Entertainment and Tourism: There has been a vibrant tourist economy on the Eurasia continent, and the tourist economy has been making a return since the COVID-19 pandemic. The EU has restored their loose travel policy between countries which makes it easier for the European continent to promote its tourism industry, as it is easier for people to travel between countries. All restrictions have been lifted for American tourists, allowing for tourism to flourish. Tourism has been a significant portion of economic development, and in 2022, the Travel & Tourism sector contributed 7.6% to global GDP; an increase of 22% from 2021 and only 23% below pre-pandemic levels. The tourism industry has provided 22 million new jobs in 2022 and is expected to continue to grow to achieve pre-pandemic levels of employment. Cities across Eurasia have focused on developing infrastructure to attract tourists and share their culture. Industrializing states that have relied on tourism have worked to restructure and develop their infrastructures, such as developing airport infrastructure and travel infrastructure around the state and cities like Dubai.

The Asia Pacific Media and Entertainment Market is expected to grow from USD 1.23 trillion in 2023 to USD 1.55 trillion by 2028, as demand for the entertainment industry has increased greatly. The Entertainment industry has blossomed in China, as it has embraced Hollywood and created a large market for films, ranking as the world's largest film market in both 2020 and 2021. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Amazon Falls announced the public launch of Columbia Pictures Aquavers in Thailand, a fully branded Columbia Pictures movie theme park, which is expected to increase tourism greatly, starting in 2022.

Europe: Europe has not yet been able to reach pre-pandemic levels of growth in the entertainment tourism industry, but Europe has reached almost 95 per cent of 2019 international tourist arrivals. The EU tourism industry, employing over 34 million, is only 8.5 percent lower than in 2019, the year prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With travel restrictions eased, EU’s economy recovered by 30.4% and recovered 571,000 jobs. Countries including Croatia and Germany have been able to recover from the pandemic since 2020 by organizing a vaccination program prioritizing tourism workers, and a faster reopening of the industry with extensive help from the Croatia National Tourism Board. This can be compared to countries including Italy and Austria, where tourism has not recovered as fast due to a lack of vacationing outside of the country. Subsections of the tourism industry continue to suffer as Austria has experienced a reduction in revenues of 71%, between January and May 2021 in comparison to 2020, while hotels in Croatia were reporting an increase in revenues per available room of 30%. The ongoing cost-of-living crisis in Europe will have mixed effects on the tourism sector as tightened incomes will lead more tourists to cheaper European destinations, such as the western Balkans and Turkey, and away from more expensive destinations, such as Spain and France. Spain and France have not been able to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and will also be greatly impacted by adverse weather conditions, such as prolonged heatwaves and flooding following droughts as a result of climate change. Some of the largest tourism companies in the EU including Booking Holdings Inc, Expedia Group Inc, TUI AG, REWE Group, and TripAdvisor Inc., have made a strong recovery as TUI AG reports that they are expected to earn up to 95% of pre-pandemic profits. These large tourism companies are expected to continue recovery as more travelers are inclined to utilize travel packages because they can book at shorter notice and prefer package holidays and all-inclusive offers, allowing travelers to budget better.

Asia: South Asia has had a harder time recovering from COVID-19 than other countries, as South Asia alone had nearly 50 million travel and tourism jobs negatively affected due to intense travel restrictions. The number of jobs supported by Travel & Tourism in the South Asia region increased by 6.2% in 2021 to 159.2 million jobs, but it remained 13.8% below the 2019 level of 184.7 million jobs. Women and youth tourism workers experienced higher rates of unemployment, and were paid significantly less because they worked in tourism and due to gender discrimination. Tourism plays a significant role in reducing income inequality and absolute poverty in South Asia, and without the tourism industry, the traditional opportunities provided to economically vulnerable groups are substantially diminishing. This is still incredibly relevant in a post-COVID-19 world, as in 2021, there were still 13 million fewer women in employment compared to 2019 worldwide. Countries including the Philippines have taken large steps to recover, as the Government’s National Ecotourism Strategy and Action Plan 2013–2022 estimated the potential for between 1.5 million and 14.2 million eco-tourists, which would allow for responsible eco-conscious travel. Countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines have seen a great increase in tourism since 2022, but, is still only at a third of the tourism that these countries were seeing before the pandemic. As bookings in Asia were up 45% year-on-year, companies including Booking Holdings Inc, China Tourism Group Duty Free Corp Ltd, Expedia Group Inc, and HIS Co Lt are the top travel intermediaries in Asia-Pacific , and have raised their forecast for third-quarter gross bookings as demand for travel outweighed rising costs and concerns around an uncertain economy leading to hope for the tourism industry in Asia to recover in a short span of time.

