Traveloka launches Xperience in bid to be travel and lifestyle platform
In its bid to become a travel and lifestyle platform – it does not like the term “superapp”, I was told by Traveloka executives – the Indonesian-based OTA has launched Traveloka Xperience for consumers to discover travel and lifestyle activities.
Christian Suwarna, senior vice presiden [...]
Letter from Kanazawa: Having a “kimono” moment in Japan’s New Golden Age
“Are we moving already?” We had not even put away our bags, let alone sat down and settled, when we realised the Shinkansen was already in motion. 11.35 to be exact.
We are headed to Kanazawa after an intense two days of WiT Japan & North Asia where the talk was about how tech was [...]
Travala.com: Asia more advanced than Europe in cryptocurrency adoption
Travala.com, a blockchain-based hotel booking platform headquartered in London, says his bookings show that Asia is currently “more advanced than Europe” in the adoption of cryptocurrency in the travel space.
“At the moment, cryptocurrency adoption is still in its early stages, b [...]
The Samurai swords are out in travel – Hughes calls out Google as an OTA, LINE reveals its superapp Pay power
A high-intensity Samurai “tate” swordfight opened the eighth WiT Japan & North Asia last week, leading some to draw a parallel with the growing competition in online travel. Certainly, the online share of the region’s market continues to grow but there’s no doubt that the intensity of t [...]
New Core Experience chief at TripAdvisor wants to bring empathy and human-centredness to build brand love
Coming from a non-travel background, Lindsay Nelson is keen to bring in fresh thinking and ideas to her role as president, Core Experience, TripAdvisor, a responsibility she describes as “bringing consumer empathy to TripAdvisor”.
“We are a content company, an information platform. It is [...]
The story of Samurai Workout and how it wants to share Samurai spirit with travellers
Samurai Workout
opened the eighth WiT Japan & North Asia Main Stage in Tokyo today. Here’s
the story of how a Samurai swordfighter got into travel and how they want to
tell the story of Samurai to travellers.
Hiroki Noguchi was 14 years old when he first saw a Shinichi
(Sonny) Chiba movie [...]
Pricing and distribution havoc hits in-destination with rise of OTAs: Klook’s Fan predicts shift to dynamic pricing
Tours, as a category in travel, have been around since the beginning of well, travel. Laurent Kuenzle, CEO of destination management company Asian Trails, subtly reminded delegates attending Arival last week in Bangkok, “We’ve been doing tours since the beginning, tours are our DNA, experiences [...]
Agoda sees Yanolja stake as opportunity to break “wall between booking and on-property experience”
Booking Holdings’ investment into South Korean accommodation startup, Yanolja, its first foray into that market, was motivated by two key factors – the market opportunity as well as Yanolja’s unique model “which includes tens of thousands of hotels installed on its PMS”, said Agoda’s vi [...]
Boosted by General Atlantic deal, Kiwi.com wants to take virtual interlining to new highs
If Oliver Dlouhý, founder and chief executive officer of Kiwi.com, has his way, one day he will be able to fly on an unmanned civilian flight from Brno, the small town where he lives in Czech Republic, to any major European airport and connect to anywhere in the world.
Indeed, that was the reas [...]
How one Japanese genius detective boy whipped up a frenzy in Singapore
Yeoh Siew Hoon caught “Detective Conan: The Fist of Blue Sapphire” in action at the Singapore premiere and goes behind the scenes to find out why this first-to-be-set-outside-Japan-in-24-years manga and anime movie matters so much to Singapore tourism and the future of Japanese outbound.
It [...]
