Trip.com Group under investigation over alleged monopolistic practices
Trip.com Group Limited, a leading global one-stop travel service provider of accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours, and corporate travel management, announced that it has received a notice of investigation from the State Administration for Market Regulations of the Peop [...]
Luxury redefined: From bling to meaning, from sand to soul
If the first age of luxury was about status, and the second about style, the new luxury is about substance.
As moderator Morris Sim (Montara Hospitality) put it, “Luxury is such an overused word. Everyone has their own version of it. But if we start from the customer’s point of view – who [...]
APAC airlines see 9% increase in demand amid geopolitical tensions in the region
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for November 2025 global passenger demand with the following highlights:
Total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), was up 5.7% compared to November 2024. Total capacity, measured in available seat kilometers ( [...]
How Mi Sun Song rewired HanaTour and why the hardest work starts now
When Mi Sun Song took the helm of HanaTour, she arrived as an outsider in almost every sense that mattered.
She wasn’t a career lifer from Korea’s traditional travel agency world. She wasn’t part of the old hierarchy. And she was stepping into a company long defined by scale, group trave [...]
Asia-Pacific travel boosted by visa-free travel, mega rail projects, and new connectivity
According to Rome2Rio’s 2026 Travel & Mobility Trends report, Asia-Pacific is set to be one of the most dynamic travel regions in 2026, driven by easier entry, major transport upgrades and a clear shift in how travellers choose to move. Visa liberalisation and reopened borders are unlocking hu [...]
Data, not drama, should shape Airbnb’s short-term rental rules
What does it mean to be a lawyer for a platform operating across various jurisdictions, and doing it in real time? In a conversation with Darrell Chan, Airbnb's APAC General Counsel, the idea of “guerrilla lawyering” is used as a working philosophy. But what does that look like when regulations [...]
Sir Richard Branson on space tourism: “The journey is the destination”
Speaking virtually at TOURISE 2025 in Riyadh in November, Sir Richard Branson reflected on his decades-long mission to make space accessible through Virgin Galactic, and on the deeper meaning of space tourism beyond the technology and spectacle.
Branson said his entrepreneurial decisions have [...]
The experience surge: Where meaning, AI and human connection collide
In an age where travellers crave meaning as much as adventure, the experience economy is surging again, not through algorithms alone, but through the people and purpose behind them.
At WiT Singapore 2025, the session title said it all: The Experience Surge: The Quest for Personalisation, Meaning an [...]
Hindsight is 2025 | Our top 12 stories of the year
At the edge of the new year, we’re taking a moment to look back at the stories that defined the conversation across our site in 2025. It was a year marked by fast-moving shifts in travel tech across Asia Pacific, from AI moving out of the hype cycle and into real-world deployment, to changing trav [...]
The Great Debate: Who will win in the Age of AI?
At WiT Singapore 2025, seven voices sparred over travel’s next frontier and the answer might just be the traveller.
When WiT turns 20, it doesn’t start with a party – it starts with a fight.
Under the blazing lights of the Main Stage at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, seven industry minds fro [...]
