Bye TikTok, Hello AI. Easier payments. Qatar’s try-before-fly.
AI, it’s the only way to plan travel.
A survey of US travellers has found more than one third — 36% —said they are likely to use AI to research or plan travel within the next 12 months.
The survey was conducted by travel publisher Matador Network, which recently launched the personal AI tr [...]
Mapping cherry blossoms in Japan. Airbus helps elephants. Hopper’s risky business, more
Flickr’s role in cherry blossom research
Research by Monash University experts has tracked Japanese hanami (flower viewing) via social media images, producing a remarkable map of cherry blossoms across Japan to document their annual bloom and calculate its peak in major cities.
The study gathe [...]
Travel demand surpasses pre-Covid levels; Asia-Pacific airlines leading recovery
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced continued strong passenger traffic demand in April.
The revival of domestic travel has been nothing short of remarkable, with a substantial 42.6% surge in April compared to the previous year. In fact, domestic travel has now not o [...]
Let’sfly sets up HQ in Singapore to “go deep” into low cost airline content
Dusting off the aftermath of the pandemic, Let’sfly, the Chinese flight platform which prides itself on providing good quality low cost airline content via direct API, is building up its global team to expand beyond China.
The flight platform, which started in 2014 focused on providing low [...]
Top of the WiT 24: Ready for China, understanding India, and Google ARCore digitises Singapore
Top Of The WiT is a grab of the trendiest news that happened this week in travel, tech and Asia - all condensed into a quick-and-easy nugget-sized podcast.
In this episode, listen to Juliana Kua's (Assistant Chief Executive, International Group, Singapore Tourism Board) take on the online travel [...]
Asian Development Bank charts impact of pandemic on Southeast Asia aviation industry
Southeast Asia's aviation industry has taken a significant hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with an estimated loss of $17 billion in revenue in 2020, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). However, the ADB has proposed a range of strategies to aid in the post-pandemic recovery o [...]
Future of Extended Reality; eating “phygital” chocolate; Air NZ’s digital goals; More
McKinsey’s take on the future of XR in travel
McKinsey and Co, in an extensive new report, has posed the question, ‘Can travel go virtual’, can the travel industry grab a US$20 billion opportunity offered by the metaverse.
The answer? Yes, no and maybe.
McKinsey suggests it’s time for [...]
9 things we learned at ATE23: Australia recaptures Indian market, Ruby is a hit, visa applications, more
2300 delegates, 623 buyers from 32 countries, and a whopping 45,000 meetings. Those were the numbers that painted the 43rd edition of Tourism Australia’s largest annual trade event, Australian Tourism Exchange 2023 (ATE23) last week.
Hosted on the Gold Coast, Queensland across 5 days, this yea [...]
Unstoppable India: Aviation activity steps up, travel rebounds, middle class set to surge
Sabre highlights key travel trends in the world's most populous country, as of April 2023
A key milestone in the world was passed in April when India’s population reached 425,775,850 people, matching and then surpassing the population of China.
Marking this landmark moment, the UN in this repo [...]
