Letter from Dublin: From misery to silicon
Walked out this morning towards the Liffey River with a spring in my step. It’s late spring in Dublin but frankly, it feels like winter to me. The hood I am in – Grand Canal Dock, nickname Silicon Docks – represents the new face of Dublin, the home for innovation and start-ups and the new Mast [...]
The sky’s the limit for Booking and Expedia as they ramp up in Asia
Last year, Oliver Hua who had just joined Booking.com from Ebay as managing director for APAC said travel was just at Day 1 of the Internet and ecommerce. And as far as he is concerned, it’s still at Day 1.
“There are so many opportunities still for Booking,” he said at WIT Indonesia. W [...]
Online travel in Indonesia fires up, tourism marketing goes digital
Hiding away in my private villa in Bali after our WIT Indonesia conference, I couldn’t help but reflect on how much travel has changed. Everyone who had flown in to Bali for the event was secreted away for the weekend in their own villas of choice, whether booked directly, OTAs or through private [...]
Letter from beautiful and vulnerable Bali, just like Nepal: United in travel
Last night, I slept to the sound of the ocean. It was the most blissful night’s sleep I’ve had in a while. Nothing like the sound of waves crashing to the shore to soothe the restless mind.
This morning, I woke to the same sound. Only this time there was laughter floating in the sea breeze.
[...]
WIT Warrior Spotlight: Kathleen Tan – travel will become like going to the cinema
At the WIT Conference last October in Singapore, we recognised 11 individuals whom we felt have had the most influence on the development of online travel in Asia Pacific. This is the first article in a series of interviews profiling our WIT Warriors.
Kathleen Tan came from a retail and music ba [...]
T Fuad: Ahead of the start-up mob and betting on the sharing economy in Asia
There are some people who've just got the start-up gene in their blood and Turochas Fuad, co-founder of travelmob, is one of them. He left a cushy corporate job to start travelmob. He's also been successful at exits – he sold his first start-up 10 years ago in Silicon Valley and last year, he so [...]
Future traveller & future travel agency tribes – let’s take a stab at the future
So it’s very brave of Amadeus to look into the future – 2030 no less – and predict the future traveller tribes. Most of the time, I can’t even figure out what’s going to happen tomorrow which is why I remain a scribe I guess, and not a researcher.
But there’s just so much happening so [...]
Letter from Kuching: The time has come for Sarawak to be discovered, enjoyed and loved
I first visited Kuching when I was a young, bug-eyed reporter and was somehow lucky enough to land a writing assignment for a photography book on Sarawak.
I don’t know why I thought myself qualified to do the job but I’ve never been one to let ignorance stand in the way of endeavours.
Robe [...]
Lessons from building a tours & activities business from scratch
At WIT Middle East in Dubai earlier this month, Tao Tao, COO & co-founder of GetYourGuide, the tour and activities marketplace, sat down for a conversation with Yeoh Siew Hoon, founder of WIT, to talk about mistakes made, lessons learnt and how “the fine line between resolute persistence and u [...]
No lightbulb till 9, now Destinia’s Amuda Goeli clearly sees the light
I suppose we are all a product of our background and experiences and Amuda Goeli, co-founder of Destinia, certainly comes across as an individual who’s very comfortable in his own skin.
Growing up in Aswan, Egypt, he did not see a light bulb till he was nine years old. He laughs at the noti [...]
