Money, moats and the AI mirage: What it takes to build and fund a startup now
There is a peculiar kind of vertigo that comes with being a travel technology founder right now. On one side, Silicon Valley is minting billionaires at a pace not seen since the dot-com era. On the other, investors are skittish, M&A is grinding, and raising a seed round can feel like pushing a b [...]
Travel professionals in APAC expect growth but risk slowing momentum
Expedia Group has released new research, Mapping the Future of APAC Travel, showing that 65% of travel professionals expect demand for their Asia-Pacific (APAC) travel business to increase over the next two to three years, rising to 78% among loyalty professionals.
Based on a survey of 1,250 trav [...]
Visa launches Destinations. Yatra reconsiders Nasdaq. Travelport x Travelsoft. Hotels’ AI race.
Yatra faces Nasdaq deadline as share price slump bites
Online travel agency Yatra has until December 22, 2026 to regain Nasdaq compliance after its shares failed to maintain a $1 minimum closing bid price between May 12 and June 24, with a reverse stock split among the options under consideration; [...]
Air passenger demand falls 2.2% due to war in the Middle East
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for May 2026 global passenger demand.
Total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), was down 2.2% compared to May 2025. Excluding the Middle East, demand grew by 0.7%. Total capacity, measured in available seat [...]
Who is the Asian indie traveller? | Report
Asia's indie travellers are rewriting the rules of tourism and AI is along for the ride
Forget the old image of the backpacker figuring it out as they go. Today's Asian indie traveller is just as likely to be a 50-something supporting a family-run guesthouse, a Swiftie crossing borders for a concer [...]
AI in action: Reshaping travel
10 key takeaways from a presentation at WiT Japan by Amy Wei, Senior Product Director, Trip.com Group
1. The shift is already here and accelerating fast.
Trip.com launched its AI assistant TripGenie in February 2023, just 2.5 months after ChatGPT. Three years of real user data tell a clea [...]
JTB acquires EXO Travel. Trip.com eyes 200m travellers. Agoda platforms ethical hackers. Vietnam tourism surge.
EXO Travel finds its next adventure under JTB Group
Asia-based Destination Management Company EXO Travel has been acquired by JTB Group, one of the world's largest travel organisations, via JTB's Asia Pacific arm purchasing All Wise Holdings Pte. Ltd., EXO's parent company. Founded in 1993 and oper [...]
Dispersal through discovery: Klook’s Wilfred Fan on using social to spread travel
The chief commercial officer on creator networks, the Hiroshima playbook, self-disruption — and a spontaneous detour to Heidelberg
There is an irony at the heart of social media’s relationship with travel. The same platforms that have made the world’s hidden places discoverable have also made [...]
Travel is reorganising along “paths of least resistance”
Expedia’s Michael Dykes says an Asia-to-Asia boom is underway
The ideal the travel industry dreamt about – the global traveller – the passport-holding, visa-free, frictionlessly mobile citizen of the world – is less real today than it’s ever been, said Michael Dykes, Vice President, Mark [...]
Meet the winners of the 2026 Global Startup Pitch
Eight travel tech startups have been selected as the winners of the 2026 Global Startup Pitch.
The winning companies were among seventeen that presented their pitches live on the Startup Stage at Phocuswright Europe in Barcelona this week.
The competition, now in its fifth year, is jointly prod [...]
