Letter from Tokyo: Ramen ritual, love robots, a dog and an eel
One of the reasons I love visiting Tokyo is that in a single day, you can be transported to the future – catching a glimpse of what the world might become – and then, just hours later, be pulled gently back in time, into a place of exquisite taste, deep tradition and unexpected warmth.
This [...]
The albatross that had to be let go
Even as we charge pell-mell into the future, it’s good, necessary, even, to take a walk back into the past to understand how we got to where we are today.
This week, I did exactly that. I visited The Albatross File: Singapore’s Independence Declassified, a permanent (actually it’s five years [...]
The direct booking secret no algorithm can beat
This week, a front desk executive succeeded where technology failed – she made me rethink my booking behaviour with a single human act. No algorithm. No AI layer. No vibe coding. Just awareness, initiative and follow-through.
Last week I checked into Amari Boulevard Kuala Lumpur. Since we launch [...]
Me, my avatar and I: Can travel keep it real in an AI-built world?
What happens to travel when so much of what we see online – destinations, experiences, even people – may have been created by AI? That was the question at the heart of the “Me, My Avatar and I” session at TOURISE 2025, which I moderated.
How do we keep it real online and manage traveller [...]
Oh no, not another “Traveller Trend” piece: Shut up and listen to me
I know. I know. You’re sick to death of yet another report predicting traveller trends, from “Dry Tourism” – people drinking less alcohol these days – to “Romantasy Retreats” – rejecting reality – and “Shelf-ie Tourism” – unique supermarket finds.
Personally, I’d love th [...]
Golden age for SMEs provided they seize the AI moment
“Without data, SMEs can’t scale. Without SMEs, the ecosystem loses meaning.”
By the time the SME-focused panel on “Smarter Tourism: Scaling Strategies For Success” was held on the third and final day of TOURISE in Riyadh, one message had been echoing across the corridors – it is time th [...]
Different origins, same destination: Inside Asia’s three OTA journeys to the future
AirAsia MOVE’s social pivot, Traveloka’s scrappy reinvention, and Rakuten’s ecosystem edge show that the future of travel may be powered by tech, but fuelled by people.
If the past 20 years were about putting travel online, the next 20 will be about keeping it human, while algorithms, agents, [...]
2026: A Year To Stand Out, Stay Open and Fight One Battle After Another
While everyone was traipsing round the world during the holiday season, I stayed home and watched the world go by, in posts, reels, streams and stories. When did the world become such a stage where everyone is an actor in their own movie?
In between these bouts of voyeurism, I visited local place [...]
Holding the line, shaping the future: Agoda’s Omri Morgenshtern on AI, trust and why Asia will define the next travel era
Phocuswright 2025 opened with a quiet but unmistakable shift in narrative: for the first time in its history, the conference handed its opening spotlight to a brand from Asia. And on centre stage stood Omri Morgenshtern, CEO of Agoda, a company celebrating 20 years and increasingly shaping how the f [...]
Booking Holdings’ Rob Ransom on disruption, distribution and the next travel unicorn
At Phocuswright, in a conversation that oscillated between realism and optimism, Rob Ransom, Chief Strategy Officer of Booking Holdings, laid out how the world’s largest online travel company is thinking about the most consequential shift since the dawn of online travel: the rise of AI-powered dis [...]
