the significance is that it tells us much more detail about the
president's involvement in these efforts by his then Attorney Michael Cohen to keep these women silent and to pay them to keep silent during the
campaign.
And we knew from Michael Cohen's statements in court in August and also some from charges that federal prosecutors had filed against Michael Cohen
that Trump had directed him to make these payments or to cause others to make these payments.
We now know that there was this meeting in August 2015 that was between Donald Trump and David Pecker who is the head of AMI which is the parent
company of the "National Enquirer", and that sort of sparked this agreement between those two parties to have AMI operate sort of in-service of the
Trump campaign during the election season.
QUEST: Erica Orden, thank you. It's certainly QUEST MEANS BUSINESS and our special look at tourism in tonight's program. We're going to look at
the World Travel Market which took place earlier this week in London. And as we do so -- rather nice, let's not forget the role played by tourism in
the world economy. According to the World Tourism Organization, the UNWTO, World Tourism accounted for 1 in 10 jobs.
[15:35:00] Now, these numbers are often bandied around and they may be on the conservative side, but 10 percent of the world's GDP is largely
believed to be in somehow , someway linked to tourism. So no country -- even those with small tourism industries can afford to sleep on its tourism
potential. For instance, India's secretary told me that in her country, the tourism portfolio goes right to the very top.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RASHMI VERMA, SECRETARY OF TOURISM, INDIA: Tourism is a very important focus of our current prime minister. And he gives a lot of importance to
promotion of tourism from the point of view of the fact that it is one of the largest foreign exchange earner for us.
And also creates jobs for people all around the country even in the remotest parts of the country. We have jobs being created by tourism. In
fact, one room -- one additional room of any hotel leads to four new jobs, you know. So it is one of the largest job creator in our country, and that
is being recognized by the government and the Prime Minister himself, you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, you're going to hear tourism ministers from all over the world make their pitch, so get your devices ready, we want you to tell us your
dream destination. Now, this is the one where -- you know, you may have several vacations, cnn.com-slash-join. You may have several ideas and
several places that you want to go to, but you get to pick one for your next vacation.
No, we're not paying for it, we just want to know what you prefer. Do you prefer sun and beach, snow and ski, city and views, or safaris and beasts?
Your dream holiday destination. Imagine, I am telling you your next holiday, is it sun and beach, snow and ski or winter sports, city and
tourists or seeing things or safaris and the animals?
At the World Travel Market, the Greek Tourism Minister told me how the industry could help her country emerge from austerity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELENA KOUNTOURA, MINISTER OF TOURISM, GREECE: Well, the thing is that we want to get out of austerity measures and actually August we came out of
the program. So for us now, the target is development and growth, and tourism is the driving force to develop and grow my economy in Greece.
Like any other country, I think the national economy depends a lot from tourists. So what we did was to increase all the numbers, arrivals and
revenue, and right now, tourism is doing great for the Greek economy.
QUEST: What were your numbers?
KOUNTOURA: Well, actually --
QUEST: What do you think your numbers are going to be for this year?
KOUNTOURA: Well, our target was 32 million that we overcame. It's going to be more than 32 million, around 32 million and a half, which is really
big achievement. Our performance is doing great, but the most important thing are the revenue. We're almost 18 percent more than last year.
QUEST: So that means either prices went up or people spent more?
KOUNTOURA: People spent more, a lot of people came and enjoyed longer vacation in Greece. And the most important thing is that -- is the sector
that really puts other sectors to grow because the tourists, they come here, they eat, they shop, they go around.
QUEST: Would you agree that perhaps in the past, tourism was taken for granted, and now no country can take tourism for granted because the
competition between you all is so great.
KOUNTOURA: Well, I think the global tourism is increasing every year, 3 percent to 4 percent. In Greece, we did such a great job with our strategy
-- that's the truth, that we increase double 7 percent to 8 percent. So we did really a great performance and we're very happy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Simon Calder is with me, the travel editor for "The Independent" did so -- but always great to see you sir.
SIMON CALDER, TRAVEL EDITOR, THE INDEPENDENT: Thank you, Richard --
QUEST: This industry is crucial to many countries economies. But I often wonder within government, whether tourism is -- tourism minister, the
tourism office, the tourism bureau is given the worth it deserves.
CALDER: But certainly not. We heard there just a couple of minutes ago from the Indian Tourism Minister saying it's so important everybody
realizes how crucial it is. And yet you look at the very complicated visa rules and the number of tourists that India is attracting, particularly
from Europe, from the U.S. is simply nowhere near where it should be because they make it so difficult.
Russia, a complete basket case in terms of attracting the sorts of tourists that everybody is after --
QUEST: Why do you think this is? They pay lip service, but when the flights come along, they -- you know, the foreign ministry gets involved,
the interior ministry gets involved --
CALDER: Oh, yes --
QUEST: The transport ministry gets -- everybody wants their all in and makes it difficult for the tourism minister who is often not being listened
to by the Prime Minister.
