Low cost and private accommodation changing travel in North Asia – WIT Japan & North Asia to home in on topical trends in June
Low cost airlines, private accommodation and the dispersal of tourism beyond the main hot spots will take the spotlight at the seventh edition of WIT Japan & North Asia which returns to Tokyo on June 28-29.
At the recent CAPA (Centre For Aviation) Global Low Cost Carrier (LCC) Summit [...]
TourScanner wants to make tours & activities easy to search, compare and book
Tours and activities has been a notoriously difficult and fragmented vertical to crack. Merchants are still in the process of transitioning from offline to online, and consumers typically book activities in-destination.
Nevertheless, the sector is attracting investment. Phocuswright valued the to [...]
Jane Sun: Shattering the ‘Glass Ceiling’ – Greater female presence needed for innovation
By Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip
Women have been asking for equal labor right and social status since the establishment of the International Women’s Day in 1910. It is common sense for a responsible company to provide equal career development and remuneration for women. According to the report by the� [...]
Airlines told, look east as China and South-east Asia drive distribution changes
Airlines, particularly, those in the West should start looking east, specifically, to China to understand where mobile, ecommerce and payments are headed. That was the message from Hugh Aiken, senior director of strategic partnerships, Skyscanner, at the recent CAPA Global LCC Summit, when asked abo [...]
WIT launches Indie event to champion creators of unique, local experiences
WIT is launching an Indie event aimed at empowering independents and creatives at the long tail of the travel experience. The first edition of WIT Indie will be held in Penang, Malaysia, on April 13, and is supported and sponsored by Penang Institute, one of Malaysia’s leading think tanks.
T [...]
US$11m richer, and RedDoorz makes first move into leasing and managing its own hotel
In the same week it announced raising a pre-Series B round of US$11m funding, Southeast Asia’s leading online budget hotel booking chain, RedDoorz, also made its move into the brick-and-mortar world by leasing and running its first property in Singapore.
The pre-Series B round comes as an addit [...]
WIT collaborates with Phocuswright to find APAC Innovators of the Year
WIT Startup Pitch Japan & North Asia 2018 now open for entries
WIT has teamed up with Phocuswright in a search for two APAC Innovators that will be given opportunities to fast track their business ideas to become successful ventures on the global stage.
The WIT Startup Pitch for bo [...]
Contiki launches chatbot Tiki, but asserts that travel agents are still all about the ‘human touch’
Millennial-geared tour operator Contiki has ramped up efforts to invest in smarter technology with the launch of its own chatbot, “Tiki” on Facebook Messenger.
Launched end of January, the chatbot is designed to help users (and agents) better understand which of the eight Contiki “travel st [...]
Longhaul low cost the next wave – airlines have to become ecommerce companies that fly
In the last 10 years, longhaul low cost airlines have mushroomed with international seats growing by 900%. Newcomer World Airways, the first longhaul LCC in the US, will be 100% digital and Millennial-focused while Cebu Pacific is trying to think of itself less as an engineering company but more of [...]
We in APAC are most vacation-deprived but guess who takes the lead?
Walking through Resorts World at Sentosa the other day, and spending time in Penang during the Chinese New Year festive period, It is hard to believe there are vacation-deprived folks in Asia. Both places were crowded with families and groups from all over Asia, with Chinese travellers clearly leadi [...]
