Posts by Tabbi Maitland
Investing in hybrid tech, creating new products and experiences, RWS prepares for a post-pandemic future
23/09/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
THE WiT Travel Roadshow Episode 5 made a bit of history by being the first hybrid broadcast event to be staged at the RWS Convention Centre, which has been re-purposed for events in these extraordinary times. Speaking to WiT, RWS vice-president of business innovation, Lam Xue Ying tells us that [...]
Meet three new traveller personas – Wander Must, Mindful Explorer and Slow Pacer
16/09/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
STB’s “Global Conversations” sheds light on new traveller types and how to woo them AS part of its SingapoReimagine Global Conversations series, launched last week, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is preparing the industry for the emergence of three types of travellers – Wander Must, t [...]
Asia’s two success stories, ixigo and Yanolja, pursue different paths to growth
09/09/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
ixigo digs deeper into India’s NBU, Yanolja fans out across the world IF a collaboration announcement is made between ixigo and Yanolja, just remember you heard it first at the WiT Travel Roadshow Episode 6, where the CEOs of the Indian and South Korean companies joined WiT founder Yeoh Siew H [...]
A saxophonist and a songbird walk into a bar…
02/09/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
NOW that might sound like the setup for a punchline, but if you were referring to musician-composer Daniel Chia, and Singapore’s own Glamour Vintage Songbird, Miss Lou, it could also be the start of their set. The musical duo who are the co-founders of Loudandclear – a Creative Collective t [...]
Focus on customer needs pays off for Airbnb as Q2 revenues jump 300%
20/08/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
LONGER stays, rural places, virtual Olympic tours – all part of strategy in APAC to keep engaged Focusing on what it can control and responding quickly to customer and host needs has clearly paid off for Airbnb which reported a 300% year-on-year jump in revenues in its second quarter to US $1 [...]
Detours and pit-stops but Dream Drive stays the course
12/08/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
EVEN when travel returns, the pandemic will still be part of our reality, could Dream Drive provide the flexibility and self-sufficiency that will get travellers on the road again? Jared Campion, the founder of the start-up that won WiT Singapore’s Start-up Pitch 2020, believes it can. But he� [...]
Strength to strength – WiT Startup Pitch alum Split goes 0 to 700 amid pandemic
11/08/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
"The headwinds of Covid became tailwinds for our pivot", says Dylan Tan WHEN Dylan Tan and co-founder Vishvesh Suriyanarayanan made the decision to pivot their start-up Split in March 2020, it was a move borne of desperation. Sixteen months on, instead of desperation, it looks like inspiration t [...]
Sustainability: Don’t sell or tell, show it
06/08/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
“It should be a jailable offence to greenwash”, says Bouteco’s Kinsman IF there was one key message from Episode 5 of the WiT Travel Roadshow last Thursday, it is that it is the industry’s opportunity to turn “revenge travel” into “beautiful travel” by putting sustainability prin [...]
As Singapore waits for open borders, time to celebrate local champions
29/07/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
THE first virtual Singapore Tourism Awards held this week opened with a glimmer of hope for an industry forced to survive on domestic when Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong alluded to a tourism reopening roadmap over the next few months. Mentioning “group travel” with safe itinera [...]
Thrust Carbon finds sweet spot in corporate travel programmes
23/07/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
EVERY startup needs to find its product-market-fit moment and it appears that for Thrust Carbon, which came out of an IATA hackathon in 2019, its time has arrived. According to Glenn Thorsen, director of partnerships, Thrust Carbon started out as an offset API that plugged into airline checkout [...]