Nikoi’s Dixon ready for the next island adventure
When I first met Andrew Dixon, co-founder of Nikoi Island a couple of years ago, he didn't look too happy. He’d just opened the island resort off Bintan and as a former banker, had no clue about the business he was getting into.Building and operating a resort in a remote island – access was by [...]
AirAsia buys 76% stake in Batavia Air
Asia's largest low-cost carrier, AirAsia, acquires the Indonesian low cost carrier, Batavia Air, to accelerate its expansion in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.Together with its Indonesian partner, Fersindo Nusaperkasa, AirAsia Bhd has entered into a conditional share sale agreemen [...]
Backed by AirAsia Expedia, backick.com takes hotel booking social
A new website, backed by AirAsia Expedia, is being touted as the world's first hotel booking site where friends help pay for each other's travel. Conceptualised in Singapore and launched across 11 Asia Pacific countries, backick.com is, as its developers put it, the ‘first-of-its-kind online v [...]
From flash sales to flesh sales? Survey exposes hottest bodies
Have flash sales become flesh sales?A new Hotels.com survey of Singaporeans exposes the fact that they think Jessica Alba and David Beckham (left) have the hottest beach bodies in the world, a sentiment echoed by 17% and 22% of Singaporeans respectively.Among local celebrities, actors Fiona Xie [...]
Carlson Wagonlit foresees moderate rate increase for 2013
Prices in most areas of travel spend are expected to grow modestly around the globe next year, with the most significant inflation expected throughout APAC and Latin America, according to Carlson Wagonlit Travel 2013 Travel Price Forecast."Price increases in 2013 will begin to level off in most r [...]
Mygola chases simple to become the 21st century travel agent
If Anshuman Bapna has his way, travel planning should be as easy and simple as it is to plan with a friend. “That’s my desire – to make it simple, to become the Oprah Winfrey of travel planning. But to do simple is really hard,” says the founder ofMygola.com, a travel planning site.Mygola� [...]
Ancillary revenues soar for airlines
Ahead of the Airline Cloud9 conference in Bangkok, which will have a strong focus on ancillaries, a new Amadeus report reveals ancillary revenue growth of 66% in two years from 2009, with United, Delta, American and Qantas as top earners. The Review by IdeaWorksCompany, a consultancy in the are [...]
Cheap and cheerful’s working so far for Scoot
Six weeks after Scoot first’s flight and CEO Campbell Wilson is looking a tad more relaxed than when I first interviewed him in March.That time, he was fretting about making sure he got the AOC and his airline up in the air in time for the school holidays for both Australia and Singapore. This [...]
Are you ready to unplug? WIT 2012 goes live
Rumours have it that it was a gorgeous sunny day in Singapore. We wouldn’t know anything about that because we were holed up in our web agency’s office getting our WIT 2012 conference site ready for launch.And so this evening at 6.18pm, we have lift-off. No, we didn’t consult any feng shui [...]
Big year for South Korean travel industry
It is just halfway into 2012 and a number of market indicators are reinforcing Amadeus’ belief that the outlook for the South Korean travel sector remains strong, with its government and travel players making strategic investments to drive growth.David Brett, president of Amadeus Asia Pacific ( [...]