[15:40:00] CALDER: Exactly, and it's a combination of everything from protectionism -- oh, no, we can't allow more flights coming in, and that's
what Tunisia for example is saying which desperately needs more tourism, but it keeps saying we can't have budget airlines flying in from Europe
because we've to protect Tunis Air; the national carrier, all the way to security concerns which is really top of the list in India and Russia.
QUEST: What about the United States -- now, the latest numbers in the U.S. show sort of stagnant growth.
CALDER: Yes --
QUEST: Which when you consider everybody else is growing suggests that people are avoiding or at least it is not on many as it used to be.
CALDER: Yes, and we are seeing a couple of effects going on. The first one is most definitely a lot of appetite for the U.S. from for example,
Mexican tourists, else -- other people in Latin America perhaps because of the White House incumbents attitude towards what's going on south of the
border.
But you've also got brutally a lot of tourism inflation. So the room rates at hotels in great cities in the U.S. are commanding through the roof. And
if for example, you are a British tourist even though we've been kind of propping up the U.S. tourists business for years, when you're seeing this
idea of just in Boston, they're impossible to get anything for under about $250 for a hotel room, you are thinking maybe I'll spend my hard-earned
money somewhere else.
QUEST: Right, let's look at our question. The question that we asked on tourism, where would you -- what is your favorite -- your dream, don't look
at the answers --
CALDER: Yes --
QUEST: Let's go, so sun and beach --
CALDER: Yes --
QUEST: Snow and winter sports --
CALDER: Yes --
QUEST: City --
CALDER: Yes --
QUEST: City and culture or safari. If I was sending you on your way --
CALDER: Oh, sure, I would be heading to the deep south to Antarctica. I've never set foot on the Antarctic continent, of course, I would like to
do that. That's clearly not a city, clearly not beach, so a bit of kind of wildness in terms of the wildlife --
QUEST: Do you ever -- do you ever -- I always wanted to ask Simon Calder this, do you ever just go to Carolina beach?
CALDER: No, five minutes, I might just -- you know, sample the sand, but of course, there isn't time to so many great places to go and see. And
it's of course never been a better time to be a traveler, but we are seeing a gradual move east and that's why China is going to take on over as both
the highest recipient and the highest generator of tourists, both in terms of numbers and absolute value.
QUEST: Good to see you, bon voyage --
CALDER: Thank you --
QUEST: Wherever you -- where are you off to next?
CALDER: Deep south, I'll be heading south probably to Antarctica, but I'm trying to find a cheap boat to take me there.
QUEST: The man who always pays his way as he's known going about. After the break, what happens when tourism gets out of control, well, simply the
balance between making money and conserving the environment. To the Philippines next.
[15:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Well, if you ignore the rubbish and the garbage on the beach, and otherwise it looks pretty idyllic. Unfortunately, refuse and garbage and
things that you don't want can always be there. And sometimes a tourist destination can simply become too popular, and that was the case of the
Philippines.
The tourism industry had be safe from itself, in this case, it was the beauty of Boracay Beach that was nearly destroyed by years of overcrowding
that left behind contamination and pollution. Venus Tan, the Chief Executive of the Philippines Tourism Board told me about the controversial
decision to close the beach and why their new approach is to have balance between making money and preserving the environment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VENUS TAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, PHILIPPINES TOURISM PROMOTION BOARD: Certainly, we had a lot of criticisms coming from our own stakeholders.
But moving forward, I think it is now proven that really we have to put a balance between business and really the environment.
QUEST: So what did you do? You cleaned it up, you redid the water management --
TAN: Right --
QUEST: For it, and now you've restricted to a certain number -- a certain number of people who can visit per day.
TAN: That's correct. Well, essentially, it was a clean-up really, and tried to bring back the pristine beach that it was 20 years ago. So now if
one goes there, it's really that, so it's like a throwback now. So, yes, we've somehow restricted arrivals to the island. At a given time, we are
restricting to at least 19,000 arrivals a day to the island.
We've also discussed this with airlines, domestic airlines coming to the island that -- to limit some of their flights to the island --
QUEST: And will you do this with other islands?
TAN: Yes --
QUEST: Is that the plan though?
TAN: Yes, that is the plan. We're looking at other assets, national assets, destinations in the Philippines. Not only coastal, but certainly
even high land destinations to the Philippines. So now being eyed to see that everything, the violations and sustainability, it's really there for
essentially for tourists, and protection as well, so -- and to enjoy.
QUEST: This is fascinating because many speak about it, few countries do it. How much of this is just a blow in the wind fad?
TAN: You know, when the president declared this, there was a certain anxiety to it. But I think there is wisdom in what has been done. And
it's providing a signal not only for the Philippines, but some of our destination countries around us have taken a move to do the same.
