Theme parks riding high on recovery wave in APAC, says IAAPA
First physical event since pandemic set to convene in Singapore in June
For an industry that plunged 67% in 2020, the global theme and amusement park market is back on top and attractions in Asia Pacific are recording revenues exceeding 2019 levels, according to June Ko, executive director and vic [...]
GlobalTix’s GT Pay, Sentosa’s NFT campaign win in Singapore Tourism Awards
GlobalTix’s new payments product, GT Pay, and Sentosa Development Corporation’s marketing campaign of “Discovery Neverending NFTs” were among the 25 recipients recognised at the Singapore Tourism Awards 2023, announced today.
The two won in the Enterprise Excellence category. GT Pay was [...]
Meet the 25 pitching at Round 1 of Global Startup Pitch
Twenty travel tech startups plus five wildcard participants have been selected for the first round of the Global Startup Pitch. The competition, which is in its second year, is jointly produced by WiT and Phocuswright.
They were selected out of a crop of more than 120 entries received for the [...]
Yanolja Cloud buys Israel’s Go Global Travel to fuel global expansion
Continuing its expansion to bring K-tech to the hospitality and leisure world, Yanolja Cloud has announced the acquisition of Go Global Travel (GGT), an Israeli B2B travel technology company, which distributes its inventory of more than one million hotels and other travel products from 200 countries [...]
Is it a garden? A park? Oh, it’s the Pan Pacific Orchard
New build hotel decked out in 200% foliage makes debut June 1
His first hotel opening was the Crowne Plaza Chengdu in 1996 and when the new Pan Pacific Orchard soft opens on June 1, it will be Marcel Holman’s seventh opening – and he openly admits it, it’s a whole new world when it comes to h [...]
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 [...]
“People like Hugo are hard to find”: Stephan Ekbergh
Stephan Ekbergh, CEO of Travelstart, shares this ode to Hugo Burge
I met Hugo Burge first in 2001. He had started Cheapflights. I ran Travelstart and had just acquired a small business in Ireland called Openjet. Openjet was the first to properly do mix and match bookings with LCCs and GDSes.
[...]
Goodbye, Hugo Burge, a gentle soul who made a difference
I was first introduced to Hugo Burge by Rod Cuthbert. It was sometime 2011. Rod said to me, “You know that debate you run, you need someone English to do it, someone who can do a proper debate in proper English.”
In the end, Hugo did not take part in the debate – he was way too gentle a sou [...]
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 [...]
