Australia’s digital arrival system. FAA bets on AI. Gen Z loyalty. DerbySoft x Travelodge.
Australia to phase out paper arrival cards by 2027
Australia is rolling out a nationwide digital arrival system, expanding on a Qantas app trial (running since October 2024 for flights into Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, with Perth and Adelaide added by end of 2026) into a universal web-based Aust [...]
Winnow acquires leading food waste technology player Lumitics, grows APAC footprint
Winnow, the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered food waste measurement company, has announced the acquisition of Lumitics, one of Asia-Pacific’s leading food waste technology companies with deployments across more than 20 countries in the region and Middle East.
The acquisition brings t [...]
APAC consumers are ready for AI agent-led shopping, Accenture research finds
Accenture hosted a media briefing to present findings from its Consumer Pulse Survey 2026 and lay out a framework for how businesses across Asia Pacific should prepare for what it calls "agentic commerce" — a shift in which AI agents research, compare, purchase and manage returns on a consumer's b [...]
How OceanAir’s Essam Al Salah built his experiences from the desert
Essam Al Salah remembers the moment it clicked. It started with building a small website to start selling tours. In the early days, like most operators, he worked with the companies already in the market, the ones selling seat-in-coach packages. He booked through them, sold through them, and watched [...]
Turning tourists into conservationists, RealNZ’s one ‘sound of silence’ at a time
“You can't help conservation and help the planet if you're not profitable. You've always got to have that balance.”
Two years into his role as chief executive of RealNZ, Dave Beeche is applying lessons from a career in major sports events to New Zealand's tourism industry. “Our purpose is to [...]
Expedia puts its money where the trail is
$4.3m Trails Fund a sign of sustainability meeting commerce
For Aditi Mohapatra, VP of Global Social Impact and Sustainability at Expedia Group, the launch of the Expedia Trails Fund is a signal that sustainability, often seen as a soft function within corporates, is finding its commercial footing. [...]
Saudi travel’s new shape: Domestic, westward and betting on Itself
The interview with Muzzammil Ahussain, CEO of Almosafer, at WiT Phocuswright Middle East started with a provocation. Saudi Arabia is reportedly projecting a $44 billion deficit for 2026. Construction contract awards fell 72% year-on-year. NEOM wasn’t even mentioned in the national budget. So: is t [...]
APAC hotel distribution sees slower growth, rising regional OTAs, and direct channels under pressure
D-EDGE's 2022–Q1 2026 analysis shows booking growth cooling to 2.7%, Agoda pulling ahead of Booking.com, and wholesalers more than tripling their market share in three years.
According to a new report from hospitality technology provider D-EDGE, Asia-Pacific's hotel distribution landscape is shif [...]
Airlines eye elite status. Wego’s digital Umrah platform. Dida’s bookable recommendations. Travel holds in 2026.
Wego and Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah launch digital Umrah platform
Wego, the largest online travel marketplace in MENA, has partnered with the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to launch an integrated digital platform combining flight bookings, verified hotels, licensed ground services, and fac [...]
Japan’s secondary cities in the search bar: Why alternative corridors are winning next-gen discovery
The travel search interface has officially fragmented. Discovery is no longer about generating links; it is about answer generation. Driven by AI-curated "Zero-Click" context and vertical video validation across TikTok, Reels, and Shorts, travelers are trading traditional keywords for contextual, wi [...]
