Letter from the South China Sea: Time for unusual thinking, unorthodox partnerships and old-fashioned making money
Yeoh Siew Hoon gets stranded on a coral
reef off Cempedak and ponders the secrets of the travel universe as they were revealed
at last week’s WiT Singapore 2019.
The sun was about to call it a day when we set out on a boat from Cempedak Island off Bintan, Indonesia. Our destination was a coral [...]
WiT Singapore 2019: Alipay and Fliggy collaborate to provide seamless travel experience for tourists
A year on since she last spoke on the WiT Singapore stage in October 2018, much has changed in Cherry Huang’s life – from looking after Alipay cross-border payments for South-east Asia, she’s now the Head of Global Travel at Alibaba Group for the region, in charge of the development of both A [...]
Forter’s Whiteford on why travel is highly susceptible to fraud and how to fight it with tech, scale and network
Imagine how much bigger travel would be if we took on the bad guys collectively and with a level of sophistication that combines human intelligence with machine learning? That’s the message Angela Whiteford, chief marketing officer of Forter, wants to bring to WiT when she speaks at the Singapore [...]
WiT Singapore 2019: Allen Law, the good son steering Park Hotel Group into the digital future
How many of us can
say “well, my dad bought a hotel and asked me if I would run it”. Not many, I guess, but
that’s how Allen Law, CEO of Park Hotel Group, got his start in hospitality.
He was 24, studying mathematics in London, when his father, Law
Kar Po, called him, announcing the family [...]
How Zouba intends to build its way to become a meta-book marketplace for destination products
Malaysia-based GoQuo, which calls itself an “airline’s best friend” helping them sell ancillary revenues, has taken the plunge into the tours and activities space by launching Zouba (meaning “let’s go” in Mandarin), a “meta-book marketplace” for destination products.
“We’re a [...]
Asia Partners’ Rippel on why SEA could produce up to 30 unicorns and how he doesn’t want to miss it this time
Oliver Rippel, co-founder and partner of Asia Partners, believes South-east Asia could yield between 20 and 30 tech unicorns. And he believes there are only certain sectors that can have global network effects, the rest, which includes online travel, is where local heroes can win over global player [...]
How Sojern’s Travel Advertising report unearthed a stark difference in Asia and why it’s taking a more localised approach
When Stephen Taylor, chief revenue officer, was going through the results of Sojern’s 2019 Report on Travel Advertising, one finding stood out for him. “Driving direct bookings” was the biggest challenge cited by travel marketers in APAC (Asia Pacific) while globally, the biggest challenge [...]
In bid to differentiate meta-search service, LINE Travel jp plays Loyalty and Pay card
A year after its rebranding into LINE Travel jp, following a 34% equity investment by the messaging giant, Japan’s travel meta-search service will offer its customers a LINE Point-back service when they book and pay for travel bookings through its website effective September 25.
At the same t [...]
APAC key to driving pace of change and growth for Booking as it works on delivering “the connected trip”
The day I catch up with Angel Llull Mancas, the managing director for Booking.com, APAC, comes the news of the collapse of Thomas Cook Group, one of the most well-known brands in the history of travel. It is a shock yet not such a surprise, according to this analysis in Phocuswire.
“It shows
[...]
Marriott, Expedia team up on wholesale rates, marking a big step in the OTA-hotel relationship
The deal between Marriott International and Expedia Group which makes the OTA the exclusive global optimised distributor of Marriott's wholesale rates, availability and content to a network of global travel providers is a clear move by the hotel chain to tighten the leakage of wholesale rates and r [...]
