Front Communications

NEW YORK
American Express Travel’s 2023 Global Travel Trends Report1 shows travelers, and particularly Gen Z and Millennials2, plan to spend more on travel in 2023 than 2022.
Travelers are inspired by their favorite shows and movies, choosing their next dream destination based on what they’ll eat, and driven by a desire for greater wellness and support for local communities.


(BUSINESS WIRE) -- American Express Travel® released their 2023 Global Travel Trends Report today, highlighting four global trends inspiring people to travel this year:

The Rise of “Set-Jetting”: Popular movies, TV shows and social media are inspiring people to travel to places they see onscreen, like Italy, Paris, Yellowstone, and London

Delicious Destinations: From top restaurants to local favorites to cooking classes, people are choosing their next destination based on what they’ll eat

A Wellness Wave: Restorative vacations are on the rise as travelers prioritize self-care and mental and physical health

Traveling Off the Beaten Path: Travelers want to discover hidden gems and support the local community when they visit

The report, based on survey data from travelers from the United States, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Japan, India and the United Kingdom, found that more than half (52%) of respondents say they plan to take more trips this year than last year and 50% of respondents are planning to spend more money on travel in 2023 than 2022. 84% of Gen Z and Millennials surveyed would rather take a dream vacation than purchase a new luxury item, and 79% agree that travel is an important budget priority.

“Vacations are precious, and travelers are prioritizing personalized itineraries built around their passions, from planning an entire vacation for a single dinner reservation to getting the perfect video for TikTok,” says Audrey Hendley, President of American Express Travel. “No matter what the inspiration is, American Express Travel Consultants have the expertise to help every type of traveler plan all types of trips.”

Top insights from American Express Travel’s 2023 Global Travel Trends Report include:

Pop culture and social media are influencing the rise of “set-jetting,” especially among younger travelers.

75% of respondents agree that they have been inspired to travel to a specific destination by social media

70% of Gen Z and Millennials surveyed agree that they have been inspired to visit a destination after seeing it featured in a TV show, news source, or movie

46% of Gen Z and Millennials surveyed say they have been inspired to travel to a destination because of Instagram

From visiting top restaurants and local favorites to taking a cooking class, food has a huge impact on where people travel.

81% of respondents agree that trying local foods and cuisines is the part of traveling they look forward to the most

66% of Gen Z and Millennials surveyed agree that they get most of their eating-while-traveling inspiration from social media

Nearly half (47%) of Gen Z and Millennials surveyed agree that they have planned an entire trip around visiting a specific restaurant

Prioritizing self-care is leading to a rise in restorative vacations.

73% of respondents are planning vacations to better their mental, physical, and emotional health this year

60% of Gen Z and Millennials surveyed say they go out of their way to book hotels that offer spa and wellness services

Travelers want to discover hidden gems and support the local communities they visit.

85% of respondents want to visit a place where they can truly experience the local culture

78% of respondents are interested in going on vacations that support local communities in 2023

As the demand for travel continues into 2023, American Express Travel provides eligible Card Members with exceptional travel access, including 1,400+ airport lounges through its Global Lounge Collection; 7,000+ Travel Consultants; restaurant reservations through Resy and curated where-to-eat guides at Resy.com/Travel; benefits at 2,000+ hand-picked hotels around the world via Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection; and more.

The full American Express Travel 2023 Global Travel Trends Report can be viewed here.

ABOUT AMERICAN EXPRESS

American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress, linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress, and youtube.com/americanexpress.

Key links to products, services and corporate responsibility information: personal cards, business cards and services, travel services, gift cards, prepaid cards, merchant services, Accertify, Kabbage, Resy, corporate card, business travel, diversity and inclusion, corporate responsibility and Environmental, Social, and Governance reports.

Methodology:

1The American Express 2023 Global Travel Trends Report is based on data obtained through an online poll conducted by Morning Consult between February 3rd – 11th, 2023 among a sample of 1,000 travelers from Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, UK and 2,000 travelers in the US who have a household income of at least a $70k equivalent, and who typically travel by air at least once a year. Results from each market’s survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

2Gen Z and Millennials are defined as respondents as being born between 1981 - 2012.

Seller of Travel

American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. is acting solely as a sales agent for travel suppliers and is not responsible for the actions or inactions of such suppliers. Certain suppliers pay us commission and other incentives for reaching sales targets or other goals and may provide incentives to our Travel Consultants. For more information visit www.americanexpress.com/travelterms.

California CST#1022318; Washington UBI#600-469-694

Source: American Express Company

Location: New York



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Contacts
AMERICAN EXPRESS
Emily Vicker
Emily.Vicker@aexp.com

In a demonstration experiment using 'freebit web3 Blocks' - "TONE Coin" - the world's first* unique loyalty point service based on "TONE Chain", Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 blockchain running on smartphones, reached the world's fifth largest scale in terms of number of nodes, and successfully achieved steady state operation.

