News
Navigating APAC’s rich, fragmented short-term rental market
06/03/2025 by Arvindh Yuvaraj
Hybrid hospitality, shifting regulations and the 'White Lotus effect' are changing the way owners deal with their rental properties Unlike more uniform markets, APAC’s short-term rental (STR) industry is highly localised, requiring a flexible approach to regulation, distribution, and guest experi [...]
Expedia and Emirates simplify. HotelPORT launches ReputationAI. Travel sites’ accessibility issues. More.
06/03/2025 by WiT
Emirates and Expedia Group 'go simple' with booking experiences Emirates and Expedia Group have expanded their partnership by fully integrating Emirates’ New Distribution Capability (NDC) API into Expedia Group’s platforms. This direct connection allows travellers to access Emirates’ full ran [...]
From redundancy to HeyMax: Plugging into the traveller’s economy to help people travel more, spend less
05/03/2025 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
A fintech-loyalty play where it’s about the traveller, says Joe Lu Joe Lu was on a swing with his newborn daughter in Kobe, Japan during a month-long sabbatical, when he got the news that the Facebook engineering office he had started in Singapore and headed since 2019 would be closed down and j [...]
Blended travel is the future as more APAC professionals turn business trips into getaways
05/03/2025 by WiT
Latest whitepaper highlights emerging trends in blended travel Crown Plaza by IHG has released its second white paper, Leading the Charge in Blended Travel. The report unveils a major shift driven by a new breed of companies and individuals seeking far-reaching flexibility that extends beyond trad [...]
Expedia Group expands partnerships with several major airlines to support growth strategies
04/03/2025 by WiT
Expedia Group partners with major airlines, including Hawaiian Airlines, avianca and Turkish Airlines, to capture surging demand as air travel is expected to reach 5.2 billion passengers in 2025.  Expedia Group has expanded its partnerships with several major airlines to support their growth strat [...]
Rome2Rio expands advertising business, adds to executive team
04/03/2025 by WiT
New CEO sets goal to triple ad revenue by end of 2026  Rome2Rio, the trip and route planning platform owned by Omio Group, has announced the expansion of its advertising business to help travellers and destinations discover each other. With its tenured leadership team, and expertise within transpo [...]
Nadia Omer on lessons from strangers, and focus on cost, price and budget travel
28/02/2025 by Arvindh Yuvaraj
"Budget travel isn’t about taking market share from premium airlines; it’s about activating new demographics to fly for the first time." - Nadia Omer, CEO, AirAsia MOVE Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last night played host to the first-ever Travel Tech Thursdays, a joint event by WiT, Wego and My Indie [...]
iJapan. AI spending takes flight. Skyscanner DROPS savings. e-Arrival in South Korea.
28/02/2025 by WiT
Tokyo tops the list for biggest flight savings in Skyscanner’s new DROPS feature Skyscanner has launched DROPS, a new app-exclusive feature that helps travellers find flights that have dropped in price by at least 20% compared to the past week. Scanning over 80 billion prices daily, the feature u [...]
Future Lanes Ep 4: Building Traveller-First Experiences | Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson on tech, direct distribution, and traveller experience
27/02/2025 by WiT
The travel industry is constantly evolving, and few airlines have been as relentless in shaping the low-cost carrier model as Ryanair. In a no-holds-barred conversation on the “Future Lanes” WiT Podcast, Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson shared his candid views on everything from direct distribution to l [...]
WiT & Phocuswright return to Middle East to unlock promise of a growth region
27/02/2025 by WiT
There is no doubt that the Middle East is a region on the rise, buoyed by the investments being made in Saudi Arabia as it strives to meet its target of 150 million tourists by 2030. Phocuswright’s annual Middle East Travel Market Report, issued in 2024, forecasts a 40% growth in the region’s t [...]