“Don’t build zombie companies,” Thayer’s Hemmeter advises startups
Specialist travel investor sees “bloody battle” ahead as AI plays out in the changing of search and engagement
AI or no AI, new tech or old tech, teams still make all the difference between success and failure in a startup, said Chris Hemmeter, c0-founder and managing director of Thayer Venture [...]
Solve air problems with tech and commercial will follow, urges Trip’s Xing Xiong
AI “most powerful tool” – 15% efficiency improvement in engineering, 80% of queries answered by bots, 95% answered within 20 seconds
“Use tech to solve the problems and commercial will follow”. That was the central message delivered by Xing Xiong, COO of Trip.com Group, to the more than [...]
Sustainability reigns in Taiwan amid tourism recovery
From forest parks to Slow Food festivals, emphasis is on biodiversity and local communities
Amid the recovery in the Taiwan travel market, with inbound back at 70% of 2019 levels and outbound exceeding 2019 levels to some destinations, Taiwan’s travel players are willing to take it slow and ste [...]
Letter from Shanghai: Of Mona Lisa, Gravitational Arena and Innovationism
The last time I was in Shanghai was in October 2019, when I attended Trip.com Group’s 20th anniversary party. I recall it felt like a rock concert, almost like a coming out party as the group declared its ambitions to grow into a global giant as well as be the champion for Chinese inbound.
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With “innovationism” as its new philosophy, Trip.com Group comes roaring back
Goal to be No 1 flight OTA in five years; robust growth driven by higher-tier members and youths
Trip.com Group is back and if you ever had any doubts about its resurgence and ambitions, well, those were swept away by the mighty and impressive show of force it put on for its Envision 2024 Global Pa [...]
As JTB returns to profit, Eijiro Yamakita talks about emotion in age of AI and investments in future
It was interesting that when asked which human quality they’d like to improve on as we hurtle into the age of Generative AI, travel leaders at WiT Japan & North Asia cited “emotional intelligence”, “empathy”, “listening” and “patience” among their answers.
Eijiro Yamakita, P [...]
Why Melanie de Souza finds AIUla fulfilling and what’s behind “Forever Revitalising”
First brand campaign to showcase Saudi’s luxury heritage destination to the world
Nearly five years into her role as Executive Director Destination Marketing, at the Royal Commission of AlUla, and Melanie de Souza says “it’s been the most fulfilling chapter in my career”.
De Souza, who s [...]
Lighthouse expands in APAC, brings its insights to hoteliers in the region
The newly-rebranded Lighthouse (formerly OTA Insight) is keen to shine more light on data insights for hoteliers in Asia Pacific. Chief Revenue Officer, David Collier, during a recent visit to Singapore, shared that with the business experiencing significant global growth, Lighthouse is keen to expa [...]
Traveloka’s secret sauce – mastery in one market, localisation amid expansion and focus on customer service
Why the South-east Asian OTA could serve as role model for Japan’s OTAs
Twelve years on, and despite massive competition in the South-east Asian region it calls home, Traveloka remains a formidable force to be reckoned with, with a total of 130+ million downloads across the six markets it operate [...]
The quandaries humans in travel tech face in their journey towards AI La La Land
From getting away from “curse of the search box”, to reimagining user interfaces, and delivering on the “AI Agent Era”, human revolution needed to answer the hard questions AI is posing. And no, AI does not have the answer.
Both a human revolution is needed amid the technology revolut [...]
