Enter The Wood Dragon: What happened in 1964 and what will happen this year, even AI cannot tell us
Well, the dragons are out in full force as the Chinese community all over the world prepare for their Lunar New Year, the year that will welcome in the Wood Dragon on February 10.
In Singapore, in one week, I saw all shapes and colours of dragons – from the Crystal Dragon that swooped into the Ma [...]
Travelwings, now in 27 African countries, seeks to transform continent
Local payments the door opener to continent’s e-commerce potential, says CEO Albert Fernando
As the founder and CEO of Travelwings, Africa’s leading online travel agency, Albert Fernando’s dream is to create new job opportunities in travel and e-commerce across the continent.
“There are [...]
Letter from Bangkok: Weaving Sookjai (happiness) into an organic tourism experience
TOCA to link carbon credits calculations to hotels' “green practices”
The day I landed in Bangkok, social media had literally gone wild with the video of the woman driving in an open-top Bentley with a chained lion in the backseat.
For those of us familiar with Thailand, this is one of those [...]
Travel + Leisure Co acquires Accor Vacation Club
Travel + Leisure Co. (NYSE:TNL), the world’s leading membership and leisure travel company, announced an agreement to acquire the vacation ownership business of global hospitality giant Accor (AC:FP) for US$48.4 million. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024 and to be i [...]
Mistletoe grows; new αFund seeks to raise $300m-$400m for positive impact investments
Fund started by Taizo Son and Atsushi Tarai buys SoftBank Ventures, aims to build ecosystem of “like-minded investors and founders”
After eight years of running the global seed stage innovation driven impact vehicle, Mistletoe, as a family fund, co-founders Atsushi Taira and Taizo Son are rea [...]
Is this the moment for audio tours? Viator’s Dines not prepared to call it yet
Accelerate 2.0 to bring more tour operators onboard marketplace; Asia sees “enthusiastic bounceback”
Before she joined Tripadvisor in 2018, Sarah Dines, Chief Commercial Officer of Viator, spent most of her career in audio guide, including as CEO of Discovery Channel’s Antenna International [...]
MyRealTrip raises $56m in new fund raise to continue transformation to travel superapp
It’s good news for the tours and activities as well as APAC travel market as Korea-based MyRealTrip announced a raise of $56.7 million (75.6 billion KRW) in a Series F equity round of funding to accelerate its business and product innovation and ramp up its hiring.
This follows the $210m raise [...]
The Human Revolution goes to Africa – world’s biggest population by 2030
WiT, Innovation City and Travelstart team up to hold travel tech event in Cape Town March 14-15
WiT (Web in Travel), the leading travel tech conference and media in Asia Pacific, will launch its African edition in Cape Town, South Africa, on March 14-15, 2024.
To be held in partnership with Inn [...]
Money, sustainability and tech dominate talk in hospitality boardrooms
Sensor Flow wins HICAP's first Tech Challenge, showing what's top of mind for hotel executives
In moderating the “Views From the Boardroom” panel, at the HICAP hospitality investment conference last week, I did some homework to find out how boardroom conversations in hospitality companies had c [...]
GHA’s investment in direct booking pays off, $70m saved in commissions
Hospitality CEOs on brand loyalty, tech investments and cybersecurity risks
The Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) has been able to save up to $70m in commissions payouts to third parties since it built its direct booking platform, said Christopher Hartley, CEO of the world’s largest alliance of i [...]
