Events
Sustainability and tech converge to put pressure on business trips and events
01/06/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
New questions being asked – “Can this meeting be done virtually?” “What is your average carbon emission per travel day?” FROM corporate travellers setting their own carbon goals to how corporates reclassify “essential business trips”, it is clear that corporate travel and meetings [...]
Middle East trade heralds return of physical Arabian Travel Market as the push needed in recovery
21/05/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
'Let's get back to business' sentiment prevails THE physical return of the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai has been heralded as a signal of positive things to come for the travel and tourism industry in the Middle East. And while it wasn’t as busy compared to previous years, the overall sentime [...]
Putting Mixed Reality to the road test
18/05/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
How WiT and Marina Bay Sands teamed up to co-create a story IN the absence of real travel, one has to use the powers of imagination, aided by technology, to travel with the mind. I recently had the opportunity to put to the road-test the new Mixed Reality capability at the Marina Bay Sands� [...]
Global OTAs face being squeezed by twin forces in South-east Asia
11/05/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
Asia Partners’ Rippel on trends accelerated by Covid and the building of unicorns in the region IN March this year, Singapore-based growth equity investment firm Asia Partners closed its inaugural fund at US$384 million in commitments. During the WiT Travel Roadshow, Episode 2, we sat down wi [...]
The multi-pivots of an urban hotel on a small island during Covid
11/05/2021 by WiT
From e-commerce vending to farming and hybrid studio, the things Fairmont and Swissotel The Stamford did to keep going through a pandemic THE story of how Fairmont Singapore and Swissôtel The Stamford (combined 2,030 rooms) with the Raffles City Convention Centre (70,000 square feet of event sp [...]
Global or local, the future of travel looks bright
10/05/2021 by Tabbi Maitland
IN December 2020, international arrivals were down 74% from a year prior. The World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) predicted the pandemic would set international travel back to the levels of 30 years ago. On the day of WiT’s second travel roadshow Singapore experienced 16 locally transmitted Covid- [...]
Amid the constant setbacks, the good that came out of Covid
06/05/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
“DO you think this thing will ever end?” asked my niece this week as Singapore announced a tightening of Covid restrictions – groups of eight to five, workforce in office back to 50%, events down from 750 pax to 250 pax (with pre-event testing), three-week quarantine for travellers from “hi [...]
AC, Which Way Forward? The different roads that have diverged in travel
06/05/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
“TW0 roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less travelled by,And that has made all the difference.”So penned Robert Frost in “The Road Not Taken”. Well, it seems that on the long, long road to recovery AC (After Covid), more than two roads have diverged in travel and all [...]
From dog cruises to creepy tours, Ice Cream and Slingshot, Singapore rides out Covid and prepares for the future
08/04/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Technology and sustainability at the heart of change THE Year of No Travel may well be “one of the most fertile periods” in the Singapore tourism sector, with new products, experiences and bundled packages being launched, said Keith Tan, chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), [...]
Hold your horses. Just because you have been vaccinated doesn’t mean you can suddenly travel again.
08/04/2021 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
THAT wasn’t exactly how Singapore’s Minister For Trade and Industry, Chan Chun Sing, phrased it Wednesday morning (April 7) at the Tourism Industry Conference but that was what he meant when asked what vaccinations would mean for Singaporeans travelling out and visitors coming in. “We shou [...]