The Samurai swords are out in travel – Hughes calls out Google as an OTA, LINE reveals its superapp Pay power
A high-intensity Samurai “tate” swordfight opened the eighth WiT Japan & North Asia last week, leading some to draw a parallel with the growing competition in online travel. Certainly, the online share of the region’s market continues to grow but there’s no doubt that the intensity of t [...]
The Wrap: Tourism Western Australia enlists help of SIA, AirAsia to fly in more Asian travellers
News Roundup: Airlines and airport in the focus this week with the region’s two leading carriers tying up with Tourism Western Australia to fly more tourists from their individual markets to the Australian state. Meanwhile Air New Zealand joins in the global ‘war’ against single-use plastic, [...]
Zara Khanna, 10, wants to change travel for kids and inspire girls to code
The
future of coding is in the hands of the next generation, and they’re starting
younger than you might think. Meet Zara Khanna, a precocious young girl of 10
with big plans to change travel through technology.
At just eight years old, Zara built her
first chatbot, Octa, to help fellow childr [...]
The Wrap: Malaysia and Singapore airlines strengthen ties in new pact, no potential merger as speculated
News Roundup: New MoU inked between Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines and speculations of a SIA investment or a possible merger of the two airlines, BCD Travel acquiring majority ownership of Japan’s Hitachi Travel Bureau, rebranding for Thailand-based hotel management company BHMA, Agoda� [...]
The story of Samurai Workout and how it wants to share Samurai spirit with travellers
Samurai Workout
opened the eighth WiT Japan & North Asia Main Stage in Tokyo today. Here’s
the story of how a Samurai swordfighter got into travel and how they want to
tell the story of Samurai to travellers.
Hiroki Noguchi was 14 years old when he first saw a Shinichi
(Sonny) Chiba movie [...]
Pricing and distribution havoc hits in-destination with rise of OTAs: Klook’s Fan predicts shift to dynamic pricing
Tours, as a category in travel, have been around since the beginning of well, travel. Laurent Kuenzle, CEO of destination management company Asian Trails, subtly reminded delegates attending Arival last week in Bangkok, “We’ve been doing tours since the beginning, tours are our DNA, experiences [...]
Agoda sees Yanolja stake as opportunity to break “wall between booking and on-property experience”
Booking Holdings’ investment into South Korean accommodation startup, Yanolja, its first foray into that market, was motivated by two key factors – the market opportunity as well as Yanolja’s unique model “which includes tens of thousands of hotels installed on its PMS”, said Agoda’s vi [...]
American Express GBT acquires German business travel management company
Another day, another acquisition. This time it is the turn of American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT), the world’s leading business partner for managed travel, which announced Tuesday (June 25) it would acquire German business travel agency DER Business Travel (DER) for an undisclosed [...]
The Wrap: Finnair flies into the tours and activities sector with new digital travel service
News Roundup: Finnair's newly-launched Here/now aims to attract international tourists to Finland and the Nordic, ATPCO signs new expansion deal with Google Flights, Ypsilon join forces with Amadeus to streamline payments to low cost carriers.
Travel: Finnair flies into the tours and activities [...]
Grab announces investment and partnership with Splyt, to let travellers book rides via Grab app worldwide
Self-acclaimed “every day super app”, Grab has deepened its partnership with and invested in Splyt Technologies – a London-based transportation solution.
Currently, Grab and Splyt already have an existing partnership that allows international travellers to book Grab rides across over 300 [...]
