Eric Ricaurte: From voice in the wilderness to “travel’s most wanted man”
After years of toiling away at the fringe, Greenview finds its moment in time
FOR more than two decades, his was a voice in the wilderness. Although Eric Ricaurte started his company, Greenview, to focus on sustainability practices in hospitality, in 2008, the Singapore-based executive has been inv [...]
Budgets and options: Could “Save Now Buy Later” take off in travel?
Buy now, pay later - a form of credit that allows a consumer to pay off a purchase over time in smaller installments - has taken off in the travel industry in recent years.
From 2019 to 2021, the number of BNPL loans originated in the United States by five lenders grew by 970%, to 180 million loan [...]
Top of the WiT 15: Singapore doubling on tourism, Bookaway Group prepares for surge, coliving Spaces – slow burn or fast fad?
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.
On this week's episode, we talk about Singapore's tourism projections for the next twelve months and how it forecasts a doubling of tourism [...]
The “shopping cart” no longer evades travel as Agoda becomes one of the first to launch feature
IT’S interesting to note that, despite leading e-commerce transactions globally, travel and hospitality booking platforms have largely existed without this standard mechanism of online sales - the shopping cart.
This week, Agoda became one of the first online travel agencies to offer this fun [...]
Travellers go local when booking with OTAs
The big three OTAs – Booking.com, Agoda and Traveloka – topped the STAAH Booking Engine’s list as the top online booking channels worldwide that brought the highest booking revenue to hotels in 2022.
The top 10 online booking channels across the world are ranked as above, by STAAH.
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What do metaverse, ChatGPT mean for a destination like Singapore?
Blended answers, by man and machine
Keith Tan, chief executive officer of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), opened his agency’s media briefing this week by jesting, “I’d like to confirm that ChatGPT didn’t write the press release.” (See related article)
Curious, I decided to start a [...]
Tech In Travel: A new way of selling cruises; VR gains new friends; the sector that ‘knows too much’ but not enough; cruise ships get TikTok
Cruisebound, a new online travel agency for cruise travel, has launched with US$10 million in Series A funding, led by former Booking Holdings chairman and Priceline CEO Jeff Boyd and PAR Capital Ventures.
Other participants are TripAdvisor founder and former CEO Steve Kaufer, Concur founder and [...]
Bus, ferry, or train? Bookaway prepares for a surge as travellers return and China reopens
“We’re focusing on getting the business back post-Covid and scaling really, really fast with our existing operators.”
When we last spoke about Bookaway, it was Noam Toister, CEO and co-founder of Bookaway Group, who said that business in Asia was more affected than elsewhere because it was re [...]
Looking to double numbers in 2023, Singapore plots path to full recovery
Amid changing customer trends, STB to invest $110m in events, plans Rewards scheme
ON the Grab ride I took to attend the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) media briefing this morning – to unveil its 2022 tourism results – the driver told me he used to run one of Singapore’s top limousine transfer [...]
Guide: Consider humans first when building a sustainable AI system in Travel Product Distribution
Building a sustainable AI system for Travel Product Distribution is going to be on a lot of people’s minds in this coming year and beyond. So, what do we need to get right if we are to be players?
This post intends to outline what is required and, from a management point of view, what needs to be [...]
