Internet savvy Arab travellers going online to shop
With growing confidence in ecommerce sites and the safety of web-based transactions, travellers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are rapidly changing the way in which they purchase their flights and hotel nights.Wego is seeing UAE travellers taking control of their own itineraries as they realise [...]
What happens when a tech addict goes cold turkey
So I am currently undertaking it (WIT's experiment in survival). Using the same processes that existed 20 years ago – well sort of… and most of the same tools here is what I am experiencing in a location in Portugal. I have gone cold turkey from Sunday to Thursday morning.For 20 years ago when [...]
Technology to help Filipino travel agents manage industry’s rapid growth
Philippines' travel and tourism is set to grow positively in the years ahead, with both inbound arrivals and domestic passenger numbers expected to rise, with the latter increasing by 10% this year, making it one of the few countries achieving double digit growth.Booking figures from Abacus Intern [...]
People Power: How to be a talent magnet in the travel industry
Hot on the heels of our WITNext Summercamp, we asked David Brett, President, Amadeus Asia Pacific to share his views on how travel companies can attract and retain talent. A person who is attracted to a career in the travel industry is surely an adventurer. Naturally inquisitive, they want to trav [...]
RDX claims to be game-changer in online distribution technology
The Room Distribution Exchange (RDX), an industry platform, allows hotel systems and online booking channels around the globe to connect directly over the web without needing to use third party distribution intermediaries.Mike Ford, managing director of SiteMinder, who launched RDX in Baltimore, [...]
Funds in place, Rome2Rio out to change search
Having secured a US$450,000 round of seed funding “to sustain the business for a year or two”, newly-appointed interim chairman of Rome2Rio, Rod Cuthbert (left), is setting sights on the second goal – to “see our platform integrated on as many third-party sites as possible, as quickly as p [...]
TripZilla wants to rule as Singapore outbound one-stop site
Having built its inbound portal, ComeSingapore.com, into a “fairly respectable” size with 300,000 unique visits a month, Travelogy.com is now out to create a one-stop outbound travel site in Singapore and eventually, Malaysia and the Philippines.It has since rebranded its tourpackages.com.sg [...]
Abacus, TravelSky boost hotel content; Air China moves with Amadeus
Seems China’s hot on the radar of GDS this morning. Received two news items, one after the other. Felt like fireworks popping.One, Abacus International signs a joint hotel sharing technology service agreement with TravelSky. This means both parties will share their hotel content to provide a more [...]
Welcome to the new sexuality of the Internet
It’s hard not to talk about sex in Bangkok, especially when you are having dinner with four men at the table (and a woman).It started when I brought up the subject of Rakuten’s investment in Pinterest at a dinner prior to the start of an Abacus underground event in Bangkok – a subject I th [...]
APAC travel agents’ top three technology wishes
Amadeus revealed the top technology demands of its agency customers in 2012 following its recent annual Asia Pacific Customer ThinkTank held in Hong Kong. David Brett, President of Amadeus Asia Pacific (pictured right), said that customers are saying they want "technology with personality".The to [...]
