Top 3 Lessons of 2019, Part 1
It being such a pivotal year, we asked industry
leaders to reflect on the 12 months past and share their top three lessons with
which to enter 2020. What are yours?
Stephan Ekbergh, CEO, Travelstart
1. No Guts No Glory
Barry Diller fired
Mark Okerstrom due to different views on the fut [...]
The Wrap: Agoda‘s new brand campaign promises ‘Less Hassle, More Travel’
News Roundup: Agoda’s new multi-market brand campaign launched, AirAsia’s first fast food restaurant serving inflight meals, China’s airlines and airports growing investments in AI and automation, Perth Airport’s tech boost from Amadeus
Marketing: Agoda ‘s new brand campaign promises � [...]
Immigration, inequality, inclusion – the themes occupying America
It is interesting the amount of soul-searching that’s going on in North America, both on the political and corporate front, as I discovered on this recent trip which started in Las Vegas, continued to New York and now headed for Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for Phocuswright, which begins tomorrow. & [...]
A tale of three places: Bamboo, Bali and never-ending neon
Travelling straight from the private
island of Cempedak to the mass tourism island of Bali is one thing, but going
on from Bali to Shanghai the day after, well, that’s another. The contrasts are
marked but there’s a common thread that weaves through them – the story of
travel – as Yeoh Siew [...]
Twenty years on, from Ctrip to Trip: From China power to “glocal” giant
It felt like I was going to a rock concert. The night before, on a cruise on the Huangpu river, the city lights were in full blaze but one illumination stood out, the Pearl Tower lights announcing that Ctrip was turning 20 – a city paying homage to its homegrown Internet giant.
This morning, [...]
Letter from the South China Sea: Time for unusual thinking, unorthodox partnerships and old-fashioned making money
Yeoh Siew Hoon gets stranded on a coral
reef off Cempedak and ponders the secrets of the travel universe as they were revealed
at last week’s WiT Singapore 2019.
The sun was about to call it a day when we set out on a boat from Cempedak Island off Bintan, Indonesia. Our destination was a coral [...]
The Wrap: Tencent, YesMilano collaborate in enticing more Chinese tourists to Milan
News Roundup: Tencent-YesMilano partnership to boost Milan tourism from China, Singapore Airlines’ new NDC aggregator, Amadeus NDC-enhanced booking platform, more flexibility flying with Cebu Pacific
Destination: Tencent, YesMilano collaborate in enticing more Chinese tourists to Milan
Gall [...]
WiT Singapore 2019: Why the future of brand loyalty lies in personalisation
Today’s millennial travellers are spoilt for choice. Thanks to OTAs and other bespoke travel services, there is a multitude of different travel activities that can cater to their individual tastes that can be purchased at their fingertips. According to a report by Skift, 81% of consumers are will [...]
WiT Singapore 2019: Finding love in the arms of a robot
In the 1999 film Bicentennial Man, Robin Williams plays a robot, Andrew, who is gifted with the capacity of emotion and creativity. Andrew eventually falls in love with a human lady and decides to marry her. When he petitions a regulatory body to recognise their matrimony, however, he is rejected a [...]
WiT Singapore 2019: How Generation Alpha is influencing travel, from planning to in-trip activities
They are born after 2010 (nine years and under) in the same year as Instagram and the iPad, are known as the children of millennials, the largest generation that is still being born on a daily basis, and the longest living generation.
This is Generation Alpha. “If you don’t know about Alpha, [...]
