Navigating 1H 2025: Travel and hospitality’s strategic horizon
As Southeast Asia transitions into 2025, the travel and hospitality sectors are navigating a landscape marked by both opportunity and challenge. According to the 1H 2025 Strategy & Investment Outlook Report by Velocity Ventures and Pear Anderson, the region’s recovery from the pandemic continu [...]
OTAs: Game-changer or profit killer? Travel experts weigh in at ASEAN Tourism Forum
Who’s really winning in today’s online travel industry?
There’s no denying that Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) have reshaped the travel industry, serving as both an enabler and a challenge for hotels, airlines, and travellers. At a recent panel discussion at the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2025, held [...]
From Mallorca to the world: How Hotel Treats, nurtured by two couples, is going places with day experiences
Every startup has an interesting back story and Hotel Treats, the Scaleup Winner (People’s Choice) of the Global Startup Pitch 2024, is no exception.
It was founded seven years ago by two couples, who didn’t even meet in person until 18 months after starting the business. “We did everything [...]
Pass the “mala” please: Asia demand for China travel surges
Recently, a headline in Bloomberg, “China’s Biggest-Ever Bid For Foreign Tourists Is Falling Flat”, caught my eye.
It reported that despite the extension of visa-free entry access to 38 countries, “the influx of foreign tourists and the billions of dollars in spending they could have brou [...]
ASEAN Tourism Forum 2025 spotlights sustainability and AI as Malaysia prepares for Visit Malaysia 2026
35.6 million and 147.1 billion. Keep these figures in mind as they are pivotal to Malaysia’s tourism industry as it gears up for Visit Malaysia 2026 (VM 2026). Simultaneously, the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2025, held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, from January 15 to 20, brought together over 1,000 dele [...]
Purple Elephant Ventures raises $4.5M to build travel technology in Africa
Kenya’s startup studio Purple Elephant Ventures (PEV) has received $4.5 million in seed funding to push forward its mission to transform Africa’s tourism industry.
Purple Elephant Ventures aims to make Africa a leading player in regenerative tourism, focused on creating a travel sector that [...]
Future Lanes Ep 1: A Founder’s Journey | How Meili is disrupting car rental and rewriting travel tech
“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 [...]
AirAsia moves strategically. PKFARE taps AI with ZentrumHub. Hainan Airlines x Sabre. More.
Trava just processed 25 million bookings
Trava has surpassed 25 million reservations processed through its GDS-agnostic, no-code travel automation platform since its launch in 2013. The company’s solutions, which automate post-booking processes like refunds and schedule changes, reduce manual wor [...]
Expats, BNPL and international credit cards are driving UAE’s high-growth payment market
Nuvei, a Canadian-based payments company with APAC headquarters in Singapore, recently launched a report called "Global Expansion Guide to High-Growth Markets", which provides a data-driven roadmap for businesses to expand into some of the world’s fastest-growing markets. Released quarterly, each [...]
10 travel insights that should be on your radar in 2025
Phocuswright just published Travel Forward: Data, Insights and Trends for 2025, a resource (available to everyone) which provides broadscale insights into the $1.61 trillion global travel market, offering essential data for understanding industry trends and growth.
Featuring highlights by segmen [...]
