Letter from Kanazawa: Having a “kimono” moment in Japan’s New Golden Age
“Are we moving already?” We had not even put away our bags, let alone sat down and settled, when we realised the Shinkansen was already in motion. 11.35 to be exact.
We are headed to Kanazawa after an intense two days of WiT Japan & North Asia where the talk was about how tech was [...]
Travala.com: Asia more advanced than Europe in cryptocurrency adoption
Travala.com, a blockchain-based hotel booking platform headquartered in London, says his bookings show that Asia is currently “more advanced than Europe” in the adoption of cryptocurrency in the travel space.
“At the moment, cryptocurrency adoption is still in its early stages, b [...]
The Samurai swords are out in travel – Hughes calls out Google as an OTA, LINE reveals its superapp Pay power
A high-intensity Samurai “tate” swordfight opened the eighth WiT Japan & North Asia last week, leading some to draw a parallel with the growing competition in online travel. Certainly, the online share of the region’s market continues to grow but there’s no doubt that the intensity of t [...]
The Wrap: Tourism Western Australia enlists help of SIA, AirAsia to fly in more Asian travellers
News Roundup: Airlines and airport in the focus this week with the region’s two leading carriers tying up with Tourism Western Australia to fly more tourists from their individual markets to the Australian state. Meanwhile Air New Zealand joins in the global ‘war’ against single-use plastic, [...]
Former Sabre executive Greg Webb replaces Gordon Wilson as Travelport’s new CEO
Travelport has named the ex-vice chairman of Sabre Greg Webb as CEO, succeeding Gordon Wilson on August 1 as he steps down after 28 years with the company and having been its president and CEO since 201l. Webb will also join the board of directors at Travelport.
The new Travelport chief was most [...]
New Core Experience chief at TripAdvisor wants to bring empathy and human-centredness to build brand love
Coming from a non-travel background, Lindsay Nelson is keen to bring in fresh thinking and ideas to her role as president, Core Experience, TripAdvisor, a responsibility she describes as “bringing consumer empathy to TripAdvisor”.
“We are a content company, an information platform. It is [...]
The Wrap: Malaysia and Singapore airlines strengthen ties in new pact, no potential merger as speculated
News Roundup: New MoU inked between Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines and speculations of a SIA investment or a possible merger of the two airlines, BCD Travel acquiring majority ownership of Japan’s Hitachi Travel Bureau, rebranding for Thailand-based hotel management company BHMA, Agoda� [...]
5 tech trends business travel agents should heed to remain competitive
Business travel is fast growing. The sector is estimated to reach US$1.6 trillion by 2020 according to the Global Business Travel Association, and by 2025 business travel spend in Asia Pacific will double and account for half of the world’s total. (See infographic below)
The challenge for busi [...]
Pricing and distribution havoc hits in-destination with rise of OTAs: Klook’s Fan predicts shift to dynamic pricing
Tours, as a category in travel, have been around since the beginning of well, travel. Laurent Kuenzle, CEO of destination management company Asian Trails, subtly reminded delegates attending Arival last week in Bangkok, “We’ve been doing tours since the beginning, tours are our DNA, experiences [...]
Agoda sees Yanolja stake as opportunity to break “wall between booking and on-property experience”
Booking Holdings’ investment into South Korean accommodation startup, Yanolja, its first foray into that market, was motivated by two key factors – the market opportunity as well as Yanolja’s unique model “which includes tens of thousands of hotels installed on its PMS”, said Agoda’s vi [...]
