Expedia’s growth focus while giants play the long game in AI
The divide between big and small – will it grow bigger in age of AI?
After 19 years with Expedia Group, sporting a new role as chief commercial officer and president of travel partners and media since February and relocating from the US to London, Greg Schulze, speaking at Phocuswright Europe, sa [...]
Solve air problems with tech and commercial will follow, urges Trip’s Xing Xiong
AI “most powerful tool” – 15% efficiency improvement in engineering, 80% of queries answered by bots, 95% answered within 20 seconds
“Use tech to solve the problems and commercial will follow”. That was the central message delivered by Xing Xiong, COO of Trip.com Group, to the more than [...]
With “innovationism” as its new philosophy, Trip.com Group comes roaring back
Goal to be No 1 flight OTA in five years; robust growth driven by higher-tier members and youths
Trip.com Group is back and if you ever had any doubts about its resurgence and ambitions, well, those were swept away by the mighty and impressive show of force it put on for its Envision 2024 Global Pa [...]
Traveloka’s secret sauce – mastery in one market, localisation amid expansion and focus on customer service
Why the South-east Asian OTA could serve as role model for Japan’s OTAs
Twelve years on, and despite massive competition in the South-east Asian region it calls home, Traveloka remains a formidable force to be reckoned with, with a total of 130+ million downloads across the six markets it operate [...]
The quandaries humans in travel tech face in their journey towards AI La La Land
From getting away from “curse of the search box”, to reimagining user interfaces, and delivering on the “AI Agent Era”, human revolution needed to answer the hard questions AI is posing. And no, AI does not have the answer.
Both a human revolution is needed amid the technology revolut [...]
Aviasales sees growth in travel between Central Asia and GCC
Metasearch platform Aviasales has reported a significant increase in travel activity between Central Asian states and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
Speaking at the recent Phocuswright WiT Middle East 2024, Anton Baitsur, CEO, said the increase highlights growing economic and cul [...]
Letter from Tokyo: The human-machine and tradition-innovation dance unfolding in Japan
Inbound rush, outbound slump, new tech and travellers shaping future of travel – how will it play out in Japan? WiT Japan & North Asia 2024 had it all covered.
There is no better place in the world to observe the twin revolutions of human and technology unfolding at this time than in Japan, a [...]
From the revolution in human-machine interface, to transformation of the Middle East, it’s all happening here
Key takeaways from Phocuswright WiT Middle East
There’s nothing like being on the ground, and getting around, to feel the energy and vitality of a region on the move and my trip, covering Saudi and Dubai, this time left me with no doubt that this is a market that will shape the future of global [...]
Hotels’ digital revenue hits record high, Asia leading direct booking trends
In D-EDGE's latest Hotel Distribution Report for 2024, an analysis of the past five years reveals big shifts in online booking behavior, especially following the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report, which draws from the data of almost 5,000 independent hotels and small hotel gro [...]
Why Caravelo’s betting it all on subscriptions
Launching rail product, eyeing corporate travel and expansion to Asia
Born and raised in Pamplona, Inaki Uriz knows better than to take part in the Running of the Bulls, the annual festival which was immortalized by Ernest Hemingway in his book “The Sun Also Rises”.
“I’d never risk my [...]
