agencies

Cheese and oil have skyrocketed so much in Türkiye that travel agencies have a star destination: a Lidl in Greece

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The cost of living has skyrocketed. Except the cocaine marketa multitude of basic products have risen in price when salaries have not grown at the same level. In Spain we have a year-on-year inflation of around 3%. In Türkiye, on the same date, it is 33%, and that is leading thousands of Turks to travel to Greece every week, and not for pleasure. But to Lidl for make the purchase. Supermarket migration. In the mid-2010s, the Greek economy was a drama. The purchasing power is collapsed and the country’s debt crisis forced many households to squeeze every euro. Neighboring countries that also used the euro were no consolation, so they looked east: to Türkiye. Within the economic context, the lira was cheap and the euro strong, so many Greeks, especially from the islands, went to Turkish bazaars and supermarkets to buy clothes, utensils and food. The ferries they were bursting. It is estimated that the cost per visit was about 120 euros and, since filling the shopping cart in Turkey was considerably cheaper, the Greeks bought large shipments of cheese, oil, meat and sausages. One of the “supermarket corridors” was Lesbos-Ayvalik, and in the middle of the decade spoke up to 100,000 visits annually. Now, the tables have turned. The tragedy of the lyre. More than two decades of controversial policiesamong other factors, have led to the collapse of the lira. The cost of imports has multiplied and the inflation rate does not reach 80% of a few years agobut it has stagnated at that more than 30% that is suffocating the population. It is something that is disproportionately affecting food, including basic necessities. Now it is the Turks who have enormous problems when buying fresh productsmeats, cheese and oil. The situation does not seem to be changing in the short term due to massive debt, default rates (with the penalty that entails) and that price increase in subsistence products. It is the “typical”: products that increase a lot and stagnant salaries, the perfect combination to ruin the purchasing power of families. To Lidl in the neighboring country. What is happening? That this dynamic of cross-border purchases has been completely reversed. If a decade ago it was the Greeks who crossed the border, now it is the Turks who, with a euro that is not so buoyant, but enough to make it worth it compared to the prices in their local markets, flock to Greece to make that weekly purchase. In a report by Bloomberg There are concrete figures that compare a Lidl in Alexandroupolis (about 40 kilometers from the Turkish border) and a Turkish Carrefour. For example, minced meat costs 9.36 euros per kilo in Greece, compared to 12.10 in Türkiye. Greek sausages cost half as much as Turkish ones, Gouda cheese costs a third and oil makes one of the biggest differences: 10 euros per liter in Greece compared to 20 in Turkey. Social networks. Social networks are a loudspeaker – let them tell it to the influencers from Australian mines-, and those who visit Greek cities to make purchases share their experience through networks such as TikTok. The word spreads and more citizens are encouraged to take the leap. For Alejandrópolis, it represents an injection of money for both food businesses and restaurants. Bloomberg details how, after a day of shopping, Turks have a drink in Greek restaurants while sharing the experience. and it esteem that there are 3,000 Turks who are making this weekly trip. travel agencies. Because if we have to define this it is as a need, yes, but also with that word: experience. Because although it may be something private for a family to do, travel agencies are organizing tours to Greek cities, with groups of supermarket tourists who do not want to visit the city, but rather the Lidl on duty. For about 50 euros, buses loads of Turkish shoppers leave on Friday afternoons and arrive in Greek cities on Saturday morning and spend three and a half hours in the supermarkets. Then they spend some free time around the citythey can go to eat and, in the afternoon, on the way home with a full cart. The biggest annoyance? Apart from having to go to another country to buy because in yours the cost of living is very expensive, of course, it is the line at border control. How long will this last? Türkiye trust to halve inflation by 2026, but it will still remain extremely high. We will see how long this situation lasts, which, from January to September of this year, has carried to the fact that 6% of the Turks who visited Greece did so only with the aim of filling the car. Images | Zoshua Colah, Aldin Nasrun In Xataka | Private labels are having an unexpected effect on the food industry: the biggest price drop since 2014

The two largest travel agencies in Spain fight to sell trips to Disney. This is the business of children’s dreams