~ Opened the "TONE Chain (Coin)" environment to research institutions, Web3 companies, etc. to participate in demonstrations, and launched a service that allows communities and companies to build their own Layer 1 blockchains using "freebit web3 Blocks" and the original smartphone "TONE e22" ~

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- FreeBit Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President, CEO and CTO: Atsuki Ishida; hereinafter "FreeBit") today announced the release of "freebit web3 Blocks", which solves various problems with the existing blockchains. FreeBit also announced that in a demonstration experiment "TONE Coin" - a loyalty point system based on a smartphone operated, Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 blockchain “TONE Chain” - in about 10 months has exceeded 3,000 nodes in regular operation, making it the fifth largest Layer 1 blockchain in the world in terms of the actual operational scale.

Since 2017, FreeBit has believed that the existing Layer 1 blockchains are fraught with problems such as the concentration of power and profit in certain groups due to the size of their farms and the bias of its owners, and has been working in close collaboration with Web3 core technology company, CountUp Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President: Atsuki Ishida; hereinafter referred to as "CountUp") to develop a technology to overcome these problems. This collaboration has resulted in "freebit web3 Blocks" powered "TONE Coin" DApp - the world's first point service using the Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 blockchain "TONE Chain", which is running on smartphones in a user cooperative demonstration experiment for "TONE e22". By providing this service to users of the "TONE Labo" project, and conducting demonstration experiments, we were able to solve the following problems:

[Problems with the existing Layer 1 blockchains and how "freebit web3 Blocks" solves them]

Failure to reach the node scale that corresponds to the network’s asset value.
-->> Reaching the fifth largest number of operational nodes in the world, in a single community.

Centralization of node operators.
-->> Formation of a community where each TONE mobile user operates a node.

High environmental impact of mining
-->> Use of surplus resources when charging smartphones.

Slow transaction processing speed
-->> Achieving a specification that meets community and services’ needs.

High technical threshold for general users
-->> Automatic setup with the pre-installed "TONE Store" application

High volatility of crypto assets to incentivize node operators
-->> TONE coin (token) has no volatility

In this demonstration experiment we first verified the actual reachability of smartphones, which are assumed to have high network redundancy, since they can use Wi-Fi, as well as cellular networks. After obtaining user’s consent, the "TONE Store" technology will automatically install the TONE Coin app, issue Ethereum-compatible accounts, create private and public keys, request participation in the "TONE Chain" network, and automatically set permissions through voting, allowing users to join the web3 world without having to worry about a complicated web3 subscription process. Automatic backup of private and public keys is also possible if desired.

FreeBit, using its underlying technologies (MVNE, eKYC, etc.) and in collaboration with TONE for docomo (MVNO), will propose a mechanism to build and maintain Layer 1 blockchains - the key element of Web3 - that can be operated and governed by the community itself "per community" and "per need", and run on a surplus of the community smartphones’ resources. Furthermore, FreeBit will actively develop its Web3 strategy, including micro-investment, in the following directions:

Demonstration use for Web3 start-ups, research institutions, consortium, etc.

Using the "TONE Factory" mechanism to build and publish a community-based, real-use environment through the uniquely customized "TONE e22" device.

*) Based on the in-house research of the number of nodes per blockchain network published on the internet as of March 9, 2023.


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Contacts
Eriko IWAKI
+81-3-6416-1965
fb-pr@freebit.net

Funds will support refugee and under-resourced communities to grow food and improve food handling and safety practices

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- The AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF), a private foundation with the vision to prevent and relieve hunger through sustainable agricultural development, today announced a USD 50,000 grant to Providence Farm Collective (PFC) to support implementation of a holistic on-farm compost generation system and optimization of post-harvest efficiency and food safety at its 37-acre farm in Orchard Park, NY.

PFC is a non-profit that supports refugee, immigrant, Black and low-income farmers in Western New York who cannot otherwise access farmland. The organization started in 2017 as a grassroots effort by the Somali Bantu community to return to their agricultural heritage and grow fresh, culturally relevant produce. PFC has now grown to encompass refugees and immigrants from multiple nations and members of the Black community.

PFC’s existing programs provide a place for refugee and under-resourced communities to grow their own food, earn supplemental income and teach cultural farming traditions to future generations. This project will help increase food production and boost income for PFC’s diverse farmers by improving sustainable agricultural practices and soil fertility via on-site generation of well-balanced compost. In addition, the project will facilitate capacity building and support efforts on postharvest and food safety practices for the farmers.

