Now that the game has been changed by the Delta variant, is Asia leading the world again?
SINGAPORE, one of my home bases, is about to hit 80% of fully vaccinated
residents. This is quite remarkable, as experts say that an 80-90% full
vaccination rate will likely allow countries to build herd immunity in the
current state of this Delta-variant-driven epidemic.
Japan, my other base, [...]
Focus on customer needs pays off for Airbnb as Q2 revenues jump 300%
LONGER stays, rural places, virtual Olympic tours – all part of strategy in APAC to keep engaged
Focusing on what it can control and responding quickly to customer and host needs has clearly paid off for Airbnb which reported a 300% year-on-year jump in revenues in its second quarter to US $1 [...]
At last, first two-way quarantine-free travel from Singapore to Germany, Brunei
IATA says hooray and urges other
APAC states to follow suit
AS Singapore reaches almost 80% vaccination rate, the doors are creaking open and IATA (International Air Transport Association) was the first to applaud the opening of quarantine-free travel lanes from Germany and Brunei and urged oth [...]
The Wrap: Amadeus accelerates NDC adoption in APAC, Etihad trials travel verification solution for Covid-19 tests, and more …
THE Wrap is a
round-up of news in the travel and technology industries, and updates on how businesses in these sectors
are resetting as they prepare for post-pandemic travel.
Amadeus steps up NDC adoption with airline and travel partners in APAC
Amadeus is helping its airline and travel [...]
AirAsia’s Teleport buys delivery platform Delivereat in US$9.8m deal
TELEPORT, the cargo and logistic arm of AirAsia Group, is expanding its delivery service in ASEAN with the acquisition of 100% stake in Malaysian online food delivery platform Delivereat for US$9.8 million (RM41.52 million).
Teleport, a unit of airasia Digital, said the transaction in both cas [...]
New virtual travel exchange platform to boost business opportunities for ASEAN tourism players
THE Asia Pacific region was the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic with international visitor spending falling by 74.4% as many countries across the region closed their borders to inbound tourists, while domestic spending witnessed a sharp decline of 48.1%, according to the WTTC 2021 Economic Tre [...]
ixigo’s road to profitability and IPO – how it did it and the future of bus and rail
FROM the start when Covid first struck, it was inevitable the road ixigo would take to raise future funds – via an IPO. CEO and Co-founder Aloke Bajpai hinted at this during a wide-ranging interview with WiT around this time last year.
When asked what was one of the positives that had emerged [...]
And you thought Covid-19 was bad? What’s coming could be worse – life on Mars
What if Apple built a hotel, streamed it like Netflix,
designed it like Airbnb?
By Philip Schaetz and Martin Reiher
FORGET Covid-19. What if you woke up in Elon Musk’s dream? We have conquered the Red Planet. Through terraforming, we built an atmosphere and a liveable ecosystem. Shuttling [...]
Practising for my first flight – my four-step plan to travel
THIS week, I took out my suitcase, dusted it off and started wheeling it around. Got my dogs excited with this unfamiliar activity – maybe they will be pleased to see the back of me after all this time.
I rummaged around for my passport. Since I've had at least two house clean-ups in the last [...]
Dream Cruises’ Michael Goh talks cruising trends, new gen cruisers and sustainability
“Rethink, rebuild, reconstruct” was how Michael Goh, president of Dream Cruises, one of the three brands under Genting Cruise Lines, summed up the company’s strategy in sailing through the Covid storm.
Genting Cruise Lines’ World Dream was the first ship in the world to resume cruises du [...]