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Ávoris has lost the exclusivity it maintained in Spain to market trips to the Disney parks. El Corte Inglés Travel obtained authorization in May to distribute these packages through its Smytravel platform, breaking a monopoly that allowed its great rival to consolidate its leadership in the ranking of Spanish travel agencies. Now both giants compete directly for the same pie: the 500 independent agencies integrated into Traveltool and the thousands of Spanish families who ask about the price of a trip to Disney every year. Why is it important. Disney is not just another product: it is the star product of family tourism in Spain (and increasingly even for adults without children). Its parks received 142 million visitors in 2024, almost doubling its closest competitor, and Disneyland Paris is the loose leader. This trip is sold almost exclusively through physical agencies, generates high margins and attracts families who are especially willing to spend a lot of money to make their children’s dreams come true. Whoever controls Disney controls a substantial part of the family travel business. The background. The exclusivity of Ávoris has never pleased its competitors: For years, agencies that wanted to sell Disney had to resort to the group’s tour operators: LePlan and Touring Club. That made Ávoris the inevitable intermediary of a business with guaranteed demand. This privileged situation used to generate recurring complaints in the sector for what they considered unjustified favorable treatment. Yes, but. Ávoris has not sat idly by. It has launched improvements to the LePlan and Touring Club platforms with a new centralized page that offers training, inspirational content and tools to design personalized Disney experiences. The answer comes weeks after Tourmundial (the brand of El Corte Inglés) announce combined packages to Disneyland Paris with accommodation, transportation, tickets and complementary services. Between the lines. This trade war points to something deeper in Spanish society: the touristification of childhood. Going to Disney has become an almost obligatory milestone, a natural extension of the first communion as a rite of passage and as an experience that “must be lived.” Not taking your children to see Mickey and company can generate a feeling of social exclusion, as if the experience were an essential requirement for a complete childhood. So agencies don’t just sell trips, they sell the feeling of tranquility from meeting social expectations and the fulfillment of the child. In Xataka | The incredible story of the couple who lived at Disneyland for 15 years without the visitors realizing it Featured image | Capricorn song

For years we were condemned to physical travel agencies. The English Court is investing millions in demonstrating otherwise

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The English Court has renewed 60 of its 430 travel officesand plans to reform another 44. The idea is to implement open spaces, sofas, digital screens, previous appointment and advisors with “emotional connection.” Why is it important. The message to be sent is that the physical store has not died, but only needed a new experience. In perspective. It is the classic play of retail Traditional: redesign the spaces to sell a transformation that between, especially, by the eyes. Along the same line as the changes applied to the low floors – the accesses – of some of its stores, modernizing the bookstore or giving more weight to the section Gourmet. EITHER The premiumization of its supermarkets. What is at stake is the role that a traditional physical agency can play in the Skyscanner era, Google flightsAirbnb and Booking. What is happening. Travel El Corte Inglés is more profitable (More than 100 million euros from Ebitda8% more than a year ago), but loses in volume against its great rival, Ávoris (Barceló Group). To renew your offices is a way to reaffirm as a premium brand and differentiate in a world in which the average customer has become accustomed to organizing their vacations from your mobile. The physical network is reduced to transform. Personalized attention is insisted as an advantage over the digital model. Between the lines. The reform is real estate, but first of all it is a way of sustaining the story: we are not a vestige, we are a luxury; We are not an agency, we are a space of inspiration. From store a Boutique. The passage of time will tell us if this is a real modernization or if it is rather an attempt to keep the physical channel alive. The company has not gone wrong: after years seeing how the environment rewarded its new competitors, the English Court is still alive despite insistent rumors of serious crisis. There is also the doubt of the long -term value of that “human contact” as a differential pillar. He is seductive, but difficult to climb. Yes, but. The new model has a very good press, but with the unknown of whether there is insufficient demand. There are still many clients who continue to go to a physical office, but they are increasingly minority. And those who do it, often look for something very concrete: custom trips, honey moons, large budgets. Can you sustain an entire model so capillary around those profiles? In addition, post-pandemic tourism has recovered, but It has also changed. The traveler has become accustomed to certain flexibility levels, price comparators, online opinions, immediate decisions. All of that has a difficult fit in an agency by appointment. The decision to invest in so many offices sends a message: trips El Corte Inglés remains convinced that there is a place for physical agencies if they become experiences. It is quite possible that it is right, although it is a commitment against the direction in which the future of the sector seems to go. In Xataka | Spain has become a country addicted to something that some years ago enjoyed little prestige: the white brand Outstanding image | El Corte Inglés trips

