In Amsterdam, lessons from noodles to mobiles, and Palma to privacy
Three more weeks before I head to Amsterdam to run WIT Europe as part of Phocuswright and I am looking forward to shared experiences and lessons between our two continents.
I’ve always seen Europe as more similar to Asia than any other region – it is multi-lingual, multi-cultural and steeped [...]
Fighting back with technology: 10 tips for independent hotels to compete
How can small independent hotels, with limited resources, survive in the world of hospitality where the big are getting bigger and the small are being eaten up?
“Technology is the answer,” says Jack Tan of IdeaWeaver Consulting, who shared 10 tips at the recent WIT Indie in Penang on how inde [...]
Record turnout at WIT Seoul 2018 shows interest in digital travel at all-time high
If there was one thing WIT Seoul 2018 proved, it’s that interest, and hunger for knowledge, in the digital travel space is at an all-time high in a market where rapid technological change and changing consumer behaviour are forcing travel incumbents to wake up and smell the web, as it were.
A r [...]
Building an activities OTA is not easy – even for Booking.com
Last week saw back-to-back acquisitions of two leading reservation systems in the tours and activities sector – FareHarbor in the U.S. by Booking Holdings (formerly Priceline Group) and Iceland's Bokun by TripAdvisor (parent of Viator and the largest online seller of tour and activities today).
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SITA tackles data challenges and studies blockchain, promises to build “informed passenger journeys”
The aviation industry has been flying high in recent years, as more technological innovation is introduced, creating blueprints for promised futures of autonomous aeroplanes, high speed inflight wi-fi and the highly coveted painless airport experience.
At the SITA APAC Air Transport IT Summit tha [...]
Bokun joins TripAdvisor with its purchase by the reviews giant
TripAdvisor last week announced it has bought Bokun, an Iceland-based provider of business management technology for the tours, attractions and experiences industry.
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
With this acquisition, TripAdvisor expands its offerings by providing suppliers with [...]
AccorHotels to provide personalised experiences to Chinese travellers in partnership with Ctrip
Ctrip.com International deepens its cooperation with AccorHotels in a new deal that “will greatly enhance the growing Chinese travellers’ journey globally.”
This is made possible in a memorandum of understanding the two companies inked last week, which will give the online services of China [...]
Cathay joins Skyscanner’s Direct Booking Platform
Hong Kong’s home airlines, Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon have signed on to Skyscanner’s direct booking platform, enlarging their distribution network. The new integration means that Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon become the first Hong Kong-based carriers to be able to sell tickets directly [...]
On the circle of life, scale and experience chase each other’s tails
In many ways I feel the industry is coming full circle – on one hand, you have the giants of scale talking about local experiences and community and on the other, independents and creatives talking about scale, each knowing you need the other to thrive in a digitally-driven world.
At the recent [...]
Three accidental indie travel makers, one common purpose
If there is one thing travel entrepreneurs Uttara Sarkar Crees, Andrew Dixon and Simon Wong have in common, it is that they all got into what they are doing by accident but are now following their passion and paths with purpose.
Speaking at the inaugural WIT Indie in Penang last week, the trio sh [...]
