South-east Asia’s Grab secures US$200 million investment from Booking Holdings
South-east Asia’s largest ride hailing firm Grab has scored another huge investment – US$200 million from US travel giant Booking Holdings as part of a strategic partnership between the two companies.
Booking Holdings said its investment in Grab was in recognition of the company “as the lea [...]
Travelport says it’s first GDS to offer NDC flight booking
Travelport has taken a step ahead of its rival GDSs (global distribution system) by claiming to be the first to manage live flight bookings with IATA New Distribution Capability (NDC) content.
The travel commerce company said the first transaction was made by a British agency, Meon Valley Trave [...]
BeMyGuest unveils Xplore, a new booking system designed for Asia’s travel operators
BeMyGuest, Asia’s largest B2B aggregator of attractions, tours and activities, has launched Xplore described as “Asia’s first locally relevant digital solution for Asian travel experiences”.
Introduced at last week’s ITB Asia in Singapore, the booking system and channel manager are “s [...]
Kinnevik and Temasek lead US$150m round for travel booking platform GoEuro
Berlin travel startup GoEuro has received fresh funding of US$150 million, described as “one of the largest-ever investment rounds in Germany”, doubling its total capital raised to date.
Kinnevik AB, a Swedish investment firm, and Temasek, an investment company headquartered in Singapore, led [...]
WiT Singapore 2018: MakeMyTrip’s Deep Kalra shares thoughts on the “secret sauce”, game changers and what excites him
MakeMyTrip’s chairman and group CEO Deep Kalra is often a favourite on our WiT stage because India is just that exciting and MakeMyTrip has been a key figure in the online travel community there. This time, Kalra shared about his journey from harder times to better, more promising ones, and what h [...]
WiT Singapore 2018: Expedia and Traveloka – a collaborative partnership of global might and local power
In mid-2017 one of the biggest news that hit the world of online travel was Expedia Group investing US$350 million in Indonesian OTA Traveloka, making it South-east Asia’s first travel unicorn.
Greg Schulze, senior vice president, commercial strategy and services, Expedia Group, said then, “W [...]
Through The Looking Glass of Cempedak Island: 8 Key Takeaways from WiT Singapore 2018
After an intense three days of “Through The Looking Glass”, my mind is still sparking neurons even though I am now safely esconsced on a private island in Bintan, Indonesia.
Cempedak has, for the last two years, become my go-to escape after WiT Singapore 2018. I saw the all-bamboo resort whil [...]
WiT Singapore 2018: Singapore Tourism Board shares lessons in Destination Marketing 2.0: it’s about being agile, bold, and creative
Destination marketing no longer looks or works like what it did before. It is no longer about year-long campaigns that remain predominantly static, with maybe slight tweaks to highlight certain events through the year. It is certainly no longer about bringing the media and travel agents to your shor [...]
WiT Singapore 2018: Innovation is about using technology to connect people offline, says Airbnb Experiences Director Parin Mehta
It had only been a year since WiT’s last catch up with Airbnb’s Regional Director of Experiences in APAC, Parin Mehta, before he sat on stage once more at WiT Singapore 2018 to give an update on how the travel giant is growing in the tours and activities space.
But ‘growing’ doesn't quit [...]
Tnooz to become Phocuswire with its acquisition by Northstar Travel Group
Northstar Travel Group has acquired tnooz and its related assets as part of a plan to further accelerate development of PhocusWire, an integrated news platform powered by Phocuswright, the travel industry research authority and sister company of WiT.
Tnooz will be merged with PhocusWire over th [...]