The appointment apps promised to be the end of the old marriage agencies. The result has been quite different

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The classics never die. Not at least if we talk about love and his things. Although Tinder, GrindrMeetic, Bumble and the rest of appointment apps (The list is long) They have made a considerable hole in the world of national romance, in Spain there are still people who continue to resort to those who for decades were the great allies of the single: marriage agencies. Its objective may not be to take couples before the altar, but a Fast search in Google to verify that there are still agencies operating, especially in the big cities. And from the sector they assure that they are not doing badly. “We are on the rise”, celebrate. The big question is … How have you managed to survive appointment apps? Don’t say Tinder, di agency. Ligar today is not the same as linking in the 80s the beginning of the 2000. Although the essence is always the same, each time has its own forms and codes. The history of Ligteo However, he also has his milestones and probably one of the most relevant was marked by the launch of Tinder In 2012. It was not the first platform to look for a partner (there were already match.com or okcupid), but it did clearly influenced the sector and somehow managed to knock down some taboos and stigmas. In 2013 it was already one of the hundred apps more downloaded And in 2018, after experiencing a 58% growth in a matter of a five years, it exceeded the four million of paid users worldwide. Its expansion has experienced ups and downs (Like His social footprint), but A recent study GFK DAM shows that he continues to lead the ranking of the platforms to flirt in Spain, with an average of 1.5 million monthly users. In second and third are Badoo and Grindr, with 776,000 and 635,600 users. And the marriage agencies? That revolution was not only felt in the networks or Apps downloads. The emergence of tools such as Tinder also affected a business model that had been implanted in the country and had experienced its golden era after the Divorce Law of 1981: Marriage agencies. Suddenly those who wanted to flirt but did not have time or encouragement to go to a disco could do it from their mobile, without having to resort (and pay) to the services of a professional celestine. “We go from being the only way of searching for a couple to live a strong competition,” He recognized in 2023 to the newspaper ABC Alicia López, psychologist at the Apesian agency. The agencies had to undertake their particular journey through the desert, face a crisis in their business model. And they had no choice but to “reinvent themselves”, like Remember López. Businesses organized workshops, looked for new income paths, influenced the strengths of their service … The idea was to relocate, find their coordinates after seeing how apps the apps “moved”. And changed the wave. The Adagio says that every crisis is at the same time an opportunity. And in the world of pairing professionals seems to have been fulfilled. Appointment apps and websites continue to work in Spain with millions of monthly users (4.7, According to GFK DAM), but the agencies claim to have found their hole and even benefit from the new scenario. “A few years ago that wave has returned to us and many people are tired from the digital world and their disappointments and lies,” López comments. “Of course, there is something that we thank these apps and that is that people have encouraged to ask for help to find a partner. Before it was a bit taboo, such as going to the psychologist,” he adds. It is not the only one that points in that direction. At the beginning of the year Carmen del Valle, director of Harmony, acknowledged in An interview With the being that at first the agencies like yours were “displaced” by apps, but over time the result was the opposite. “Now many people tired and frustrated.” And if there were doubts, he insists: “We are on the rise.” The importance of the approach. The key is what the agencies contribute. Or rather, in their ability to differentiate from the apps that have arisen in recent years. In fact of the valley insists In what a good part of the single ones who knock on their door demand something very specific: “A personalized and direct treatment.” These two values ​​are part of a cocktail to which agencies have added others, such as exclusivity, anonymity or even efficiency. “The agencies have existed a lifetime. Now, with apps, people look for safer and reliable options,” Confirm López to León News. Its logic is simple. The agencies are sold as intermediaries, a professional ally capable of providing a more personalized and direct service than that of apps. Those responsible are offered to refine the search, connect potential couples with shared affinities and desires and speak of high success percentages, often 80% are around. All without the need for public exposure, having to upload personal photos an app and go through the ritual of the Match. Not suitable for all pockets. For López Agencies offer “an alternative for people who want to avoid the dangers of staying with someone unknown in appointment apps.” As intermediaries, they assume the responsibility that the people who match share some affinity, something they try to guarantee with face -to -face interviews. Same important is discretion. There are agencies that organize appointments without having Show even photos To the single ones who are going to meet. Other businesses presume of your ability in he Matchmaking and the application of methods not very different from those used in the human resources departments of the companies. That assistance (of course) is not cheap. Prices may vary from one agency to another, but if interviews are reviewed to their managers in recent years there are rates for 300, 600, 1,800, 2,000, 6,000 or even 12,000 … Read more

