GetYourGuide and STB in pact to develop and promote Singapore tours and experiences globally
GetYourGuide, the global marketplace for travel experiences, and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), have signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen the development, distribution and promotion of Singapore’s diverse tourism tours and experiences to travelers around the world. [...]
Food, identity & tourism: The story grown when no one is watching
A soil scientist by accident, a MasterChef alum turned custodian of culture, and a data analyst who’s read 1,300 diners’ minds walked into a Queenstown pre-lunch session – and ended up agreeing on the same verdict: New Zealand’s food story is still “emerging”.
That was the key takeawa [...]
Letter from The Cotswolds: Pretty little villages, naked gardens, buried bodies
In Wiltshire, in the Cotswolds Area, there is a tiny, sweet village called Castle Combe. Despite its name, it has no castle, but visiting it, I couldn’t help but think that the villagers living there (last count: 326) wished they had a fortress and moat to keep out the visitors.
It was past six [...]
Unfinished business: Inside the founding of Flagship Group
When I put it to Stephen Oddo that buying back into the tours and activities business he’d built and sold looked a lot like unfinished business, he answered rather reticently. “To a certain degree, for sure,” he said, and then proceeded at some length to explain it off as a “happy coincidenc [...]
Resilient travel demand for GCC destinations signals recovery potential through the end of 2026
Travel intelligence analysis by The Data Appeal Company finds that, while the February escalation triggered an immediate shock to travel sentiment and hotel demand across the GCC, travellers have progressively become less reactive to renewed tensions—pointing to strong recovery potential if disrup [...]
The red ocean of content: Who still makes travellers move?
“3 years ago, when we launched Kreatorverse, it was an experiment. Last year, it was starting to form a structure. This year, we see scale,” said Wilfred Fan, Chief Commercial Officer of Klook.
Then came the warning.
“When things start to scale, it becomes a red ocean. There are too many [...]
As AI changes how we book travel, iWander bets on how we actually explore
iWander co-founder and CEO Marius Nigond on building AI-guided walking tours for a generation of travelers who want spontaneity, not a fixed itinerary
Travel planning is being influenced by AI faster than almost any other part of the industry. Google just moved agentic hotel booking out of pilot mo [...]
Kiwi legends: What fear, wonder and connection have in common
Five leaders of some of New Zealand’s most recognisable tourism brands – ski fields, jet boats, bungy jumping, conservation cruises and Māori-owned experiences – sat down with WiT founder Yeoh Siew Hoon to unpack what actually makes an experience iconic. The consensus, delivered from five ver [...]
Destinations: How to keep the heart of travel beating strong amid AI disruption and hallucinations
Rod Cuthbert opened his panel on “Destinations: Demand, Sustainability, Tech” at WiT Queenstown, with a confession: he’d asked his own AI system to name the world’s single best destination at marketing itself. The answer came back New Zealand, “by a country mile.”
The Tourism Tasmania [...]
Guardians of place: Lee Ann Muntz on culturalising commerce, not commercialising culture
A couple of months before my coffee chat with Lee Ann Muntz, a board member of the Māori Tourism Board, a line she had said in the Zoom call had stuck with me. “We don’t commercialise culture. We culturalise commerce.”
I wanted to get deeper into that during our conversation. But first, I wa [...]
