Sectors
Helicopter ride-sharing pioneer Ascent flying high
25/04/2019 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Ride-sharing has gone up to the skies with newcomer Ascent joining the fray with a pioneering concept – helicopter ride-sharing. The Singapore-based startup, founded last year, has already seen some initial success in Philippines where it started its service earlier this month with support fro [...]
Spoiler alert. GOT Season 8: No one dies – yet, just like online travel
25/04/2019 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
War chests have been replenished, battle moves have been made, welcome to travel’s own GOT (Game of Online Travel) Season 2019 If you are a Game of Thrones fan, you will know the first two episodes have largely been helping us to catch up on the story, and none of the main characters has died [...]
The Wrap: Lost in translation in Japan? No worries, Miko’s here to help
24/04/2019 by WiT
In the news: Focus is on Japan this week with a virtual travel concierge to help tourists explore the country, a All Nippon Airways-OpenJaw partnership, and travel giant JTB's debut at ITB China to promote sports tourism Chatbots: Lost in translation in Japan? No worries, Miko’s here to help [...]
Grab adds four new services in quest to become “everyday super app”
23/04/2019 by WiT
In a bid to evolve from ride-hailing app to super app, Grab announced four new services to its platform – trip planning, hotel booking, on-demand video streaming and movie tickets. To deliver these services, Grab is partnering with Booking.com and Agoda for its hotel bookings (no surprises he [...]
How to gain traveller trust and loyalty in the post-booking ancillary game: study
23/04/2019 by WiT
Amadeus has released a study that looks at what it refers to as 'Destination X', defined as "the largely untapped and dynamic destination services marketplace". Elaborates the global travel IT provider: “Interest in travelling and exploring our world has never been greater. But with time in sh [...]
Google is now top site for hotel reviews, overtaking Booking.com
19/04/2019 by WiT
In Revinate’s Hotel Reputation Benchmark Report 2019 which analysed reviews for more than 140,000 hotels in over 200 countries, key findings like the continued growth of reviews on review sites and OTAs, albeit at a slower rate, were not surprising.  Perhaps what was more surprising and would [...]
How to thrive amid disruption in a globalised world: Lessons from tech and travel giants
18/04/2019 by WiT
At the STB Tourism Industry Conference earlier this week, a cast of tech giants from Expedia, Alibaba and Google, moderated by WiT’s Yeoh Siew Hoon, discussed a burning topic in travel and beyond: how to thrive in the face of disruption. Arguably each of the companies present on stage has bee [...]
The Wrap: Firefly is back in Singapore after end of airspace dispute
17/04/2019 by WiT
In the news: Firefly’s return to Singapore, OTA rehlat's partnership with PayPal, Canadian technology startup Betterez’s move to New Zealand Airlines: Firefly is back in Singapore after end of airspace dispute The upgraded Seletar Airport where Firefly now lands (Image credit: Seletar Air [...]
Will Malaysia’s departure levy hurt the country’s tourism industry? Opinions divided
15/04/2019 by WiT
Is paying RM20 to RM40 as departure levy flying out of Malaysian airports a deterrent to your travel? A question I put to a few friends who fly frequently for both work and play. All answered in the negative, as the amount is too small to affect their travel budget or stop them from taking holiday [...]
From Ain Dubai to the Red Sea, travel brands jostle to find their groove in a booming market
12/04/2019 by Yeoh Siew Hoon
On the morning after WiT Middle East ended, I went for a walk across from Jumeirah Beach to Bluewaters Island, a new development that boasts 132 shops and restaurants, Caesars Palace Hotel and the 210m Ain Dubai, touted as the world’s largest observation wheel. For those of you familiar with Duba [...]