Make meaning, not money; make mantra, not mission: Guy Kawasaki’s 10 rules of innovation
On Thursday I was in Ho Chi Minh City, at the Abacus conference, listening to Guy Kawasaki talk about “The Art of Innovation”.Actually we were lucky he made it. Apparently – and this he admitted sheepishly on stage – he overlooked the fact that, as an American, he needed a visa to enter Viet [...]
MakeMyTrip powers on, buys into ixigo
MakeMyTrip, India's leading online travel company, managed to maintain strong growth and, at the same time, has bought into ixigo, the online travel metasearch engine.In its unaudited financial and operating results for its fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2011, Deep Kaira, chairman and CEO, said the [...]
Malaysian Kitchen Insiders: A lesson on how to sell out an event
On Wednesday night I found myself sitting at a table in alley eating amazing food cooked by some of Sydney’s finest Malaysian restaurants. Not just okay, or not too bad but amazing – take a look:See more pictures hereThe three-day event dubbed “Malaysian Kitchen Insiders” was organized by O [...]
Maldives claims “Always Natural”
The Maldives has unveiled its new tourism slogan and logo, "Always Natural".(pictured left)"The slogan and logo are designed to underscore the outstanding natural beauty of the Maldives, which tourists from all segments of the market consistently rate as one of their main reasons for visiting the co [...]
Maldives: Paradise Lost or Rubbish Found?
There are two faces to paradise, as I found on a recent surf trip I did to the Maldives on a charter boat spanning from the Gaafu Dahl Atoll all the way up to the more recognisable northern Atolls around the capital city Male.For those of you interested in the surf quality, yes we got some sick wave [...]
Market rebound and specialist events give boost to ITB Asia
The third ITB Asia closed in Singapore with 6,605 attendees, a 7.4% increase on last year. Organizers, Messe Berlin (Singapore), attributed growth to three forces: the diversity of specialist travel forums within ITB Asia, resurgent Asian outbound demand, and enhanced buyer quality.“The feedback o [...]
Meet the man who wants to build BBC.com/travel into a potent force
A couple of evenings ago, I had the opportunity to meet David Allan, bbc.com’s travel editor. Bbc.com launched its new dedicated travel section in August this year.David’s presentation was an informal one on one with him being asked some questions by his BBC colleague, Phu Trong – Director D [...]
Melaka grows closer to Indonesia
One of the laments of Melaka, Malaysia’s historical city, is that it has an international airport but no big airlines servicing it as neither national carrier, Malaysia Airlines, nor low-cost carrier, AirAsia, shows any interest in basing any of its aircraft there.The only air link Melaka's Batu [...]
Melbourne Cup, from flash to trash in six hours
I didn't even know what the Melbourne Cup was till one faithful July evening, when we were invited to a gala dinner at the St. Regis in Singapore, which was in honour of the 150th anniversary of the Melbourne Cup.As the evening progressed, and they showed us videos of the horse racing and all the ho [...]
Melbourne sees big jump in international meetings
Victoria’s capital city hosted 92 international meetings in 2010 compared to 39 the previous year, a 136% increase, according to the latest report by Union of International Associations (UIA).Melbourne jumped 21 places in international association meeting city rankings to reach the18th position in [...]
