Distribution
Diethelm Travel, under new owners, wants to get into startup groove
14/02/2022 by WiT
This article is written by Xinyi Liang-Pholsena and first appeared in Travel Weekly Asia. DIETHELM Travel may be Thailand's oldest destination management company (DMC), but CEO Stephan Roemer's vision for the 65-year-old company is to act like a startup. Roemer, who held the chief executive rol [...]
“We are Astrea, not Astra”
11/02/2022 by WiT
Clarification sent to shareholders ahead of three-way merger between Astrea, HotelPlanner.com and Reservations.com WHO knew that a rocket incident would affect the three-way business combination of Astrea Acquisition Corp with HotelPlanner.com and Reservations.com which has been scheduled for a sha [...]
Airbnb, Rakuten LIFULL Stay ride alternative accommodation wave in Japan
09/02/2022 by WiT
ALTERNATIVE accommodation providers were the beneficiaries of changing traveller trends during the pandemic and within Japan, Airbnb and Rakuten LIFULL STAY certainly rode the Covid-induced trend well. Speaking at WiT Japan & North Asia 2022, Atsuo Mori, territory manager for Airbnb Japan, re [...]
Mystifly kicks off year with Universe and MystiPay
09/02/2022 by WiT
DETERMINED to kick off the year with a strong start, Singapore-based flight platform, Mystifly has launched two new products back to back – Mystifly Universe and MystiPay. Mystifly Universe is a global flight data API which aims at bringing data-driven certainty to unlock new revenue opportunit [...]
Klook still winning friends and influencing travel in Japan
08/02/2022 by Ian Jarrett
Home is where the action is for booking platform IT was during an all-night brainstorming session while preparing a presentation for WIT Japan in 2015 that Eric Gnock Fah, COO and co-founder of Klook, went local. In fine tuning the presentation that won the judges’ praise – and the Start-u [...]
Headout gets another $30m, looks for “travel, entertainment, AR” acquisitions
03/02/2022 by Kevin May
Headout has tapped existing investors to add an additional $30 million to the Series B investment round it originally secured in September 2021. The additional funds were again led by Glade Brook Capital, with participation from existing backers Nexus Venture Partners, FJ Labs and 500 [...]
WIT Japan’s first start-up champion says travel investment can be best in the worst of times
03/02/2022 by Ian Jarrett
Takaya’s second coming pauses for take-off LOOKING in the rear-view mirror can reveal much about the future. Scrutinise the past performance of Japan’s Takaya Shinozuka and you see a young tech entrepreneur who won WIT’s very first start up in Japan in 2013, earning him a place in WIT hist [...]
AirAsia Group is now Capital A: New identity to reflect it’s more than an airline
31/01/2022 by WiT
AIRASIA Group has officially rebranded as Capital A - its new corporate identity to show the diversification of its business portfolio beyond travel. The budget airline operator said the name change reflected its new core business strategy as an investment holding company in tandem with its tr [...]
The Wrap: ASEAN tourism rebrands, APAC airlines traffic results for 2021, Malaysia Aviation Group’s new fly safe campaign
27/01/2022 by WiT
THE Wrap is a round-up of news in the travel and technology sector – new partnerships, product launches, aviation industry updates, innovative solutions, and more … ASEAN tourism rebrands as “A Destination for Every Dream” with new logo and tagline Each of the 10 “spokes” in the [...]
“Conservative” appetite for outbound among South Koreans, domestic play will stay for a while
26/01/2022 by WiT
A SURVEY carried out by South Korea’s second largest OTA GoodChoice Company to gauge the appetite of South Koreans for outbound travel showed that most were still “conservative” in resuming travel. Speaking at WiT Japan & North Asia 2022, Myunghoon Chung, CEO of GoodChoice Company, sai [...]