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 [...]
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya to open WIT Indonesia, Bali
Indonesia’s Minister of Tourism, Arief Yahya, formerly the CEO of state-owned telecommunication company Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), will open the third WIT Indonesia conference scheduled for Bali on April 30.
Arief was appointed minister late last year when Indonesia’s new president Joko [...]
Letter from Dubai: Lights, sand, fog, the work goes on
It’s 6am Dubai time and outside my room at the Oberoi is a city that never sleeps. By that, I mean, work never stops.
In the darkness of the dawn, I can hear hammering and knocking as men at work continue their labour to build a city that’s been in the making for at least the last two decades [...]
Mobile meet Millennials: Cleartrip bets on mobile to take leap to the top
A year is a long time in online travel and that was quite evident when we returned for our second Middle East edition in Dubai last week.
In a region where 60% of the population are under 30 – a generation that can change its habits overnight – and smartphones are nearly as plentiful as sand in [...]
WIT Japan Bootcamp goes full day, open to all, including hoteliers
The fourth edition of WIT Japan & North Asia will feature a full-day Bootcamp the day before, June 4, for all delegates. It will set the stage for the main conference which will be held at Hotel Nikko on June 5, marking the theme, “A New Dawn Rises”.
“As we’ve grown, demand for mo [...]
Approach it like you’re the customer – Emirates holds first Hackathon briefing for NUS students
It’s difficult not to marvel at the growth of Emirates Airlines. In just 30 years – the airline was formed in 1985 – it’s grown into an entity that’s flying 45 million travellers a year from a home airport in Dubai that now sees 1,300 aircraft movements day.Sanjay Sharma, head of IT Innova [...]
Emirates to hold Singapore Hackathon in March
Following the success of its travel hackathons in Silicon Valley in 2013 and in Boston in 2014, Emirates, a global connector of people and places, is partnering with WIT (Web In Travel) to run its first hackathon in Singapore during the March 14-15 weekend.The 48-hour event, to be held at 237 @ 237 [...]
Indonesia Online Travel: Arrived With a Bang, Brace for the Boom
A newly-released study by Phocuswright, three months before the third WIT Indonesia is set to kick off in Bali on April 30, sheds new light on a market that has captured the world’s attention as the next big land of opportunity.Its population of 250 million and consistent annual gross domestic pro [...]
Calling start-ups from North Asia as WIT rolls out its fourth edition in Tokyo
This year’s WIT Japan & North Asia Start-Up Pitch is open to any entrepreneur looking to leverage on and disrupt the largest and fastest growing travel market in Asia.Said Yeoh Siew Hoon, founder and editor of WIT, “China’s outbound travel is at inflexion point, Taiwan was the fastest grow [...]
Innovation meets the future at Phocuswright@ITB
Global travel market research company, Phocuswright, will host Phocuswright@ITB themed "Disruption’s Curve” on 4 March in conjunction with ITB Berlin. The event will feature discussions on how new business models are changing tourism, as well as latest studies on the prospects for future investm [...]
