Visa launches Destinations. Yatra reconsiders Nasdaq. Travelport x Travelsoft. Hotels’ AI race.
Yatra faces Nasdaq deadline as share price slump bites
Online travel agency Yatra has until December 22, 2026 to regain Nasdaq compliance after its shares failed to maintain a $1 minimum closing bid price between May 12 and June 24, with a reverse stock split among the options under consideration; [...]
From Mykonos to Red Sea, from beach vibe to luxury hospitality: The building of Nammos
Carolyn Turnbull on luxury with personality and why she didn’t run a mile when the war started
Carolyn Turnbull grew up four hours south of Sydney, in a small country town where, she says with a grin, the sleeves stay rolled up.
She has since led luxury hotels across Asia for Aman, run destina [...]
B2B: Where the real battle is being fought
The front end of travel gets all the attention. The apps, the campaigns, the loyalty programmes, the AI-powered search experiences – these are what travellers see and what the industry talks about at conferences.
But as a panel on “B2B: The Power Layer of Travel” at WiT Japan made clear, th [...]
Air passenger demand falls 2.2% due to war in the Middle East
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for May 2026 global passenger demand.
Total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), was down 2.2% compared to May 2025. Excluding the Middle East, demand grew by 0.7%. Total capacity, measured in available seat [...]
Who is the Asian indie traveller? | Report
Asia's indie travellers are rewriting the rules of tourism and AI is along for the ride
Forget the old image of the backpacker figuring it out as they go. Today's Asian indie traveller is just as likely to be a 50-something supporting a family-run guesthouse, a Swiftie crossing borders for a concer [...]
AI in action: Reshaping travel
10 key takeaways from a presentation at WiT Japan by Amy Wei, Senior Product Director, Trip.com Group
1. The shift is already here and accelerating fast.
Trip.com launched its AI assistant TripGenie in February 2023, just 2.5 months after ChatGPT. Three years of real user data tell a clea [...]
HopeGoo’s Malaysia Bet: China’s Travel Muscle Meets Local Manners
When HopeGoo, the international travel platform of Tongcheng Travel, entered Malaysia, it knew it had to take a highly localized approach so that it wouldn’t be just another Chinese app chasing Malaysian travellers but to become a travel companion for Malaysians heading to China — and eventually [...]
The country you think you know (but don’t): Florian Sengstschmid on marketing Azerbaijan
Before my interview with Florian Sengstschmid, CEO of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board, at WiT Phocuswright Middle East, I asked Claude, give me three good reasons to visit Azerbaijan.
Claude, having apparently tracked my recent interest in Dylan Thomas’s birthplace in Wales, came back with three a [...]
Letter from Athens & Corfu: Of beds, seasonality and service
Landing in Istanbul en route to Athens, I had six hours to kill at IST. Turned out not to be a problem.
The largest airport in Turkey, the second busiest in Europe, and the largest privately-owned airport operation in the world – it is impressive. Massive, in fact. Generously spaced retail, wel [...]
JTB acquires EXO Travel. Trip.com eyes 200m travellers. Agoda platforms ethical hackers. Vietnam tourism surge.
EXO Travel finds its next adventure under JTB Group
Asia-based Destination Management Company EXO Travel has been acquired by JTB Group, one of the world's largest travel organisations, via JTB's Asia Pacific arm purchasing All Wise Holdings Pte. Ltd., EXO's parent company. Founded in 1993 and oper [...]
