Pet-friendly travel growing across Asia-Pacific
Agoda has observed a surge in demand for pet-friendly accommodations across Asia-Pacific, with countries like Thailand, South Korea, and Taiwan leading the search rankings. This rising trend is primarily fueled by Millennials and Gen Z travellers who view pet parenthood as a priority and actively seek inclusive travel options for their animal companions. Agoda’s data underscores this movement, showing that the availability of pet-friendly stays has nearly doubled in key markets, including a +102% increase in South Korea and +92% in Thailand.
Agoda notes that accommodation providers who invest in pet-friendly policies and amenities are positioned to attract this growing segment and cultivate lasting guest loyalty. Hoteliers are encouraged to look beyond simple allowance and draw inspiration from markets like South Korea, which actively integrates pets into the travel journey.
Booking Holdings gauges OpenAI partnership
Booking Holdings is “very happy” to be an initial partner with OpenAI, integrating Booking.com into the new ChatGPT apps – a move the company is closely monitoring for signs of faster search, better conversion, and higher customer satisfaction. While CFO Ewout Steenbergen noted that travel clicks from traditional search continue to increase and leads from large language models (LLMs) are currently small, CEO Glenn Fogel expressed confidence that even if travellers change their inspiration and discovery methods, Booking will remain essential for the “execution and actual transaction fulfillment,” offering value, ensuring best prices, and handling complex logistics. The company also anticipates that generative AI will significantly advance its “connected trip vision,” building an intelligent layer to proactively anticipate and meet customer travel needs.
The earnings call also highlighted accelerated domestic growth and robust international performance. U.S. bookings saw high single-digit growth, driven by stronger outbound travel and B2B momentum, a positive trend attributed to growing brand awareness and a resulting increase in customers booking directly. Internationally, Asia delivered low double-digit growth, powered by Agoda and Booking.com, and remains the company’s most important long-term market due to anticipated high GDP and population growth. Overall, Booking Holdings reported strong financial results, with gross bookings up 14% year-over-year to $49.7 billion and revenue increasing 13% to $9 billion, despite facing moderate economic headwinds.
US border patrol wants your selfie (and maybe your DNA)
The US is expanding its use of facial recognition technology at all borders—including airports, seaports, and land crossings—to track non-citizens both entering and, crucially, exiting the country. A new regulation, set to take effect on December 26, 2025, will allow authorities to require non-citizens to be photographed at any point of departure as part of a broad effort to combat visa overstays and passport fraud. Authorities have the power to require the submission of other biometrics, such as fingerprints or DNA, as the government moves to fully implement a biometric entry-exit system.
This aggressive expansion, which authorities hope to fully deploy at all commercial ports within three to five years, reflects a wider push to reduce the high rate of visa overstays and tighten US immigration controls. However, the move has immediately raised significant privacy concerns among watchdog groups. The new rule allows biometric tracking on children under 14 and elderly people over 79.
Robust travel demand boosts MakeMyTrip revenue
MakeMyTrip reported a 9% year-over-year increase in revenue to $229 million for Q2 fiscal year 2026, driven by a “robust travel demand” in both domestic and outbound markets, especially within the leisure segment. Gross bookings grew 13% to $2.4 billion and adjusted operating profit rose from $37.5 million to $44 million. The strongest growth segments were international travel and non-flight domestic segments, including hotels and bus ticketing, which saw adjusted margin growth of 17% and 39%, respectively. However, the period saw a net loss of almost $6 million, a sharp contrast to the $18 million profit in the same quarter last year.
Despite the quarterly loss, MakeMyTrip is heavily focused on AI to enhance the customer experience and boost productivity, positioning it at the “center of [its] core strategy.” The company’s AI-powered travel assistant, Myra, has been encouraging, currently handling over 25,000 conversations daily, with over a third of users starting their engagement up to 90 days before their trip for exploration and planning. Furthermore, MMT has launched a generative AI pre-sales chatbot and an AI voice agent for customer queries. Executives believe that direct tax concessions and GST benefits in India will boost discretionary consumer spending, driving further growth in the second half of the fiscal year.