Europe: With the invasion of Ukraine in 2022,  Europe needed to find new energy sources due to oil shortages.  Europe was able to transition towards green energy. Wind and solar energy generated a record one-fifth of EU electricity (22%), for the first-time overtaking fossil gas (20%), and remaining above coal power (16%). With Europe's recovery after outages in the early 2000s, Europe’s green energy efforts have been able to rebound as electricity demand fell by 7.9%. However, this falls short of the decline in electricity demand during the Covid-19 pandemic (a 10% decline). The demand for gas has also plummeted, as it is predicted that fossil fuels could plummet by 20% in 2023. Gas is predicted to decline faster than coal based on the prices of oil. This change has already started as solar energy has hit a record 39 TWh (+24%) in 2022, saving €10 billion in gas costs. The European Green Deal has helped to hold Europe accountable and on track to meet sustainability and energy goals. The European Green Deal will be financed by investments from the NextGenerationEU Recovery Plan, as well as the EU’s seven-year budget. The EU has been working on laws that will revise climate, energy and transport-related legislation and put in place new legislative initiatives to align EU laws with their climate goals.

Asia: Energy usage and demand in Southeast Asia have been on a steady incline for the past decades, increasing by an average of 3% each year, most of which is being met by fossil fuels. The trend is expected to continue to rise as around 95% of households today have electricity, with more homes gaining access to the grid every day. Six countries in South Asia have set plans to become net zero on emissions and aim to be carbon neutral, along with goals to achieve universal access to energy by 2030 due to South Asia’s rising population and increasing urban populations.

With 40% of South Asia’s power generation coming from coal, South Asia is shifting economic growth targets and energy needs of their growing population while also adhering to ambitious carbon neutrality pledges.  South Asia had planned a shift to liquefied natural gas (LNG) but was unable to transition over when the conflict in Ukraine began due to expenses. With limited amounts of LNG, Southeast Asia was competing with European countries for LNG access. Due to growing population, the LNG that South Asia was able to access was used to meet growing demand rather than replace existing coal usage. The Covid-19 pandemic constrained national budgets, disrupted supply chains, and increased energy prices, which put a damper on the $367 billion budget that is needed stay on target for its decarbonization commitments in 2050. Asia has also been investing in developing a new ssytem that will provide reliable and renewable steady forms of energy through investors including the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and IHI Corp. 

Many European countries are allied together with the United States in NATO. NATO was started during the Cold War as a defense against the Soviet Union. After the Cold War, the NATO alliance continued with an assurance of collective defense between each other. The states came together to provide aid and defense for the United States after the attack of 9/11 and sent troops to Afghanistan. However, currently, NATOs performance is under scrutiny from the entire world, as NATO is having to grapple with extreme geopolitical challenges related to the war in Ukraine and the enlargement of its membership.

States in Asia, such as South Korea, Japan, and India, look to the United States as a defense against threats of China and North Korea. Japan is starting to expand its military, as it has relied on the United States for defense capabilities. Japan has been expanding its military with the recent approval of the National Security Strategy (NSS), the National Defense Strategy and the Defense Buildup Program, which will lead to a large increase in military spending over the next 5 years. The United States also has a strategic alliance with India to counter China’s current rise. The U.S has sent military aid to India and India has seen the United States as a way to secure its state and develop military capabilities.

Europe:

Europe: After the invasion of Ukraine, the EU has had to rethink their dependence of Russian energy exports and raw materials from China, as the EU has been incredibly critical of Chinese leader­ship under Xi Jinping. The EU has been working on trade agreements with Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia and India with the goal of investments in other regions boosting supply of raw materials. In early 2023 the EU foreign affairs and defense ministers agreed on the three-track proposal to outline urgency in provide Ukraine with artillery ammunition, either coming from existing stocks or jointly procured. With allocated funding, the EU hopes that future action and navigate rising threats will help them in the future to not have to rely on countries including Russia and China, but in the meantime the EU is having to rely on the United States for defense imports. The EU has only been able to support Ukraine to an extent, as they have struggled to respond to Ukraine’s needs due to limited stockpiles and slow production capacities, along with dealing with vulnerable supply chains in a post- pandemic world, and still depending on critical raw materials from international sources.