"Refugees and immigrant communities can often lack socioeconomic opportunities. Supporting agricultural activities such as the PFC project can help refugees not only secure access to farmland, but also create avenues for them to produce food and improve their livelihoods," said Roger Batkin, Board Chair, AGCO Agriculture Foundation. "Farmers and their communities are crucial to our foundation’s efforts toward preventing and relieving hunger. It is our hope that participating farmers will also improve their food safety practices and strengthen their market opportunities."

To achieve the one-year goals set for the project, PFC will manage a compost operation, including a stand of nitrogen-rich cover crops, and provide one-on-one technical assistance and hands-on demonstration. The nonprofit will also develop visual aids and signage for its farmers to enhance their knowledge of best practices and standard operating procedures for efficient and food-safe post-harvest handling.

With funding support from AAF, PFC will purchase the necessary equipment to generate on-site compost, including a flail harvester, dump trailer, litter and compost spreader, and cover crop seed, plus invest in compost analysis testing. Applying compost will increase soil organic matter and improve soil moisture retention, sustainably boosting farmer yields and soil health. During the project, PFC will work with its nine communities of refugee, immigrant, and Black farmers, who total 275 farmers and operate 21 small farms.

"Through the support from AAF, we will focus on increasing soil organic matter and improving soil moisture retention to ensure the yields of our farmers reflect the tremendous amount of time and effort they spend on their farms. Farmers also spend most of their time in harvest and post-harvest. As such, honing post-harvest and food safety practices will have a crucial impact on the bottom lines of PFC farmers and the financial viability of their small businesses," said Kristin Heltman-Weiss, Executive Director of PFC.

About AGCO

AGCO (NYSE:AGCO) is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural machinery and precision ag technology. AGCO delivers customer value through its differentiated brand portfolio including core brands like Challenger®, Fendt®, GSI®, Massey Ferguson®, Precision Planting® and Valtra®. Powered by Fuse® smart farming solutions, AGCO’s full line of equipment and services help farmers sustainably feed our world. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, USA, AGCO had net sales of approximately $12.7 billion in 2022. For more information, visit www.AGCOcorp.com. For company news, information and events, please follow us on Twitter: @AGCOCorp. For financial news on Twitter, please follow the hashtag #AGCOIR.

About the AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF)

The AGCO Agriculture Foundation (AAF), initiated by AGCO Corporation (NYSE: AGCO) in 2018, is a private foundation with the vision to prevent and relieve hunger. The foundation initiates impactful programs that support food security, foster sustainable agricultural development and build needed agricultural infrastructure in marginalized farming communities. AAF is domiciled in Vaduz, Liechtenstein and operations are managed from Duluth, Georgia, USA. For more information, please visit https://www.agcofoundation.org/

About Providence Farm Collective (PFC)

Providence Farm Collective is a non-profit that believes in empowering Just and Equitable Access to Food and Farmland. It cultivates farmer-led and community-rooted agriculture and food systems to actualize the rights of under-resourced peoples. PFC has its roots in the Somali Bantu Community Farm, a three-year pilot project. The pilot explored the challenges and opportunities of addressing fresh food insecurity and farmland inequity. PFC supports under-resourced farmers in Western New York needing access to clean, rural farmland, farming and business education, technical assistance, access to markets and the opportunity to farm for income. For more information, visit www.providencefarmcollective.org



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Contacts
Aryn Drawdy, Corporate Communications Director
aryn.drawdy@agcocorp.com

Kristin Heltman-Weiss, Executive Director
kristin@providencefarmcollective.org

CEO Marcus Swanepoel named Executive Chairman; COO James Lanigan appointed CEO

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Luno, a leading cryptocurrency wallet and exchange serving customers across 40 countries, today announced a series of strategic initiatives to position the company for its next phase of growth. Luno’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Marcus Swanepoel is moving into a new role as Executive Chairman, and Chief Operating Officer James Lanigan, who has been with the company for five years, is elevated to CEO. As Executive Chairman, Swanepoel will continue to work closely with Lanigan to guide Luno’s vision and strategy, while focusing on broadening Luno’s investor base to support the company’s next stage of growth.

As part of this process, Luno has hired Canaccord Genuity Group to help bring on new institutional and strategic investors alongside Digital Currency Group (DCG) to fund scaling, support expansion, accelerate market share gain, and prepare the company for an eventual public listing.

“Co-founding and serving as the CEO of Luno for the past ten years has been the greatest honour of my career and I’m excited for our next chapter as we continue to put the power of crypto in everyone’s hands,” said Swanepoel. “The opportunity for crypto is bigger and brighter than ever, and James is a seasoned operator and an outstanding leader with a track record of success across all aspects of running a truly global fintech business. I have the utmost confidence that James will continue to deepen our trust with customers and key stakeholders alike, driving both Luno’s business and the industry forward.”

