Armed with $200m more, Klook eyes global domination as it steers course to hit $1b in bookings this year
It seems there is no stopping Klook which will go down in Asia’s travel history as the startup that has raised the most in the shortest time. Today, it announced it has closed $200m in Series D funding, bringing its total financing to date to US$300 million. This latest round makes the in-destinat [...]
BeMyGuest’s Hit List 2: Things You Ought To Know About Bali’s Tours & Activities
Tours & activities is an interesting space. Other than attracting a lot of attention from investors, it also provides insights into the destinations favoured by travellers, what they like to do while in a destination and how they book these activities and experiences. In this second column, Grah [...]
Letter from Sydney: Of food made for instagram and the journey towards NDC, diversity and chatbots
At the Two Sis café in Pyrmont where I had lunch my last day in Sydney, the place was packed with youngsters from Asia – there’s a local university nearby and so it’s popular with students. Let’s say my friends and I brought up the average age substantially.
The café, owned by a Cor [...]
The Wrap: CWT’s new analytics tool provides full visibility on travel spend
In the news: CWT launches new tool for travel managers, John Paul appoints CEO for Asia Pacific, Scoot and SITA extend technology agreement
Corporate Travel: CWT’s new analytics tool provides full visibility on travel spend
A survey by GBTA Foundation, sponsored by Carlson Wagonlit Tra [...]
Accor takes 85% stake in 21c Museum Hotels for US$51m
The buying spree of French group AccorHotels continues with its latest purchase - a 85% stake in 21c Museum Hotels headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
The US$51 million deal will see the American hotel chain, which combines art museum with boutique accommodation and chef-driven restaurants, [...]
Letter from East Coast road trip, Malaysia: Places have not changed, the way we travel has
Driving along the highway that cuts into Kuantan, Pahang, on the Malaysian east coast, my mind casts back to the first ever travel conference I covered as a rookie in the world of travel trade journalism.
The speaker was Mahathir Mohamad, then-Prime Minister who, in this year’s general election [...]
Chinese travellers are seeking new destinations, adventure and authentic local experiences
The outbound China market is not only growing, but also maturing as Chinese travellers are increasingly going beyond the traditional norm of vacationing. They are travelling further to new far flung locations, going for local offerings and getting more adventurous instead of spending their time shop [...]
Meet MARVIE – Scoot’s new virtual intern and transactional chatbot
The low cost arm of Singapore Airlies, Scoot, on July 23 launched a transactional chatbot named MARVIE (Most Awesome and Resourceful Virtual Intern Ever) on its Singapore Facebook page via Facebook Messenger.
The 'recruitment' of MARVIE, described as “the first chatbot by an airline in Asia to [...]
Know your farmer – Sampran Riverside’s Arrut leads organic tourism movement in Thailand
In today’s age, where we have our personal trainers, doctors and lawyers, why shouldn’t we have our personal farmer? That was the food for thought offered by Arrut Navaraj, managing director of Sampran Riverside, at the Travelport Live conference in Bangkok earlier this month when he spoke of ho [...]
After Zanadu, Wu plunges into blockchain and crypto to build Next Gen travel platform. Here’s how he will do it
Having built up Zanadu into China’s premier lifestyle travel platform after a tough but rewarding five years, Zan Wu, together with his co-founder, Dirk Eschenbacher, now wants to create a new startup, Atlas, into “the next generation TripAdvisor and Booking.com combined” using blockchain and [...]
