The road to Tokyo 2020 and beyond: WiT Japan & North Asia returns to ask the tough questions
Japan’s inbound continues to surge, reaching over 30m visitors in 2018, inching ever closer to its goal of 40m by 2020 and 60m in another decade.
Yet despite record visitors and spend in
2018 (totalling 4.5 trillion yen or $41.3 billion), its rate of growth has
slowed significantly, according [...]
Travelstart enters corporate travel game with Travelstart for Business
Reaffirming predictions that corporate travel is the next big travel sector to face disruption, South African online travel site Travelstart has launched a new product – Travelstart for Business, a business travel booking and reporting tool for companies and individuals.
Travelstart’s
Head o [...]
AirAsia introduces chatbot AVA, gives mobile app and website a facelift
Asia’s largest low cost carrier AirAsia on Monday unveiled a new digital assistant AVA (AirAsia Virtual Allstar) and a revamped mobile app and website.
Aireen Omar, the airline’s deputy group CEO (digital, transformation and corporate services), said at the launch the updates were designed w [...]
Startup Spotlight: Strabe pursues seamless business travel with all-in-one solution
As part of our WiT Startup Spotlight series, we connected with Strabe who are known as the "CRM for business travel", as it aims to create a platform that can offer corporate clients a 'seamless business travel' experience.
Describe the business, core products and services in one paragraph.
S [...]
Al Tayyar ups stake by 40% to fully acquire Saudi OTA, Almosafer
Al Tayyar – a Saudi Arabia-based travel
agency – has fully acquired Saudi OTA, Almosafer, after upping its stake by 40%
for just under USD$19 million.
Al Tayyar had first acquired a 60% stake of Almosafer back in 2015 for approximately $6 million. The acquisition puts Almosafer’s s [...]
More outbound Chinese tourists embrace mobile payment, boosts spending, vitalises local businesses
With rising incomes and better living standards travelling abroad for many Chinese citizens is no longer a luxury and, according to statistics from China Tourism Academy, a record of 140 million outbound trips were made in 2018.
An increasing number of these travellers are adopting mobile paymen [...]
Hong Kong startup Klook becomes most-searched tours and activities platform globally
Hong Kong startup, Klook has become the most-searched travel activities platform worldwide since October 2018, according to Google Trends.
Compared with its
closest performing competitor, Klook showed more than double the brand search
worldwide since November 2018.
Klook’s top
position on G [...]
Consumer trends that will impact the hospitality industry
“The times they are a-changin” in the words of Bob Dylan best describe the changing needs and demands of travellers in today’s tech savvy world. Many companies are pivoting and adopting new technologies to keep in step with the 'always on, always on demand' consumers.
The hospitality indu [...]
The Wrap: HomeToGo buys Tripping.com, its largest US competitor
In the news: HomeToGo’s purchase of Tripping.com, record year for Japan’s tourism, launch of Marriott Bonvoy loyalty programme
Vacation rentals: HomeToGo buys Tripping.com, its largest US competitor
Tripping has more than 10 million properties listed on its site.
Berlin-based HomeToGo, [...]
Travelstop, out to fix corporate travel, expands to seven new markets
Travelstop – an AI-powered SaaS platform for business travel and automated expense reporting – has launched in seven new markets, to consolidate its presence in Asia.
The startup, which launched in September and has raised $1.2 million in seed funding in 2018 led by SeedPlus, declared its e [...]