QUEST: I think you can agree with me that a non-controversial political manner that your president is somewhat unusual and some would say
controversial. Have you found that some of his comments and some of his actions have deterred tourists?
TAN: Well, you know, I am not very political in a sense, but to me --
QUEST: Right, you are not -- you are not political, but you travel the world selling --
TAN: Sure --
QUEST: Your country.
TAN: Sure.
QUEST: So you hear what people say. Is his message going down?
TAN: No, I don't think so. I don't think that should be a deterrent. To us, I think the selling proposition of the Philippines is the people. And
the president can say a lot of bold pronouncements, but that's just his personality. And to me, I think it goes beyond that. The Filipino people
should be able to transcend and I think the destination can speak for itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Voting is almost over. Go to cnn.com-slash-join on where you would -- your dream holidays: sun, snow, city or safari. There's one more
country to make its pitch, Egypt's tourism chief is next.
[15:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Now, there's a sight to behold. We showed you earlier how tourism accounts for one in ten of every job worldwide. If Rania Al-Mashat gets
her way, one person from every household in Egypt will soon be working in the tourism industry. It is a very different approach. The Egyptian
Minister told me why she's making wholesale changes to a very mature tourism sector.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANIA AL-MASHAT, MINISTER OF TOURISM, EGYPT: My goal as a minister is that each and every household in Egypt have at least one person working in the
tourism sector. That is 25 million jobs.
QUEST: So that's two-pronged. Bring more in and have more people domestically involved. What do you gain from that?
AL-MASHAT: Tourism is a very important sector globally. It is a sector that has 70 other industries feeding into it. The employment multiplier in
tourism is one to four, so for every added job that is created for our added on, if you take a look at the SDGs for the UN, tourism at its heart
for every of the 17 SDGs, there is a direct link to tourism.
QUEST: But you, I mean, Egypt's tourism is very mature at one level. And do you really have to -- so, what are you -- what new are you offering?
AL-MASHAT: We are offering -- you think you know everything about Egypt, but there are so many destinations that we want to put on the map. We want
it to be a 365-day destination. We want people to come and see the gem, the gem which is a grand Egyptian museum, the opening is going to be 2020.
And as you see, we are here with a statue of Ramesses, the actual statue is in front of the gem and we are very proud of that project, it's going to be
a gift from the Egyptian people to the world. It will be the only museum that has the full collection of Tutankhamun, 5,000 pieces. And in addition
to that, there is the sun, there's the beach, there's the culture, there's adventure.
QUEST: So it's clearly working, now you've got your feet under the table. You know where the photocopier is and you know where the coffee machine is.
How much change do you think you're going to need to make to Egypt tourism?
AL-MASHAT: I remember our first conversation --
QUEST: Yes --
AL-MASHAT: Richard, we were sitting there with the Pyramids in our backdrop --
QUEST: Glorious --
AL-MASHAT: Yes, and I believe that tourism is an industry of the people, and it's your team, it's everyone who is engaged, and we are people who are
known for our hospitality, for our authenticity.
[15:55:00] Part of our country is people to people, we want everyone around the world to know that Egyptian people are people of pride, passion,
peace and progress. We want everyone to come and take a view of our country, enjoy it, have a good time and a great experience, and we
guarantee that that can happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Egypt's tourism minister talking, and the results are in. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS viewers, you all want a bit of sun, city and culture come in
second, and interestingly, snow and safari are far behind. Which suggests either you are not interested in snow and it's all a bit distant or your ID
have more than enough safaris that you know of.
Last few minutes of trade on Wall Street, and you can see how we're doing. We are well off the lows for the day, still down 165 points of the day.
The Dow -- now, the Dow is the best gainer so far, it's up nearly 2 percent and on the day -- sorry, the Disney is the best performer, it's up 2
percent on the day.
But look at the other end, Goldman Sachs, now, this is all to do with problems over IM; the Malaysian fund and investigations concerning that.
Caterpillar is on the back of China. It's the worst in the Dow, it's affected by the global slowdown. As for tech, it's sort of in the middle.
It sort of has borne the brunt.
But really, the one to note, GE which is down 5 percent on a bad forecast. We'll have a profitable moment after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's profitable moment. The tourism industry is still not attracting at government level the brightest and the best. Egypt for
example is an example of exactly the opposite where the minister in Egypt comes from the private sector, comes from the IMF and is widely regarded as
a top high flyer.
But she is an exception. In many other countries, the ministers are appointed simply do not raise the caliber of tourism. And until that
changes, until that changes -- well, tourism will not punch the weight it should, bearing in mind the importance to the global or national economies.
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight, I am Richard Quest in London. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it is profitable.
(BELL RINGING)
The bell is ringing, the Dow is down, the day is done.
END
