Wego soars to profitability and $1b gross bookings on back of Middle East success
Six years after Singapore-based travel metasearch site Wego entered the Middle East, the region now accounts for half of its total business and is the key reason why the company achieved profitability 18 months ago on $1 billion worth of gross travel bookings across the entire business.
Said Ro [...]
Former Buzzfeed Japan CEO joins Sojern as Asia Pacific VP
Travel tech firm Sojern has appointed former chief of Buzzfeed Japan Masahiro Ueno as vice president of Asia Pacific (APAC) based in Singapore
In his new role Ueno will lead expansion in APAC including Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.
The former CEO of Buzzfeed Japan, a join [...]
APAC mobile sites lagging in speeds, while consumers increasingly depend on mobile
Consumers of today’s mobile generation are highly dependent on their devices and are an impatient lot. And APAC sites have some work to do to keep up with the expectations of these consumers.
These are some of the key findings of Think with Google’s Masters of Mobile APAC report. Commissio [...]
Here’s how to get your experience business discovered
Travel activities account for 9% of global travel market and is the third largest segment of the travel space after airlines and hotels. This is a significant space worth about US$129 billion (RM500 billion).
Nearer home, Asia Pacific is the largest regional market for tours and activities [...]
Marketing to the Chinese traveller: What you ought to know
“There are big changes in the China travel market, which also means big opportunities for marketers.” This was how Reene Ho-Phang, founder and, managing director of BrandStory Asia, described what lies in store for companies looking to do business with this outbound travel giant.
She was giv [...]
Al Tayyar Travel on the move as Saudi Arabia prepares to transform
Exciting changes are afoot in the Saudi Arabian online
travel market with the government’s Vision 2030 plan which sets ambitious
targets to diversify sources of income and reduce reliance on oil in the
kingdom.
There are plans to open up inbound tourism to foreign travellers and boost domestic [...]
South Korea’s Tidesquare receives $44m investment to fend off global OTAs in home market
In a strategic play that will give it access to new technologies and fresh funding to compete against global OTAs in its home market, leading South Korean online travel agency Tidesquare has taken in an investment of 50 billion won (US$44.3m) from Kakao, the operator of Korea's dominant messaging a [...]
Japan Airlines,Travelport team up to launch GDS for Japanese travel agencies
Japan Airlines (JAL) and Travelport will take ownership of Travelport Japan K.K. and JAL’s 100% owned subsidiary, Axess International Network, under a joint venture called Travelport Axess to operate a Global Distribution System (GDS) tailored to the needs of the Japanese travel industry.
Unde [...]
Snapshot of Chinese outbound trends: Ctrip
China Tourism Academy and Ctrip have launched the 2018 Chinese outbound travel report.
Here’s a snapshot of the key points:
● Chinese made 150 million outbound trips in 2018, representing a 14.7% growth over 2017
● Among these, Chinese only made 71.25 million overse [...]
David Kong on the transformation of Best Western through quality, talent and technology
Ever since he took over as CEO of Best Western Hotels & Resorts in 2004, David Kong has been a man on a mission to transform the company, and the process continues with the recent acquisition of WorldHotels, which added 300 hotels to its global portfolio. In Singapore for the first time, the so [...]
