Vio Travel could automate 99% of bookings. Its CEOs explain why they won’t.
It’s also the first DMC in Asia to pass a 100% sustainability audit
Vio Travel has spent the last few years trying to fix a problem most travel agents know all too well, which is building multi-country itineraries by hand is slow, messy, and inconsistent. The company has combined direct supplie [...]
The leaps made and those to come: Stephan Ekbergh on building in Africa
25 years in, Travelstart’s founder is still restless, still betting, and still asking the question: what’s next?
It probably comes from having lived the last 25 years amid the natural landscapes of Cape Town, South Africa. In his interview at WiT Phocuswright Middle East in Barcelona, Stephan E [...]
Japan’s secondary cities in the search bar: Why alternative corridors are winning next-gen discovery
The travel search interface has officially fragmented. Discovery is no longer about generating links; it is about answer generation. Driven by AI-curated "Zero-Click" context and vertical video validation across TikTok, Reels, and Shorts, travelers are trading traditional keywords for contextual, wi [...]
From Mykonos to Red Sea, from beach vibe to luxury hospitality: The building of Nammos
Carolyn Turnbull on luxury with personality and why she didn’t run a mile when the war started
Carolyn Turnbull grew up four hours south of Sydney, in a small country town where, she says with a grin, the sleeves stay rolled up.
She has since led luxury hotels across Asia for Aman, run destina [...]
The country you think you know (but don’t): Florian Sengstschmid on marketing Azerbaijan
Before my interview with Florian Sengstschmid, CEO of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board, at WiT Phocuswright Middle East, I asked Claude, give me three good reasons to visit Azerbaijan.
Claude, having apparently tracked my recent interest in Dylan Thomas’s birthplace in Wales, came back with three a [...]
The Ground Shift: 10 things we now know
Gathering the key takeaways from WiT Phocuswright Middle East 2026
“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” I simply had to open WiT Phocuswright Middle East last week in Barcelona with the opening line from Charles Dickens’ The Tale of Two Cities.
It felt apt – an event t [...]
Africa’s live events boom: The continent is ready for its mega-concert moment
From Springbok sell-outs to Formula E, South Africa is proving it can host world-class live events. But infrastructure gaps, rising costs and a talent drain are holding the continent back from its full potential.
The numbers don't lie
The global live events industry is on a tear. Valued at [...]
Japan’s travellers have already embraced AI. Its travel brands are still catching up
In Japan, artificial intelligence has quietly become part of how people approach travel. Consumers have absorbed the technology into their planning with little fanfare, even as many of the businesses they ultimately book with have been slower to respond.
That divergence between travellers who hav [...]
Inside the storm: Wego’s Veitch caught between anxiety and excitement
As a leader heading an OTA inside the storm of the Middle East conflict, Ross Veitch, co-founder and CEO of Wego, finds himself caught between two emotional states.
“One gives me anxiety,” he said, when asked what was keeping him awake – the geopolitical instability reshaping the Middle Eas [...]
Travel is reorganising along “paths of least resistance”
Expedia’s Michael Dykes says an Asia-to-Asia boom is underway
The ideal the travel industry dreamt about – the global traveller – the passport-holding, visa-free, frictionlessly mobile citizen of the world – is less real today than it’s ever been, said Michael Dykes, Vice President, Mark [...]
