Global Travel Tech formed to tackle regulations around digital travel platforms
Six global travel brands – Expedia Group, Booking Holdings, eDreams ODIGEO, Amadeus, Travelport and Skyscanner – are joining forces to form Global Travel Tech (GTT), aimed at fostering innovation and competitiveness in response to anticipated regulatory changes affecting digital travel platforms [...]
Post-IPO, Tripla moves to consolidate in hospitality tech with three acquisitions
“Big chance for a startup like us to consolidate”: Kazuhisa Takahashi
Life after IPO in 2022 hasn’t changed that much for tripla’s CEO and co-founder Kazuhisa Takahashi, although he admits that for the first six months after listing in the Growth Market section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, [...]
How technology has eased conversations between finance and marketing chiefs
Dynamic duo CFO Siew Kim and CCO Bee Leng unite to innovate at Ascott
Technology has not only transformed hospitality in the past decade or so but it has also made conversations easier between finance chiefs and brand marketers, two usually divergent camps because, to put it simply, one counts mone [...]
Smooth succession at Expedia Group as Gorin takes over from Kern
“Time to go back on offense and lead the industry,” says Peter Kern as he hands over reins
A smooth succession and transition in leadership is always to be celebrated. Look at the TV series, “Succession” and how it had to take four seasons to tell the stories of psychosis and skullduggery t [...]
Enter The Wood Dragon: What happened in 1964 and what will happen this year, even AI cannot tell us
Well, the dragons are out in full force as the Chinese community all over the world prepare for their Lunar New Year, the year that will welcome in the Wood Dragon on February 10.
In Singapore, in one week, I saw all shapes and colours of dragons – from the Crystal Dragon that swooped into the Ma [...]
Travelwings, now in 27 African countries, seeks to transform continent
Local payments the door opener to continent’s e-commerce potential, says CEO Albert Fernando
As the founder and CEO of Travelwings, Africa’s leading online travel agency, Albert Fernando’s dream is to create new job opportunities in travel and e-commerce across the continent.
“There are [...]
Singapore ends 2023 on a high but concerns loom over costs and demand
STB forecasts 15-16m arrivals in 2024, short of 2019’s 19m
There’s much reason to celebrate within Singapore’s tourism industry as Lunar New Year approaches on Febuary 10. The destination saw a 115% increase in the number of visitors last year, from 6.3m in 2022 to 13.6m in 2023, which fell [...]
Letter from Bangkok: Weaving Sookjai (happiness) into an organic tourism experience
TOCA to link carbon credits calculations to hotels' “green practices”
The day I landed in Bangkok, social media had literally gone wild with the video of the woman driving in an open-top Bentley with a chained lion in the backseat.
For those of us familiar with Thailand, this is one of those [...]
Mistletoe grows; new αFund seeks to raise $300m-$400m for positive impact investments
Fund started by Taizo Son and Atsushi Tarai buys SoftBank Ventures, aims to build ecosystem of “like-minded investors and founders”
After eight years of running the global seed stage innovation driven impact vehicle, Mistletoe, as a family fund, co-founders Atsushi Taira and Taizo Son are rea [...]
Is this the moment for audio tours? Viator’s Dines not prepared to call it yet
Accelerate 2.0 to bring more tour operators onboard marketplace; Asia sees “enthusiastic bounceback”
Before she joined Tripadvisor in 2018, Sarah Dines, Chief Commercial Officer of Viator, spent most of her career in audio guide, including as CEO of Discovery Channel’s Antenna International [...]
