The influence of TikTok for travel-related information is gathering pace among consumers in South-east Asia. Consumer research company, Milieu Insight, says TikTok is gaining popularity as a search engine when it comes to the discovery of products, services, and places to visit.
Milieu Insight found TikTok is much more than a platform where people consume entertaining videos.
“A considerable proportion of respondents especially in Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia, are increasingly relying on Tik-Tok as a source of information to search for a topic or discover products, services, and places to visit.
“In Vietnam, Tik Tok outcompetes Instagram in this regard,” the research company said.
Highlights from the report:
- Places to eat/drink are the top areas Singaporeans and Malaysians use TikTok for when it comes to discovery.
- Travel recommendations is the top search category for Indonesia
- Clothes /apparel is the top category of interest in Thailand
- Speed to insights, visual mode of content, personalised content based on preferences, and up-to-date information are the top reasons people use Tik Tok for product/place discovery.
- Of those who use TikTok to search for a topic, product, service or discover places to visit, a majority in most markets find TikTok more useful than traditional search engines like Google, according to Milieu Insight.
Sabre, Mastercard embrace the payments revolution
Sabre has moved a step closer to realising its goal to create an open and independent travel payment ecosystem. Sabre-owned Conferma Pay, a global fintech firm that specialises in payment technology, is partnering with Mastercard to accelerate the use of virtual cards for B2B travel payments.
Roshan Mendis, executive vice president and CCO, Sabre Travel Solutions, said the payments industry was in the midst of a “revolution” and there was an increased need for travel companies to better manage the whole payment experience.
“Companies in the travel space – including travel management companies, travel agencies, corporations, issuers and technology partners – need sophisticated solutions and seamless connections,” Mendis added.
Sabre said digitization of travel payments with virtual cards helped to address the historic challenges associated with B2B leisure and corporate travel payments.
The securely generated, single use card numbers provide a link between booking and associated payments to third party suppliers. Travel buyers and suppliers are then able to track and reconcile payments, as well as benefit from flexible pricing, financing options, and enhanced security through card payment guarantees.
Sabre said its acquisition of Conferma Pay and the partnership with Mastercard would help Conferma Pay to “build new and enhanced digital capabilities in virtual cards, transforming the payment experience for issuers”.
As part of the agreement, Mastercard has agreed to make a minority investment in Conferma Pay.
Airbnb targets renters in latest initiative
Airbnb has launched an initiative to help renters find somewhere to live as well as host on the platform on a part-time basis.
The platform now provides a site showing apartment buildings that allow their renters to also list the entire apartment or a spare room on Airbnb. Airbnb-friendly apartments currently has a list of 175 apartment buildings in more than 25 destinations across the U.S.
Airbnb says the initiative is part of its strategy to bring the economic benefit of hosting to more people.
The company says from July through September this year, renters in the currently listed Airbnb-friendly apartments hosted on average nine nights per month and earned an average of $900 per month.
Nathan Blecharzyck, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Airbnb, says, “Airbnb was founded during the Great Recession when Brian and Joe needed help affording their rent, and now Airbnb-friendly apartments build on that founding story by making it easier for people to reap the economic benefits of hosting.
“As the cost of living continues to rise, renters can use the extra income earned by hosting part-time on Airbnb to contribute to their rent, save for a home, or pay for other living expenses.”
Source: Phocuswire
Powering up Down Under
Construction has started on the world’s longest electric vehicle highway, which will run from Kununurra in the north of Western Australia to Esperance in the south of the state.
The $20 million project extends more than 6,600 kilometres with 98 vehicle chargers across 49 locations.
