Four Asian sustainable travel startups qualify for the 2019 Booking Booster Programme
Booking.com has announced its top ten entrants to its 2019 Booking Booster Accelerator Program, continuing its focus on sustainable tourism, and four of them come from Asia.
Said Gillian Tans (president & CEO,
Booking.com), “We’re seeing the calibre of innovative entrepreneurship in the
[...]
The Wrap: Accor adds new midscale brand and a luxury hotel collection to portfolio
In the news: Accor’s new brands - Tribe and The House
of Originals, TUI and Ctrip partnership, ADARA cloud suite launch
Hotels: Accor adds new midscale brand and a luxury hotel collection to portfolio
The Hyde Paradiso’s dining patio, first sbe-Accor joint brand property, opening in Austr [...]
WiT Japan & North Asia Startup Pitch 2019 issues call for entries amidst growing entrepreneurial mindset in region
As Japan and its surrounding North Asian neighbours grow its entrepreneurial mindset, WiT Japan & North Asia Startup Pitch 2019 has issued its call for entries for this year’s competition.
Startups are urged to send in their pitches for the annual WiT Japan & North Asia Startup Pitch 2 [...]
Tech disruption, commoditisation keeping airline CEOs awake, among other things
Anyone who ever thought aviation was a glamorous business would have had their illusions shattered at this week’s CAPA LCC Global Summit in Singapore as airline executives, one after another, spoke of the myriad challenges facing their industry.
Those of us
who’ve followed the industry know [...]
Meituan-Dianping lays groundwork for Southeast Asia entrance via Chope
The dining platform that has presence in Southeast Asia, has formed a strategic partnership with China’s lifestyle service behemoth Meituan-Dianping to enter China's tourist scene.
Singaporean restaurant platform Chope announced today a regionally partnership with the Chinese lifestyle servi [...]
Wilfred Fan leaves Agoda to join Klook as chief commercial officer
Leading travel activities and services booking platform Klook has appointed Wilfred Fan as chief commercial officer – a new role introduced by the Hong Kong-based company to further develop destination services and provide greater support for its merchants.
Fan was most immediately th [...]
HolidayMe expands to South-east Asia through merger with Tripfez
Dubai-based online travel platform HolidayMe is expanding its footprint to South-east Asia through its merger with Muslim travel site, Tripfez.
The deal, which involved a share swap and undisclosed terms, will see the Malaysia-based startup merged with HolidayMe.
CEO Geet Bhalla, who started [...]
Startup Spotlight: Smartvel makes selling destination content easier
As part of the WiT Startup Spotlight series, we go to Madrid this week to speak to Smartvel, which was launched in 2013 with the idea of providing destination content to travel brands to help them enhance their sales. In total, it's raised £3 million and is looking to expand globally.
Describe [...]
Dubai International rebrands to transform into lifestyle destination
Dubai International (DXB), the world busiest airport for international passenger, has seen an annual average growth rate of more than 13% with 2018 traffic surpassing 89.1 million. Last December it achieved a milestone when it welcomed its billionth customer.
The airport's good connectivity to m [...]
Airbus bids farewell to the A380 as Emirates cuts order in favour of smaller, more agile fleet
Airbus has made the decision to halt the production of its A380s in a move which could be regarded as a strong marker of air travel’s current state of evolution. The move comes after Emirates, its best customer, dropped its order from 162 to 123 aircraft.
But the drop in Emirates’ A380 order [...]
