Malindo takes flight in March, AirAsia’s Fernandes says not a threat
Hot on the heels of Malaysia’s AirAsia gaining approval from the Indonesia government to acquire Batavia Air (read story) Indonesia's PT Lion Air and Malaysia's National Aerospace & Defence Industries (NadI) inked a joint venture agreement to form a new hybrid carrier – Malindo Air.The Ma [...]
The Wrap – Asia’s new holiday playground for Malaysians
Malaysians are turning to Asia for their holidays, Zuji ties up with India’s IndiGo, Star Cruises’ upgrading its fleet to cater to rising demand for cruises - these and more in this week’s “The Wrap “.Asia’s new holiday playground for MalaysiansAsia is the current flavour among Malaysia [...]
Technology makes remote journeys more accessible, but less unplugged
Uttara Sarkar Crees runs journeys that are as unplugged as they come. Her company, Gyalthang Eco Travel, takes people to remote regions of the Tibetan Plateau and places that are off the beaten track. She talks to WIT about how technology is changing traveller behaviour and how a boutique agency l [...]
Airports embracing IT for better passenger experience
The world’s airports are turning to mobile apps, social media and intelligent technologies including geolocation services to enhance passengers’ experience, according to the SITA Airport IT Trends Survey.The 9th annual survey by SITA, carried out in partnership with Airports Council Internatio [...]
A Pinterest-inspired revamp for Wego Deals
Wego.com, has unveiled a completely redesigned version of its Deals site, which features a Pinterest inspired design that takes a photo driven approach to showcasingtravel deals.
The new site, which lists the hottest travel deals available in a market at any given time, is available on all 42 [...]
‘Slowly slowly’ does it as China opens partially to foreign GDSs
It’s the day before I am set to fly to Shanghai to moderate a panel at the China Travel Distribution Summit and the news of the week is China opening its market to global distribution systems for the first time.Really? This has been a development years in the talking and planning, and a subject o [...]
When it comes to low cost airlines, we ain’t seen nothing yet
The day that the LCCs & New Age Airlines North Asia event was wrapping up in Macau came the news that Qantas had signed a new partnership with Emirates that would mean the Australian carrier changing hubs from Singapore to Dubai.Make no mistake. This is a big deal. It is a battle of airports an [...]
Agora launches ‘style MY stay’ concept to go after new travellers to Japan
The entry of low cost airlines into Japan will bring with them “young and active travellers with word of mouth power” and this is the set that Agora Hospitalities intends to engage with via online media and social networks such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and blog.To capture this customer, [...]
Audio tour apps bring Australia’s stories to life for Chinese visitors
A chance remark by some Chinese visitors talking loudly during a tour, drowning out the guide’s commentary, led Jeff Sharp ofItours Australia to develop self-guided audio tours in native languages for smartphones and tablets.Relating the story, Sharp (pictured left), then owner and operator of [...]
2 Doors, 7 Terraces, 1 Destiny
Once upon a time, there were two doors (pictured left). They were born sometime in the late 1800s and adorned the shophouse of a rich Peranakan (Straits Chinese) merchant in Penang.When the house fell into ruin, they were sold separately to two of the island’s most prominent antique collectors [...]
