Destinations: How to keep the heart of travel beating strong amid AI disruption and hallucinations
Rod Cuthbert opened his panel on “Destinations: Demand, Sustainability, Tech” at WiT Queenstown, with a confession: he’d asked his own AI system to name the world’s single best destination at marketing itself. The answer came back New Zealand, “by a country mile.”
The Tourism Tasmania [...]
Google buys Spirit Airlines’ data. KLIA amps security. Spotnana x Singapore Airlines. Atlas’ open-source flight booking.
Google buys Spirit Airlines' data for $10 million
Google agreed to pay $10 million for the data assets of defunct Spirit Airlines, outbidding AI-training firm Mercor's $7.5 million offer, according to an Aug. 14 court filing tied to Spirit's court-supervised liquidation (Spirit shut down May 2, 202 [...]
When the founder hands you the keys: SiteMinder’s Sankar Narayan on scaling without breaking what made it great
Sankar Narayan has done this twice now. Not built a company from zero – inherited one. First at Xero, where he arrived as CFO and left as COO with the company’s enterprise value multiplied threefold. Then at SiteMinder, where he has spent seven years as CEO alongside founder Mike Ford, scaling t [...]
Data: The light behind AI
10 key takeaways from a presentation by Filip Filipov, CEO, OAG at WiT Japan
AI is only as good as the data behind it.
Every platform shift in travel – internet, mobile, payments, now AI – has rewritten the rules. But unlike previous shifts, AI's value is entirely dependent on the qual [...]
Paul Scurrah on timing and building the world’s happiest airline
When it comes to timing, Paul Scurrah, CEO of Fiji Airways, hasn’t quite got it right. In fact, he started his coffee chat in WiT Queenstown with an apology.
“I feel like I should apologise,” Paul Scurrah said. “I was appointed CEO in Australia in March 2019, and less than a year later CO [...]
Thankless travel planners. GlobalTix x Myrealtrip. Fliggy’s next-gen agent. Saudi’s investment appeal. More.
GlobalTix partners with Myrealtrip
GlobalTix, an Asia-based reservation and distribution platform, announced a partnership with South Korean travel platform Myrealtrip to make GlobalTix's network of over 180,000 experiences available to Myrealtrip's 10 million users, giving GlobalTix's global opera [...]
Global business travel spending to hit record $1.71 trillion in 2026
GBTA’s latest Business Travel Index report shows spending gains driven by higher prices as geopolitical uncertainty and transportation pressures weigh on the outlook
Global business travel spending is forecast to reach a record $1.71 trillion USD in 2026, with the number of business trips world [...]
Travel just won’t quit: What Booking, Expedia and Airbnb’s Q2 results tell us
We asked Claude to summarise second quarter results of Booking, Expedia and Airbnb
Three earnings calls, three beat-and-raise quarters, one unmistakable signal: whatever headwinds are supposedly buffeting global travel this year, the industry’s three largest platforms just posted some of their st [...]
Trip.com & Booking on managing the ground shifts in the Middle East
Booking.com’s Alberto Yates and Trip.com’s Boon Sian Chai on navigating conflict, building trust, and why the Middle East bet still makes sense
When the conflict broke out in the Middle East, both Booking.com’s Alberto Yates and Trip.com’s Boon Sian Chai, speaking at WiT Phocuswright Middle [...]
Asia Pacific had the world’s busiest airport pairs in 2025, says IATA
IATA releases 2025 World Air Transport Statistics
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released the latest edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), providing comprehensive statistical data through to 2025.
Updated annually, WATS provides data related to demand, s [...]
