An online trailblazer goes offline: Donggun Lee on his journey, the future, and physical stores
During a session titled ‘From Startup to Scaleup’ at WiT Seoul, Donggun Lee, CEO and founder of MyRealTrip, was invited to break his story down into its own ‘hero’s journey’. Popularised by author and mythologist Joseph Campbell in the 1940s, the Hero’s Journey concept suggests that ever [...]
Electric air taxis takeoff in 2024, Swiftie surge, and agents of influence
Australia noted a 446% week-over-week growth in booking volumes after Taylor Swift concert announcements in Melbourne and Sydney
Amadeus has released its 2024 travel trends and as pointed out by similar courtesy of Booking.com and Expedia, travel and hospitality continue to shift and evolve in this [...]
5 key takeaways from The Phocuswright Conference
Will artificial intelligence change travel booking forever? What’s the most important thing to consider when starting a company? Could Hopper become profitable soon? How should travel companies market to Gen Z on social media? Is Kayak under threat from one of its co-founders’ newest ventur [...]
WiT Podcast: Expedia’s Schulze and Nair on rising to the occasion in travel and hospitality
As a company, Expedia Group is no stranger to change - the company has been through many shifts in the travel and hospitality industry, from technological booms to slumps in the global economy, to the current AI revolution amidst a worldwide recovery phase.
Similarly, two travel veterans, Greg Sc [...]
TV shows influence travellers more than social media, destination dupes, and more trends
Taipei named top destination in 2024, while unexpected cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Edmonton, and Mexico City are tourism hotspots next year
Expedia has just released Unpack '24, a report offering a sneak peek into the upcoming travel trends for 2024. Combining first-party travel data and insights [...]
Airbnb acquires GamePlanner.AI, expands AI capabilities
Tech giant invests nearly $200 million in stealth AI startup founded by Siri co-creator
In its first acquisition since 2019 and first-ever as a public company, Airbnb has acquired GamePlanner.AI, a stealth 12-person AI company founded by Adam Cheyer and Siamak Hodjat. Adam Cheyer, known for co-foun [...]
Letter from New York: Sleep tourism’s the next big thing
From Booking.com’s “Reboot Retreaters” prediction to sleep suites in hotels, travellers are yearning for a good snooze
I suppose it is ironic that I am writing about sleep in a city that doesn’t sleep but travelling to New York on that epic 18-hour flight from Singapore has a tendency to se [...]
Bansko attracts nomads. Tackling ticket scammers. MATTA’s tiger tokens. More.
This week: Small Bulgarian town has become a magnet for digital nomads, sports ticket seller is kicking goals for travel professionals, e-wallets are opening across Malaysia and Airbnb cops a big fine in Italy.
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Move over, Bali: Bansko is where the nomads [...]
The possibilities & responsibilities of travel in the age of AI and tech
Report From the Global Travel Tech Thinktank at WiT Singapore 2023
The first Global Travel Tech Thinktank, held by WiT, Phocuswright and Phocuswire, in 2022, covered the theme of “How To Future Proof Travel: Resilience, Responsibility, Respect”.
A direct outcome of that Thinktank was the lau [...]
Microsoft and Tripadvisor on what OpenAI’s DevDay product announcements mean for travel
OpenAI has generated quite a bit of buzz this week since announcing several updates and new tools at its first developer conference on Monday.
OpenAI DevDay brought news of GPTs – customized versions of ChatGPT that anyone can create and keep private or share publicly in a soon-to-launch “GPT [...]