Asia: South Asia has been increasing and modernizing their armed forces with doctrine changing from internal to external defense. The Southeast Asia region is home to 650 million people, and home to some of the fastest growing economies in the world, although defense budgets are relatively modest, compared to other regions such as Northeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, even with the intentions of expanding defense. The Philippines has been seen to be shifting away from counter-insurgency operations to protecting its maritime interests in the South China Sea. Large United States companies including Lockheed Martin started to shift their Asian operations to Japan from Singapore, along with BAE Systems starting their shift from Malaysia to Japan as Japan’s efforts to boost its defense industry in view of growing tensions in East Asia.

There is ongoing heavy investment in growing Asian countries, such as China. China is a growing superpower with a growing economy, and many companies have seen it as a place to invest to grow their profit. That is recently changing, given the new nature of the regime in China and its hostility to foreign investors as well as its continued hostility to private corporations.

A lot of this investment in Asian countries such as China, India, and Vietnam have helped grow and develop their economies to compete on a dominant scale. This would have allowed China to boost its global economic links to its Western regions, as China is seeing itself invest in other states, creating a large infrastructure project connecting East Asia and Europe. This project the One Belt One Road Initiative (BRI) sought to provide loans to create better infrastructure in developing countries. There are growing concerns as many of these states could fall under a debt trap and be burdened by China, as these loans have grown to the equivalent of over a quarter of Chinas GDP. The BRI now places increasing emphasis on “high quality investment” through greater use of project finance, risk mitigation tools, and green finance. But, in recent months China is at risk for loosing Italy as an investor. The United States has recently taken a stand by starting the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), that would link India, the Middle East and Europe, but have yet to pull in much private capital. This being said, there is still room for the BRI to have a large competitor in the upcoming years.

Europe:

Europe’s economy has started to recover from huge increase in energy and food prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leading to the euro currency raising by 0.3%. While the GDP has fell by 0.1% in the last three months of 2022, the inflation rates also have been falling, and fell by 0.2% in previous months. The European Central Bank has continued to raise interest rates, and has been increasing the deposit rate, to become the highest it has been since 2000. With the increasing interest rates, banks, including the European Central Bank has tightened its lending conditions and declining demand for loans, which have driven down consumer spending across much of the eurozone. This leads to the risk of Europe remaining still having the possibility for stagnation or even recession.

Asia:

With tensions growing between China and the United States, Asia is looking to meet client demand for new Asian investment products that would exclude China, as fund managers are looking to invest in US-friendly markets. The rush to exclude China came after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This separation from China has led to net returns of just 1.3 per cent in 2023, compared to returns of 8.6 per cent for the MSCI EM Asia ex-China index. Not only has Asia ex-China been very profitable for Asia, but the ANZ bank states that foreign investors have taken up nearly $38bn worth of emerging Asia ex-China stocks and bonds in 2023, with net purchases of $22.4bn in May of 2023 alone marking the largest monthly inflows since 2011. In South Asia, India has grown to be the driver of the economy with a booming technology sector. India’s tech economy is now the third largest in the world, overtaking China in 2022 for the total amount of venture funding. The funding is coming from companies including Shell Ventures and BP Ventures due to growth potential and its maturing startup sector in India.

The healthcare industry has become one of the main topics in recent years as the world has been slowly starting back up after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 pandemic caught many countries off guard including the Asian and European regions.

Most European countries have free universal healthcare and most countries in Asia have either free and universal healthcare or free healthcare. Some European countries have a two-tier system and have the option to receive public healthcare or use their private insurance as an option, such as Austria, France, and Germany. Other European countries have full universal free healthcare, such as Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Iceland. The European pharmaceutical industry in the second quarter of 2023 is worth around $9.6 billion and up to $10.7 billion in the third quarter. Big pharma companies like Dechra Pharmaceuticals and Horizon Therapeutics are leading the health sector of European markets, which is expected to rise with an increase in the aging population for more spending on pharmaceutical medicine. 

