Tourism spending in Singapore hits record high amid shift to attract premium travellers
Singapore had good reason for cheer this week as the Singapore Tourism Board announced that tourism spending in 2024 is on track to hit an all-time high, surpassing the pre-pandemic high of $27.7 billion in 2019.
International Visitor Arrivals (IVA) increased by 21% (compared to 2023) to 16.5 mil [...]
Snakes, DeepSeek and the speed of AI: How travel tech will be transformed
Bobby Healy: “You can’t afford to just dabble in AI, it’s a complete re-architecture of how your company operates”
It’s Chinese New Year, and I’m in Penang celebrating the Year of the Snake. Traditionally, that might signify a slow, slithery year but what’s happening in AI and travel [...]
Podcast: Lunar New Year Spending. New DMO Marketing Trends. Sabre’s ‘Unstandard’ Mission.
We're trying something new with our weekly-ish podcast this year - we're outsourcing it to Artificial Intelligence. This is both an experiment and, if we're being honest, a convenient way to digest the top articles of the week from the WiT website into a nugget-of-a-podcast.
On this week's Top of [...]
85% of DMOs are boosting digital ad spend
Sojern unveils its 2025 State of Destination Marketing report
Sojern, a digital marketing platform built for travel announced the launch of the “State of Destination Marketing 2025” report for destination marketing organizations (DMOs). This report, produced through a partnership between Sojern [...]
UAE air market projected to reach $5.4 billion by 2028
Nasdaq-listed MakeMyTrip emerges as the market leader in UAE’s OTA air landscape, currently valued at $3.9 billion
India-based travel research and M&A advisory company VIDEC Consultants, for the first time, has sized the GCC & Egypt travel market opportunity from a highly complex demand-s [...]
Chinese travel and spending surge during Lunar New Year holiday
Alipay reports rise in spending in cosmetic surgery, Fliggy sees growth in international cruises and car rentals
Both Alipay and Fliggy, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Alibaba Group, have recorded significant surges in Chinese travel spending, in both outbound and inbound, during the Lunar New Year [...]
The ‘unstandard standard’ airlines are struggling with – and how Sabre plans to fix it
Sabre aims to solve airline content fragmentation and unlock AI's potential in the process
In our latest WiT Studio episode, we chat with Brett Thorstad (Vice President, Agency Sales & Airline Distribution, Asia Pacific, Sabre) and Madhavan Kasthuri (Head of Global Solution Engineering, Sabre C [...]
Thai entry goes digital. Boom goes supersonic. Insurance payouts surge. More.
Smartify’s £1.5M boost to enhance visitor engagement at museums and galleries
Smartify, a visitor engagement platform for museums and attractions, has secured £1.5 million in funding, led by Metavallon VC with participation from Pembroke VCT. Founded in 2015, Smartify aims to expand internation [...]
Record-breaking 2024 for air travel with Asia-Pacific leading the charge
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released 2024 full-year and December 2024 passenger market performance showing record high demand.
Total full-year traffic in 2024 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose 10.4% compared to 2023. This was 3.8% above pre-pandemic [...]
Future Lanes Ep 2: The Traveller | DAA’s Kenny Jacobs on the future of airports, retail and travel
“Future Lanes” is a special WiT Podcast series powered by Meili, a tech company that is rewriting the rules of ancillary distribution. The series, covering six episodes, is all about getting direct – cutting through the noise with unfiltered conversations on what’s shaping the next decade of [...]