Currently serving as the Chief Operating Officer, Lanigan established Luno as a market-leading brand across multiple markets, building local teams throughout Africa, Europe, and Asia Pacific, while also growing Luno’s product portfolio for easier access to crypto. In this capacity, Lanigan oversaw Operations, Commercial, Countries, Product, Marketing, and Customer Success departments. Prior to joining Luno in 2018, Lanigan held senior commercial, operational and marketing roles across multiple industries, most recently as the Chief Marketing Officer at Bookatable – now TheFork, a leading global online restaurant reservation platform acquired by Michelin in 2016.

“It has been a privilege to serve alongside a founder and leader as strong as Marcus, who cares so deeply about making a positive impact for our customers and employees,” Lanigan added. “I’m passionate about continuing to help Luno build the products and services that guide our customers in a responsible way along every step of their crypto journey, while maintaining our dedication to trust, security and compliance.”

“Having first invested in Luno’s seed round in 2014 followed by an acquisition in 2020, we want to thank Marcus for his dynamic leadership and enduring enthusiasm for the global crypto landscape as he transformed Luno into a digital asset powerhouse,” said Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO, DCG. “With James at the helm and strategic partnership from Marcus in his new role as Executive Chairman, we look forward to supporting Luno in its ambitious and continued growth journey.”

Luno is a wholly owned investment of DCG. As one of the most preeminent digital asset investors, DCG acquired Luno in 2020 post their Series B funding round and after first investing in the company’s seed round in 2014. Providing capital, strategic guidance, and other resources to evolve its business model, DCG supported Luno scaling to $100 million revenue with a 40 percent operating margin and more than 11 million wallets across 40 countries.

About Luno

Luno is a leading cryptocurrency wallet and exchange on a mission to put the power of crypto in everyone’s hands. Since its founding in 2013, Luno has become a leader in responsible crypto education and investment, introducing over 11 million people to crypto in over 40 countries. Luno’s products and services make it safe and easy to buy, sell, store and learn about cryptocurrencies.

About Digital Currency Group

DCG is a global enterprise that builds, buys, and invests in blockchain companies all over the world. Founded in 2015 by CEO Barry Silbert, DCG is the most active investor in the blockchain sector, with a mission to accelerate the development of a better financial system through the proliferation of digital assets and blockchain technology. Today, DCG sits at the epicenter of the industry, backing more than 200 companies in 40 countries and investing directly in digital currencies and other digital assets.



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Contacts
Luno:
Amy McAllister-Byrne
abyrne@luno.com

Digital Currency Group:
Amanda Cowie
press@dcg.co

Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Celebrate Ramadan and Help Fill the Fridges of Those in Need with LG



In celebration of the holy month of Ramadan, LG Electronics (LG) launched “Life is Full with LG InstaView” campaign which aims to support individuals and families in need. As part of the campaign, LG is inviting people to play an online game where the results submitted will contribute to the donation LG will be making to UAE Food Bank to provide Iftar meals for those in need. As a token of appreciation for their involvement, participants will also have a chance to win an LG InstaView refrigerator. This campaign is an effort to make a difference and help those who need help at this auspicious time of year.

LG InstaView refrigerator, with a sleek mirrored glass panel that illuminates with two knocks, provides a clear view of its contents without the need to open the door and extends food freshness by reducing the loss of cold air. Combined with LG LINEARCooling and DoorCooling technologies that reduce temperature fluctuations, LG InstaView refrigerator locks in the flavor of freshness for up to 7 days. Additionally, FRESHBalancer feature maintains optimal humidity to keep fruits and vegetables fresh for longer, while UVnano technology reduces 99.99% of bacteria from the water nozzle with UV light. The refrigerator’s large 617 liter capacity allows users to store all the food and beverages they need without overloading the kitchen.

To help LG reach those in need and participate in the campaign, play the InstaView online game, submit your results and become part of LG’s donation to UAE Food Bank. Get involved by April 30, 2023 and get a chance to win the latest LG InstaView refrigerator.

To learn more about LG InstaView, please visit:

https://www.lg.com/ae/refrigerators/lg-gr-x267cqes-uae



About LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company

The LG Home Appliance & Air Solution Company is a global leader in home appliances, smart home solutions, air solutions as well as visionary products featuring LG ThinQ AI. The company is creating various solutions with its industry leading core technologies and is committed to making life better and healthier for consumers by developing thoughtfully designed kitchen appliances, living appliances, HVAC and air purification solutions. Together, these products deliver enhanced convenience, superb performance, efficient operation and compelling health benefits. For more news on LG, visit www.LGnewsroom.com.


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Contacts
LG-One     

Nora Nassar

Email: Nora.Nassar@lg-one.com