Skyscanner, Yahoo! JAPAN join forces to offer travellers millions of flight options
Search giants, Skyscanner and Yahoo! JAPAN, have teamed up to establish a joint venture – Skyscanner Japan – that will widen travellers’ access to and ability to compare millions of flight options, for travel both in Japan and internationally.Skyscanner Japan brings together Skyscanner’s lea [...]
Sabre-Abacus integration: Big job ahead for Mendis to make magic happen in the middle
Roshan Mendis, the newly-appointed vice president of Sabre Travel Network Asia Pacific, has a big job ahead of him.He’s got the task of integrating Abacus, Sabre’s newest acquisition, into the Sabre global family and that means not just in technology terms but also people terms – always the mo [...]
GDS jostling for the road ahead – Sabre boosts Asia, Amadeus scoops Navitaire, Travelport buys MTT
It is clear that the traditional giants of travel, once called Global Distribution Systems (GDS), are positioning themselves for the future battle ahead.Sabre Corporation is betting on Asia – in May, it acquired the remaining 65% stake in Abacus, the Asian GDS, from its shareholder airlines for a [...]
WIT Warrior Spotlight: Priceline’s APAC champion Adrian Currie salutes early and future entrepreneurs
At the WIT Conference last year in Singapore, we recognised 11 individuals whom we felt have had the most influence on the development of online travel in Asia Pacific. This is the sixth article in a series of interviews profiling the WIT Warriors.As one of the first APAC-based heads for Priceline G [...]
Kazakhstan’s Aviata.kz plans launch in Indonesia
Aviata.kz, a two-year-old Kazakhstan flight OTA, is getting set to enter Indonesia through a partnership and will be launching aviata.Indonesia soon. Said CBDO Alexey Li, “We believe we have the technology and we understand travel, and we have found a good local partner.”He also believes that t [...]
WIT Warrior Spotlight: Ram’s still waiting for breakout pan-Asian online travel brand
At the WIT Conference last year in Singapore, we recognised 11 individuals whom we felt have had the most influence on the development of online travel in Asia Pacific. This is the fifth article in a series of interviews profiling the WIT Warriors.As Phocuswright’s first analyst based in Asia, Ram [...]
AccorHotels is a “why not” moment as it throws down the gauntlet in battle for “Iron Throne”
In the finale of Season 5, Game of Thrones, everyone dies. There, no spoiler alert. We know that’s what happens in this TV series which Agoda’s Timothy Hughes compared to online travel at the recent WIT Japan & North Asia.Well, the battle is about to get more brutal.Accor’s announcement th [...]
How to succeed in online travel: Lessons from WIT Japan
As a first-timer attending WIT Japan & North Asia, it was certainly an eye-opener as I listened to more than 60 speakers and industry experts share their collective wisdom and insights into what it takes for to succeed in the online travel space in the region. Here are some of the lessons gleane [...]
The battle for online travel consumers: Who will win?
Will the Internet – and online travel in particular – end up being dominated by juggernauts? Do online travel agencies (OTAs) stand a chance in a world where search engines offer e-commerce facilities, and giant retailers get into travel?These were the key questions debated at a panel discussion [...]
Travel is getting like “Game of Thrones”, be like a Hobbit to win
The news is sweet. Online travel is growing faster than the overall market and APAC remains a high growth market. However that didn’t stop Timothy Hughes, vice president marketing of Agoda, from reminding everyone “it’s a brutal market out there” and predicting a “bloodbath”.Hughes said [...]
