Now everyone’s in the same boat as Expedia secures $3.2b financing and names a new captain
Even before Covid-19 struck, it had been rocky seas for Expedia Group. The 3,000 layoffs and cost cuts it did, which was played out in full glare on social media, pre-empted the pandemic to come. Little did we know at the time that the same fate was to befall thousands upon thousands of more people [...]
To everyone feeling “cosmically lonely”, here’s to what we miss and doing it again
There’s a point in the book “Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold” by Stephen Fry when he writes about Zeus complaining about being “cosmically lonely” – sitting on his throne like the God that he is and all he does is grant wishes to people and listen to their problems.
He then brainstor [...]
Survive, innovate, collaborate, then look to the future. What will travel look like in the new normal?
The first priority is survival. “This is the opportunity to fix the problems in our business,” said Stephan Ekbergh, CEO, Travelstart, during WiT Virtual’s Middle East Forum held last week. “Then if you manage to survive, you have to innovate. We innovate best under pressure.”
Stephan [...]
Post-Covid-19 will see a war for talent, says PageGroup’s Anthony Thompson
With
Covid-19 continuing to disrupt all aspects of life – professionally and
personally, Anthony Thompson, Regional Managing Director, Asia; Executive Board
Director of recruitment firm, PageGroup described the crisis as “one big battle
being played out at different times and scale in different [...]
The making of SG Virtual Choir: An unorthodox collaboration in time of coronavirus
How the Singapore Tourism Board came together with Voices of Singapore to make beautiful music together
When Voices of Singapore (VOS), a not-for-profit choral organisation, found their festival cancelled and realised that they would not be able to hold physical events for the forseeable future, [...]
In this, we are all absolute beginners – here’s to starting anew, bloopers and all
Speaking to Australian Gold Olympian athlete Chloe Dalton yesterday in WiT Virtual about building range and resilience, one other talk came to mind – champion skateboarder Rodney Mullen saying that the moment his winning streak ended was his moment of liberation – because that’s when he had n [...]
How Chloe Dalton Googled her way to an Olympic gold, and how range and resilience will get her through
Olympian gold medalist Chloe Dalton, who has played three different sports at the highest competitive levels, addressed a travel community on WiT Virtual to talk about how having both range and resilience took her to the Olympic gold podium in the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Listening
to her story, it [...]
Covid-19 hits Singapore hotel sector hard, but impact is buffered by government’s quick response
Phocuswright’s
special series “Covid-19 Hotel Forecast: Singapore” has cited Singapore as “an
excellent example of how the hotel industry is impacted by the interplay of
viral spread, government policy and social behavior – both at home and outside
its borders.”
Yet, the unpredictabl [...]
Your plane is clean but is it safe? A plan for “safe flight protocol”
Answer no. And it’s not the airline’s fault. World flying has dwindled to a trickle. On any given day it's a fraction of normal. Traffic through the airports in USA have fallen to less than 5% of normal for the past week in the USA. China had only 15% of airline passengers in February 2020 [...]
Covid-19 exposed weaknesses in value chain, collaboration needed to improve product and back-end automation
During its darkest days in the eye of the storm, Trip.com found itself handling “tens of thousands” of domestic flights and hotels cancellations a day. Thankfully, Yudong Tan, CTO and vice president, flight business, who described that time as “really bad”, said the group had invested heavi [...]
