The Wrap: Surge in holiday bookings with opening of trans-Tasman travel bubble, Malaysia Airlines’ new fly pass aims to spur domestic travel, and more …
THE
Wrap is a round-up of news in the travel and technology industries, and an
update on how businesses in these sectors are adapting and resetting as they prepare
for travel recovery.
Opening of Australia-New Zealand travel bubble sparks spike in holiday bookings
New Zealand's Queens [...]
Latest wave dampens Phuket’s hopes of reopening; Trisara stays on course of wellness and mindfulness
LIKE other hotels in Phuket, the award-winning luxury resort Trisara had been looking forward to closing April on a healthy note because domestic travel in Thailand had been gathering steam but then, came the third wave of infections, the largest outbreak in the country since last March.
Said Ki [...]
25 years on, Expedia flips “green screen” again to become the traveller’s companion
“It matters who you travel with” falls on shoulders of new brand custodian, Shiv Singh
SHIV Singh, the new senior vice president and general manager of Brand Expedia, was sitting in front of an impressively-stacked bookcase when I spoke to him on Zoom. I had to ask, “Is that fake or are th [...]
Covid has tested global-local models in travel, says KKday’s Liu
“Curated experiences” marketplace embeds deeper local roots, launches Fine Day for luxury and scales Rezio
WHEN Weichun Liu told her parents she was giving up investment banking to join KKday in 2016, they thought she was joining KKBox, the “Spotify of Taiwan”. “I didn’t want to tell [...]
Trip.com Group first global travel group to be dual listed in Hong Kong and US
TWENTY two years after its founding, and 14 months after its business was crushed by the pandemic, Trip.com Group officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today (9961.HK), becoming the first global travel group to be dual listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as well as the NASDAQ stock e [...]
Cleartrip sale to Flipkart inevitable, as Covid crushes travel and marketplaces seize moment to enter vertical
IN many ways, the proposed acquisition of Cleartrip by Flipkart, known as the “Amazon of India” was inevitable – inevitable because the pandemic has no doubt devastated the 15-year-old company’s India business, leaving it vulnerable, and inevitable because of the ambitions of e-commerce mar [...]
Dubai vs Singapore – what happened to hotel reviews during Covid?
THERE is a generally held belief that local guests are more demanding than foreign guests, which would affect the way they review hotels. WiT asked TrustYou to test this hypothesis.
The way in
which the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted hospitality and travel happened
through both a global and a l [...]
The Wrap: Saudia partners IATA to test Travel Pass, Narita Airport pilots biometric boarding process, and more …
THE
Wrap is a round-up of news in the travel and technology industries, and to keep
track of developments in these sectors as businesses adapt and reset to meet
challenges in the era of coronavirus.
Saudia introduces IATA Travel Pass on Kuala Lumpur to Jeddah flights
On successful trial of th [...]
What Travelport+ means to an OTA or TMC
What does the launch of Travelport+ mean in practical terms to an OTA or TMC? We posed a few questions.
Q: Will a customer (say TMC or OTA) be able to create their own UX solution on top of the new Travelport+ microservice layer?
Absolutely. Our new JSON/RESTful APIs create the kind of develo [...]
Webb: Recovery won’t be online vs offline, it will be driven by policy
Travelport doubles down on tech to simplify next gen retailing for recovery
FOR Greg Webb, CEO of Travelport, pushing ahead with its next generation platform – a commitment it made in 2019 when it went private – was absolutely necessary despite the pandemic crushing the travel industry and a [...]