A number of countries in Asia require their citizens to have healthcare such as Japan. Countries such as India have free healthcare services, but these services are to help those below the poverty line. There has been a movement to reform the current system to provide universal healthcare since most Indians have to pay out of pocket. China has both public and private insurance, however, public healthcare does not cover a lot of medical costs. As countries are confront growing aging population, their healthcare systems needs to be re-examined to fit the needs of those who are more dependent on the system. By next year around 94% of Asian private hospitals will be equipped with using EMRs (electronic medical records). A great change in Asian healthcare systems will be the modernization of hospitals in regions that have been historically underrepresented. 

The pharmaceutical industry in the European Union has been expanding in the past few years. There are major firms such as Bayer and Boehringer, and these companies provide Europeans with many jobs around the continent. One of the leading industries in China is the pharmaceutical industry, as it is investing in research and manufacturing.

Manufacturing in the Western world has been in a steady decline as the world has become more globalized. Many leading industrial countries such as France and Germany have seen a decline in their manufacturing base. With the decline in manufacturing jobs in Europe, there has been a rapid increase in manufacturing jobs all over the Asian continent. This is due to the low cost of labor and production in these countries that make it more profitable for international firms to manufacture in countries such as China, Vietnam, and India. China received the biggest benefit in this, as its manufacturing has sharply increased and helped grow its economy. Countries such as India have had a steady increase in manufacturing jobs, and as the country develops its economic policies, it is becoming more attractive to international firms.

Industrial production within the European Union has increased to 0.1% and in the euro area overall has increased to 0.2%. With fierce competition from competitive regions like Asia the European market has seen a decline in recent years of manufactured goods produced within the European region. As the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war continues, the struggle to maintain a stable market is the top priority for many companies. In order for European companies to stay competitive against the United States and Asia, Europe manufacturing needs to invest more in utility and power infrastructure to maintain a competitive edge.

The Asian Pacific manufacturing market is expected to reach around 754.1 billion in 2030 and a compound annual growth rate of 15.7% in the period of 2023-2030. The Asia Pacific region is the world's largest global manufacturing market, featuring countries like China, India, and Japan which are the leading manufacturers. The Made in China strategy is part of China’s ten-year plan to update the manufacturing industry to develop research and technology skills to further increase the sector. The new adoption of AI technology is paving the way for countries like China to increase production to create more efficiency. Companies to watch out for Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Tata Consultancy Services, Huawei Technologies, and Smart Factory

Many citizens in Western countries have encouraged this increase in globalization, however, others have felt threatened by its rise. This is due to a loss in low-skilled jobs available as manufacturing jobs decrease in these Western countries. Western countries have seen Asian countries’ rise as an opportunity for cooperation, however, countries such as the United States have also seen this as threat to their economic presence, even resulting in a trade war. The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted many global supply chains particularly in the manufacturing sector. Current political divisions are also affecting manufacturing patterns causing realignments in production areas. 

Property prices around the European Union are growing again in such places as Germany and the United Kingdom. Due to the high standard of living and an increase in tourism around the continent, there has been a slow increase in property prices. The European real estate sector has been on edge after the COVID pandemic and the current war in Ukraine. Higher inflation is causing some businesses to rethink investments in uncertain rising costs. The best city in Europe with the most prospects for development and investment would be London with the market size growing at a faster rate than other cities in Europe. Germany with the largest commercial real estate market value with an estimated 1.8 trillion U.S.D. In 2022 the commercial real estate sector was averaging nine trillion USD and is expected to rise by the end of the 2023 fiscal year. 

Countries in Asia had invested heavily in their real estate and property to increase their tourism sector. India, for instance, has the second-largest real estate industry, right behind the United States. This investment has improved its infrastructure and urban aesthetic. China has been grappling with a deep real estate crisis for the past several years. The housing crisis in China will be a significant challenge as it use to be an engine of growth for its economy.

Cities such a Singapore have also seen a continual rise in their market, as they have been consistently selling new property and has been a place of high interest for investors. Due to higher inflation rates, construction costs are increasing with higher material costs, labor shortages, construction delays, and increases in salaries. 