Space agencies do not match

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The failed Soviet ship Kosmos 482, Designed to land in Venushas entered the earth’s atmosphere after 53 years giving tumbos around our planet. However, nobody knows where exactly has fallen. Context. As a twin of the famous Venera 8 capsule, Kosmos 482 was intended for Venus, but was caught in an elliptical orbit around the earth due to a rocket failure that in 1972 promoted it to space. Since then, atmospheric friction has gradually reduced its altitude, which has culminated today in its inevitable fall. Despite The reentry was an expected eventthe different space agencies and follow -up organisms handle varied predictions. According to Russia. The Russian Space Agency Roscosmos He published in Telegram that the Kosmos 482 probe had entered the dense layers of the atmosphere at 06:24 UTC on Saturday. He did it in the Indian Ocean, some 560 kilometers west from the island of Andamán del Medio. Or as some rushed to point out, west of The famous Northern Sentinel Islandthat of isolated indigenous people. According to Europe. For its part, the European Space Agency Space Waste Office Place the reentry between 06:04 UTC and 07:32 UTC. The ESA radars in Germany did not detect the probe after that time, so the reentry is confirmed, although no direct visual observations or ground impacts have been recorded. The central prediction of ESA points at 06:16 UTC, which would place the reentry south of Turkmenistan, on the border with Iran and Agfanistan. According to the United States. The United States space force published through its Space-Track system that the Kosmos 482 reentry had taken place between 05:20 and 05:44 UTC over the Pacific Ocean. This prediction not only It is not consistent With the ESA and Roscosmos reports, but it is invalidated by the detection of the ship over Germany at 06:04 UTC, according to ESA radar data. Where is the capsule. The Dutch Langbroek Satellites tracker It is “reasonably consistent” with its own modelwhich makes a difference of just 15 minutes. That fell into the Indian Ocean, relatively far from any populated area Already daylighthe explains that we have not seen visual material from the reentry. It could be floating. If the capsule survived the reentry, the surface of the Earth hit a speed of about 240 km/h, generating a kinetic energy comparable to that of a meteorite between 40 and 55 cm. The particular thing about this reentry is the robustness of the Kosmos 482 capsule, designed to survive accelerations of up to 300 g and pressures of 100 atmospheres in Venus. Not only is it plausible that you have survived. The space historian Pavel Shubin believes that, if he is intact, could be found floating In the ocean. Image | Marco Langbroek In Xataka | There is an old Soviet probe about to fall on earth. The disturbing thing is that it was designed to resist hell

Trump fired nearly all inspectors general at major federal agencies

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The president donald trump fired the independent inspectors general of more than a dozen federal agencies in an unprecedented purge held on Friday night. The decision paved the way for Trump to install his loyalists in the crucial role of Identify fraud, waste and abuse in government. The only Cabinet-level inspectors general who were spared were those at the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. The Washington Post was the first to report the layoffs. An Inspector General conducts investigations and audits into possible irregularities, fraud, waste, or abuse by a government agency or its personnel, and issues reports and recommendations on his or her findings. The Inspector General’s office is intended to operate independently. The layoffs appear to violate federal law, which requires Congress to receive 30 days’ notice of any intention to fire a Senate-confirmed inspector general. Legal uncertainty could create uncomfortable encounters on Monday, when several watchdogs who were informed they had been fired planned to report to their offices for work anyway. The chairman of the Board of Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency questioned the White House action in a letter to Gor late Friday, cited by The Washington Post. “I recommend that you contact the White House legal counsel to discuss the course of action you intend to follow. At this time, we do not believe that the actions taken are legally sufficient to remove the Presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed Inspectors General,” wrote Hannibal “Mike” Ware, inspector general of the Small Business Administration and acting inspector general of the Social Security Administration. Democratic lawmakers criticized the firings, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling the move “a chilling purge” and warning that the firings could usher in “a golden age of government abuses, and even corruption.” . Keep reading:· They wish death to bishop who asked Trump for mercy for immigrants and LGBTQ people· Trump argues in public with the mayor of Los Angeles over her management of the wildfires· Trump continues to sign executive orders with big changes in government

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