Stellar year for Phuket as records smashed
Thailand’s popular resort island of Phuket had its best year in 2010 with tourist arrivals topping 3.5 million, smashing all previous records. Representing a 22% hike over the previous year, the growth was mostly driven by new markets such as Russia and China.Consultancy firm C9 Hotelworks' latest [...]
AirAsia Japan to be first low-cost carrier at Narita
ANA Group and AirAsia are teaming up to form AirAsia Japan, a new low-cost carrier.AirAsia Japan will be the first low-cost carrier to be based at Narita International Airport. Operating under the AirAsia brand, it is to serve both domestic and international destinations when commencing operations i [...]
On the back of strong results, MakeMyTrip expands, picks S’pore as base
Amit Saberwal, Employee 62 at India’s number one online travel agency, couldn’t have picked a better time to move to Singapore to grow MakeMyTrip’s international business.Yesterday, the company announced fiscal 2011 fourth quarter and full year results, showing its continuing growth path.Some [...]
Opening a hotel these days – you got to do it differently
In opening a hotel these days, it is important to get the timing of the pre-publicity right and in today’s last-minute world, Matthias Roeke believes you’ve got to strike it just right – too early and you lose interest; too late and well, it’s too late.The trick is to talk about it and have [...]
Pay in instalments when flying Brazilian low cost airline GOL
Just booked a ticket between Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo on the Brazilian low-cost airline GOL and came across two new features that I've never noticed on any other LCC website, where the norm tends to be for a rather convoluted and often annoying experience while booking online. Just think of Air [...]
Pre- and post-trips is where action is right now
Thus far, most of the innovation has taken in the booking space but now the most exciting things are happening in research and pre- and post-trips, said Gregg Brockway, president and co-founder of TripIt, the itinerary management and sharing service aimed at the corporate travel market.Speaking at t [...]
Rembrandt Bangkok and local deals – lessons learnt
One hotel that has experimented with deals is the Rembrandt Hotel in Bangkok.General manager Eric Hallin (left), who said he first heard of the Groupon phenomenon at the Web In Travel conference two years ago, has so far initiated two deals.One, a brunch with a local site in January which yielded on [...]
It is now July 4 for the date with Lady Branson
It’s not Labour Day but American Independence Day that will see 60-year-old billionaire Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group serving as a flight attendant on AirAsia's London-Kuala Lumpur charity flight.The first postponement came in February when Branson ruptured a ligament after colliding int [...]
How Google+ will reshape search, social media and travel
How will Google+ reshape search, social media and the travel industry? Here are some solutions for quick wins and strategic planning The impact on searchGoogle doesn’t tell you about their algorithm, but they’ve dropped enough hints to suggest that they’re now using human factors to determine [...]
ITB Asia to stay on in Suntec, Singapore for 3 more years
Messe Berlin (Singapore), the organiser of ITB Asia, has extended a new three-year deal with Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre to host ITB Asia from 2011-2013.Each October since 2008, ITB Asia has attracted over 6,000 participants from the leisure, meetings, and corpo [...]
