Abacus Smartprice offers expanded net fare content
The new Abacus SmartPrice now offers 20,000 Abacus connected agents across Asia Pacific access to more than five million origin and destination net fares. The number of net fares, which grew 30% year-on-year, is testament to the increasingly competitive state of the travel industry today, said A [...]
Wego invests in Valadoo to deepen reach in Indonesia
Wego continues its march to claim its position as Asia Pacific's leading travel metasearch company by making a strategic investment in Valadoo, an Indonesia-based social commerce travel business that provides its members with a curated selection of unique, discounted travel offers and getaways ta [...]
Low cost entry, great content – reach up for the sunrise, Japan urged
It was rather fitting that I left Japan yesterday on a beautiful Sunday spring evening. A golden sun had set on the Rainbow Bridge, linking Tokyo city and Odaiba island, and you could almost feel the onset of summer, giving the promise of sunnier and sunneir days ahead.We wrapped up our first WIT J [...]
New industry study calls for fundamental rethink of airport ecosystem
"Reinventing the Airport Ecosystem" reveals how airports could adopt mini-city, walkway, bus station and shopping mall operating models to meet consumer demands and drive non-aviation revenue.This new industry sudy by Amadeus also identifies consumer frustrations with today‟s airport experience [...]
Location-based services way to go
Mobile was of course talked about at the recent Abacus underground event in Bangkok - the key point being that location-based services will become critical.These data points from Christian Cadeo, head of mobile, South-east Asia of Google.One in three searches have local intent and that includes:• [...]
It’s time for tourism in ASEAN to grow up
Willem Niemeijer (pictured below right),
CEO and co-founder of the
Khiri Travel Group, Thailand shares his thoughts on the direction the ASEAN tourism industry should take to realise its full potential. We reproduce his full blog below:The tourism debate at the World Economic Forum on Eas [...]
Tale of two trees at Sampran Riverside
While the Rose Garden has changed its name to Sampran Riverside, one thing has not changed – the love and respect for nature. These two videos tell the story of two trees - how the original pikul (bullet wood) tree which you could say gave birth to the Rose Garden was saved during the recent flood [...]
Rose Garden’s journey to Sampran Riverside: A travel story
On its 50th anniversary last month, the Rose Garden Resort & Spa in Thailand changed its name to Sampran Riverside.I guess for me and those who have grown up with it, it will always be the Rose Garden but for a new wave of travellers, which is who the third generation of the family business wan [...]
Accor’s acquisition of Mirvac changes the hotel game in Australia/NZ
Accor has completed the purchase of the Mirvac Group’s hotel interests in Australia and New Zealand, which will see the hotel group adding 43 hotels across the two countries.The Mirvac hotels are currently being integrated into the Accor network. In the first phase of integration Sydney Marriott [...]
What travel agents and start-ups could learn from each other
As the travel agency business gets more complicated and competitive, the winners will be the ones who care about productivity and are focused on the end traveler experience and, dare I add, the vision to embrace technology and recognise what it can do for their business.Brett Henry, Abacus’ vice [...]
