Whether powered by Weibo or NVG, we are all on a treadmill
Today is 11-1-11. I am sure there is something very significant about this date. And I wish I could say I wrote this at 11.11am but at that time, I should be, all forces permitting, be on a flight winging back to Singapore.This morning, too, a family is scattering the ashes of their mother into the [...]
Why deals are seductive, and why travel agents in Taiwan don’t like them
I was having coffee with a 20-something the other day when she started talking excitedly about her upcoming holiday in Phuket. “I’ve just bought a deal – 3 days, 2 nights for $300, air and hotel included,” she boasted.“You know, it’s the low season and you could have gotten good rates yo [...]
WIT Day One – Airlines: Can they escape the dangerous middle ground?
Nothing like ending the first WIT day with some turbulence from the airline industry. The opening question posed by Timothy O'Neil-Dunne, Managing Partner of T2 Impact was the million dollar question: Is the airline industry in recovery? It's actually hard to know. Indicators say yes, but overal [...]
WIT Day One – And the winner is … Eco Travel
They are young, intelligent, ambitious and brave. They are Singaporeans with bright, big ideas for the online travel space. And they came to pitch to cynical men who named one of them, Eco Tours, a winner.They are the teams who participated in the inaugural WITovation Entrepreneur Bootcamp and dared [...]
Spring Airlines wants 100% online direct sales
China’s only low cost airline, Spring Airlines, has its eye on one key target – to achieve 100% online direct sales.Lfan Yang, sales and marketing director (left), said that currently it was achieving 75% direct sales.As the only low cost airline in China, Yang said Spring Airlines’ main missi [...]
ITB Asia to provide a showcase for Japan’s recovery
Focus will be on Japan at this year’s ITB Asia, held from October 19-21 at Singapore’s Suntec Convention and Exhibition Centre, as it will be the show’s partner country.This partnership is a multi-agency initiative made possible with the support of Messe Berlin (Singaapore), Singapore Touris [...]
SLH challenges agents to pick a song for a place
Frank Sinatra said it best with his songs “Autumn in New York” and “I Love Paris”…Sometimes a melody can conjure up memories of your favourite places around the world.Now travel agents are invited to put their musical knowledge to the test and help Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) [...]
THack comes to WIT in October
The Tnooz THack initiative will hit the city of Singapore in October 2011, in partnership with Web In Travel.The 24-hour hacking event for developers, sponsored by Abacus International as the exclusive GDS, will take place on Oct 16-17, the Sunday before the WIT Bootcamp and Conf [...]
Thank you, Steve Jobs
My parents and I moved to the United States in 1979, when I was 10. I’m what you’d called FOB: a “fresh-off-the-boat” immigrant who is MIT (Made in Taiwan).The first few years were tough for my family, caused in part by the then declining domestic and global economy. I also didn’t speak a [...]
The can-do-ness of the last-minute human being
I often wonder if we are doing things more last minute these days because we can.In the old days pre-mobile, if we fixed an appointment to meet someone somewhere sometime, we would just show up.Today, we message while on the way. “See you in 5, sorry late.” And we lie through our teeth as to the [...]
