Posts by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Noh Master Kawamura wants to keep 14th century art form alive by sharing with travellers
18/04/2024 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Third-generation performer to open WiT Japan & North Asia 2024 Compared with most Noh families, whose roots can go back to the 14th century, Noh Master Kawamura Haruhisa, who runs Kyoto’s Kawamura Noh Theatre, is a relative newcomer. His Noh roots go back a mere three generations. And [...]
MakeMyTrip tripling down on India to build comprehensive travel shop
09/04/2024 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
“We’re not going global”, asserts Rajesh Magow. Here's why. Firstly, Rajesh Magow, CEO and co-founder of MakeMyTrip, would like to clarify that his company is not going global, as was reported in various media outlets yesterday. Instead, it’s doubling down, even tripling down on its core [...]
Best way to know Japanese culture is through its museums, says author Sophie Richard
10/04/2024 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Museum experience is changing but “not everything can go online” As a young girl growing up in Aix-en-Provence, France, Sophie Richard fell in love with Japan, even before she visited the country. “I don’t know why. My family has no connection with Japan but I was always attracted to its ar [...]
Decoding travel jargon: From bleisure to rubbish tourism
05/04/2024 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Author and travel writer Paul Theroux had a very simple way of describing people who travel. He divided them into tourist and traveller, saying, “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travellers don’t know where they’re going.”   Listen to the article here  (This au [...]
Zip Zap Circus: Giving kids in South Africa a chance to dare to dream
04/04/2024 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
30 years on, flying trapeze partners, Brent and Laurence, continue to change lives In Cambodia, they have Phare, The Cambodian Circus. In South Africa, they have the Zip Zap Circus. Both have similar goals – the former provides jobs for Cambodian youths in the performing arts, the latter, “insp [...]
Lessons from WiT Africa Part 2: The ties that bind us, from remote work to AI and sustainability
28/03/2024 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
It’s been nearly two weeks since I left the majesty and scale of South Africa for the tiny dot of Singapore and here I am, in the even tinier (or as tiny) dot of Penang, Malaysia, where the evidence of global nomadism is in full play. This is the island off the west coast of Malaysia that was r [...]
Fritz Demopoulos on new frontiers in travel & beyond 
26/03/2024 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Where others see bad traffic and chaos, this entrepreneur sees opportunities. It was with this thinking that he fearlessly co-founded the first travel metasearch company in China in 2005, Qunar, which is now part of the Trip.com Group. Since his exit, he’s been keeping a watchful eye on travel tec [...]
Of pain, suffering and low expectations: How to be happy founders and travellers
22/03/2024 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
“If you’re not at one point about to go bankrupt, then you can’t say you really had a startup” Lately, I’ve been getting lots of messages sharing Jensen Huang’s speech at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, where he wished “pain and suffering” on students at his a [...]
She went travelling for love; now she’s looking for global love for Yuko Yuko
21/03/2024 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Onsen ryokan business wants to target inbound and expand services beyond travel for Japanese seniors Fresh out of law school, Wakako Tokuda travelled the world looking for love and a potential husband in 52 countries across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and South America. During those eight [...]
From Africa to FREENOW, Meili’s out to reduce friction in car rental to drive direct bookings and loyalty
21/03/2024 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Domain expertise and experience count for a lot, says seasoned Irish entrepreneur Mike McGearty Right after Mike McGearty, CEO and co-founder, Meili Travel Technology, left Cape Town where he was speaking at WiT Africa came the news that his company had signed a partnership with FREENOW, Europe's l [...]