The retail industry in the Europe was one of the highest and most important industry. Many city residences and economies rely on their retail sector attracting tourists. After the COVID pandemic, the retail industry took quite a hit while trying to attract consumers to purchase their products. As technology is adapting at a rapid rate, more consumers are switching to purchasing online which is causing a ripple effect throughout the retail industry. This affects both European and Asian markets by targeting consumers to purchase online as well as in-store. The EU announced its Single Market Strategy to look at restrictions in the retail sector and identify the options to better the retail market in the EU. 

In Europe, retail sales are changing with online sales that are increasing in recent years. In 2023 the retail market has surprisingly increased to 5% only in the first half alone, compared to the previous years with only 1% average growth rates. The total retail space in the European market is on average 3.9 million square meters for all the retailers from small to large companies. The amount of visitors entering retail establishments has decreased an average of 7% in the first half of 2023. 

In Asia, during the Covid pandemic, a number of retailers experience a decline in in-store purchases and sales. The lockdown policies in China experienced a 4% decline. Although in other Asian markets, the retail industry did see an increase in growth with sales increasing around 4-14% among India, Indonesia, and South Korean retailers. The e-commerce market by the year 2026 is expected to reach a sales value of $300 billion as more online outlets like Alibaba gain more customers. Places in Asia, such as India, also attracts tourists for their street markets and cheap goods.

The retail industry in shopping malls and stores has seen a decline as there has been an increased interest in online shopping due to Amazon, and other options for online stores. This has caused certain malls, stores, and areas to see a sharp decline in business, which has resulted in the EU to attempt to strengthen their retail industry. 

New technologies have been the center of business in the past few years as many firms such as Apple, Tesla, and Google have been inventing new technologies and products. Cities in Europe have been attempting to compete with Silicon Valley, such as London, Paris, and Berlin which are key cities in Europe that have seen a rise in digital investment. 

The European technology industry has seen a spike in investors over the last couple of years and an increasing amount after the pandemic. The investment capital accumulated in Europe for 2023 will be around $50 billion. The leading tech companies in the European market are Klarna, Spotify, Personio, Doctolib, Revolut and others. As the tech sector has increased with new innovations, the European market has a value of around $2.5 trillion and is expected to grow even further with more research and development into new technologies. The startup ecosystem has become a big hit with more entrepreneurs looking at investing in creating new technologies. 

The number of unicorn companies residing in Europe has grown 88% to that of the United States which has only stayed at 56% as of 2014. In recent years tech companies in sectors like Digital Health, Enterprise Software and Fintech have received more funding globally mainly due to the Global pandemic. The climate tech sector has emerged as a leader to watch out for as 22% of total European funding is looking into living a better world. This is compared to only 7% of the United States total investment. 

The Asian technology market has been on the rise in recent years even after the events of the 2020 pandemic. Tech spending in the Asian Pacific region is forecasted to increase by 5.8% approaching $732 billion. This growth will include a 74% growth in software services as the cloud increases in use. Software spending will grow an additional 10.3% by 2027. In the phone market, 5G services have increased in Asian countries starting after the first launch in 2019 in South Korea. South Korea is still ahead in 5G technology but now with more increases in new research other countries will catch up. Asian Tech Companies to keep an eye on: Haegin, FreeD Group, and Rohm.

China has been increasing its science and technology research, such as developing advanced military, computer, artificial intelligence technology. They also are planning to adopt 5G nationwide. This increase in investment is an attempt to compete internationally with other countries, especially the United States, to secure their place in the international community.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly being developed around the world and has seen incredible advancements. However, the rise in AI has also brought concerns to people around the world, as AI has the potential to eradicate several jobs. For instance, Tesla’s development of self-driving cars has brought the concern of many taxi drivers and truck drivers around the world, as their job and livelihood will be eradicated due to this new technology. 

Utilities are a central component of people’s lives such as water, heating, and electricity.European countries have a higher standard of living and most citizens who live there are able to have these essential utilities in their homes. Utilities themselves are a good investment as they are stable, however, they require a heavy amount of investment and require countries to concentrate a large portion of their budget to ensure adequate utility services. 

Places in Asia, such as India, Vietnam, and China do not have adequate utility services, however, there is a rise in investment for these services as these countries develop and grow their economies. Many people in these countries still live below the poverty line and cannot afford utility services such as water and heat. As the middle class grows in China, however, there has been a rise in those who have utility services and the Indian government has worked to improve the infrastructure needed for running water to those below the poverty line.