Wego reports rise in Middle East travellers taking quick breaks, mobile leads in searches
Middle East travellers are making more last minute, quick break, travel decisions during Ramadan and Eid, revealed travel search site Wego, which has built up a strong presence in the region. “This year, last minute travel searches jumped significantly for the period leading up to Ramadan,” com [...]
Here’s grabbing your attention. Are you suffering from LFS? List Fatigue Syndrome
I got into a GrabCar Economy for the first time this week. The driver, a 60-something, is a senior executive working in manufacturing full-time but bought a car for his son and now wants some income to pay off his road tax and insurance.This is the more affordable version of GrabCar, the private car [...]
Sabre-Abacus integration: Big job ahead for Mendis to make magic happen in the middle
Roshan Mendis, the newly-appointed vice president of Sabre Travel Network Asia Pacific, has a big job ahead of him.He’s got the task of integrating Abacus, Sabre’s newest acquisition, into the Sabre global family and that means not just in technology terms but also people terms – always the mo [...]
WIT Start-Up: Backstreet Academy – commissioning locals to craft unique travel experiences
Q: Describe the business, core products and services in one paragraph.Backstreet Academy is a peer-to-peer impact travel platform offering on-demand unique travel experiences crafted by local experts in developing countries. Launched in March 2014, Backstreet Academy now has over 600 travel experien [...]
The Wrap: Sandy shores and swanky stays for APAC affluent on family vacations
In the news: Visa survey on APAC affluent holiday makers, Alitrip partners Travelport, Live like a local with STB and TripAdvisorSandy shores and swanky stays for APAC affluent on family vacationsBeach getaways and upscale hotels are the top vacation destinations for well-heeled Asia Pacific (APAC) [...]
TripZilla zipping along as it uses content as hook to pull in customers
In start-up years, TripZilla is still an infant. Founded in 2010 by husband and wife team Winnie Tan and Eric Koh, the online portal claims to be South-east Asia’s foremost travel listings site – cornering almost 80% of the Singaporean market alone. I caught up with Winnie to find out how TripZi [...]
Best of TW Asia Global Wrap: Government plans to snoop on Uber drivers
Featured stories from TravelWeekly: Crack down on Uber in Western Australia, petition to close Bali dolphin show, high-speed rail tours popular in ChinaGovernment plans to snoop on Uber drivers, The Western Australian Government plans to use private investigators to help it crack down on ride shari [...]
Study reveals how travellers choose to book hotels
The cleaniliness of a hotel or the availability of free and fast WiFi could be key to a traveller choosing the property over another, which does not provide such services. This is revealed in a study by TrustYou, the global online reputation management tool, and Donna Quadri-Felitti, director of th [...]
Technology is here to disrupt marketplaces, including travel, says ServisHero’s Karl Loo
Tell anyone there’s a new services app in town and eyes will roll and you’ll hear, “There are so many now.” And that’s true. Today, in a world gone P2P, anyone can sell anything to anyone and you can order, with a swipe or a tap, tour guides, chefs, plumbers, contractors, taxis, dates and [...]
The Millennial Traveller: Going native but never really quite local
Even as we travel into lost worlds, we find ourselves lost without our creature comforts.A few years ago, my parents and I strapped on our backpacks and strode out to the Banten province of Indonesia to hike with a tribe of people known as the Badui. Almost the Indonesian equivalent of the Amish, th [...]
