Hospitality & Leisure

Knoxville – September 20, 2026 -- Blue Ridge Fitness Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of CR Fitness Holdings, opened Crunch Bearden on Saturday, September 19, marking a $5 million investment and the company's second Tennessee location.

New 46,819-square-foot club debuts Crunch's 3.0 design in Knoxville

Located at 4581 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37919, the facility introduces Crunch Fitness's latest 3.0 club format to the market. The center includes a Hot Studio, Ride Studio, dedicated Abs & Glutes Room, functional training areas, HydroMassage, tanning, and full-service locker rooms.

Grantsville, Utah – September 20, 2026 -- PV3 Enterprises has poured more than $50 million into the former Utah Motorsports Campus since acquiring the 511-acre site earlier this year, rebranding the facility as West Desert and reopening it to the public after a 20-year run under its original ownership.

PV3 Enterprises returns the 511-acre campus to local Utah ownership

The Tooele County facility, located 30 minutes from Salt Lake City, first opened in 2006 as Miller Motorsports Park. Mark Hancock, Managing Partner of PV3 Enterprises, said the rebrand marks "a new lap" for the venue following its sale to the Utah-based investment group.

Arusha – September 20, 2026 -- Tanzanian tourism operator Ernest Magesa has commercially commissioned SafariOS, a conversational AI concierge built on technology from Brand Engagement Network Inc. (Nasdaq: BNAI), through its African venture Skye Africa Intelligence (Pty) Ltd.

Hotel guest assistance marks the first commercial deployment

The initial release handles property information, housekeeping and room-service requests, dining and transport guidance, and escalation to a human agent when needed. Skye plans to extend the same conversational layer to restaurants, excursion providers, safari operators and onward travel bookings as more businesses join the platform.

Sarasota – September 19, 2026 -- Chicken Salad Chick will open its third Southwest Florida restaurant on September 29 at 6650 Fruitville Road in the Fruitville Farms shopping center, marking the brand's first location in Sarasota County.

First 100 guests in line win free chicken salad for a year

The chain's grand-opening giveaway offers the first guest in line at 10:30 a.m. one free large Quick Chick portion weekly for a year, while guests two through 100 receive the same portion monthly for a year. Additional daily promotions through October 3 include free Tervis Tumblers, grocery totes and Chick Coolers for the first 50 guests each day who purchase a two-side meal or equivalent.

Pasay City, Philippines – September 19, 2026 -- The Philippine Travel Exchange (PHITEX) 2026 closed with PHP 594,712,138.50 in sales leads, a 20.12 percent increase from the PHP 495.09 million recorded in 2025. The government-organized travel trade event, held at Conrad Manila, concluded on September 9.

New York and Hong Kong – September 19, 2026 -- CSTS Enterprises, an integrated media, entertainment, sports, and travel technology group, has appointed Steven Rockefeller III to its Advisory Board, adding a sixth-generation Rockefeller family member with private markets and cross-border investment experience to guide the company's expansion strategy.

Rockefeller brings private capital and China market expertise to CSTS strategy

Rockefeller currently serves as Director of Portfolio Management at Pondmoon Capital, sourcing and structuring private market investments across real estate, hedge funds, secondary markets, and alternative assets. He is also involved in developing Fieldwood, a master-planned private golf club and residential community in Westchester County, New York, and advises CodersTrust, an international education technology platform, on growth, fundraising, and institutional partnerships.

Singapore – September 19, 2026 -- Trip.Biz, the business travel arm of Trip.com Group, unveiled Agent ONE, an AI suite that cuts average trip booking time from 45 minutes to 2 minutes and reduces approval wait times from over an hour to under 3 seconds.

The announcement came at Transform 2026, a half-day summit held at the Mandarin Oriental, Singapore, that drew 200 senior leaders from travel, procurement, finance and HR functions across multinational corporations.

Chicago – September 19, 2026 -- McDonald's Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.93 per share, a 4% increase that marks the company's 50th consecutive year of dividend growth and vaults it into the exclusive ranks of "Dividend Kings."

McDonald's dividend increase pushes annualized payout to $7.72 per share

The new quarterly rate is payable on December 15, 2026 to shareholders of record as of December 1, 2026. The 50-year streak places McDonald's among fewer than 60 U.S. public companies that have raised annual dividends for at least half a century.

Mesa, Arizona – September 19, 2026 -- Arizona Athletic Grounds (AAG) and the Carvana PPA Tour have signed a multi-decade partnership converting AAG's 41-court pickleball complex into the newly branded "PPA Campus at Arizona Athletic Grounds," a permanent national hub for professional and amateur tournaments.

PPA Tour takes over year-round operations of AAG's 41-court facility

Under the deal, the Carvana PPA Tour assumes year-round operational control of the Mesa, Arizona complex, which includes four medal courts with spectator stands and a covered Championship Stadium court seating up to 2,000. The campus already hosts recurring PPA events, including the Carvana Mesa Cup and the ongoing Veolia Arizona Open.

Shenyang – September 19, 2026 -- Xinhua Indices Institute has launched two new benchmark reports tracking rowing sport development and hutong revitalization in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, establishing an annual metric for the city's culture, tourism, sports and commerce integration strategy.

Two indices set annual benchmark for culture-sports integration

The China (Shenyang) Rowing Development Index Report and the China (Shenyang) Hutong Revitalization Index Report were unveiled on September 10 at the 2026 China (Shenyang) Exchange on Integrated Development of Culture, Tourism, Sports and Commerce. The event was co-hosted by the Shenyang Municipal People's Government and the Brand Work Office of Xinhua News Agency, drawing officials, industry executives and academics.