Rapid vaccination drive puts Cambodia on track for possible reopening Q4
Golden opportunity to position country as complete destination, not as extension to Vietnam or Laos, says ALL DREAMS' boss
WITH Phnom Penh on track to be the most vaccinated capacity city in the ASEAN region – it is projected that the city will be entirely vaccinated by July – moves are afoo [...]
The time of living vicariously
What happens when the world opens up and you’re still at home staring at
your Zoom screen
THE word “vicarious” means “experienced in the imagination through the feelings or actions of another person”. So to live vicariously means to live through the experiences of others. For example, [...]
High stakes as Phuket prepares for reopening July 1
Spikes in bookings from all markets and across demographics, says Anthony Lark – except for Asia
IMAGINE being the first foreign visitor to walk off the plane at Phuket International Airport on July 1. Imagine the warm embrace that the locals would give you if they could. In any case, the “s [...]
RedDoorz goes up the value chain with fourth brand, Sunerra
AS it chases scale and its ambition to be South-east Asia’s largest hospitality company, Singapore-based RedDoorz yesterday launched a new mid-scale brand, Sunerra Hotels, pitched at the three stars and above market.
This is the fourth brand in its stable as it attempts to climb up the value c [...]
Thorsen: Covid could produce well-funded corporate travel startups to go after long-term opportunity
TRAVEL tech evangelist Johnny Thorsen, who has his own vision of a “Traveltopia”, is watching to see if Covid will give the industry a new generation of well-funded startups “that are able to go after the long term opportunity, and really become a threat to the established environment”.
[...]
Massive opportunity in alternative payments as e-wallets soar in Asia and BNPL gains ground
Multi-currency payments; fraud; how many payment methods should you offer – key headaches addressed
WITH 1.7b unbanked adults in the world, according to Findex Database,
Worldbank, the opportunities to address this market with alternative payment
methods are immense. The potential is biggest i [...]
The chase for tech talent – go to where they are and hire ‘A’ players to attract others
IT is
ironic that even as the travel industry has shed millions upon millions of
jobs, one sector that has expanded and remains voracious for talent is on the
tech side.
Almost all
travel businesses have used the down-time of Covid to invest in their tech
stack, whether consumer-facing or back- [...]
The OTA which applies AI skilfully wins: Agoda’s John Brown on the tech that differentiates
THE one piece of tech that could be a true differentiator for an OTA is “the skilful application of AI (artificial intelligence) that could make all the difference to really understanding your customer”.
Speaking at the WiT Travel Roadshow, Episode 3, John Brown, CEO, Agoda said, “AI is so [...]
Sustainability and tech converge to put pressure on business trips and events
New questions being asked – “Can this meeting be done virtually?” “What is your average carbon emission per travel day?”
FROM corporate travellers setting their own carbon goals
to how corporates reclassify “essential business trips”, it is clear that
corporate travel and meetings [...]
LINE Travel jp bets on chat and corporate travel, moves from meta to merchant model
Blurring of business and leisure creates opportunity for blended travel model, says Shibata
LINE TRAVEL jp is taking a bet on its future by blending the world of corporate travel with chat and, in the process, moving to a merchant-of-record model with its new chat-based corporate travel booking [...]
