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 [...]
Be socially responsible from day one, not only after you’ve made money, says KGH’s Rajan Sakya
In an industry driven by profits and KPIs, you could be forgiven for losing sight of what the world really looks like.
At WIT Seoul 2018, much of the discussion revolved around how travel businesses should be responding to international issues from geo-political tensions to the brittle state of t [...]
“Data is the new gold” has become “data is the new dirt”
What a week it’s been – first the Facebook data scandal and then the Grab-Uber deal in South-east Asia, and at the heart of it, our identities.
The former led to outrage that we could have been so manipulated by marketers targeting our social profiles (we always have been, it’s just the sca [...]
The Wrap: Tokyo Station now has an AI concierge to help travellers
In the news: Tokyo Station gets a chatbot helper; Ctrip and Royal Caribbean Cruises to end JV; Klook boosts its executive team to help with global expansion
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Tokyo Station now has an AI concierge to help travellers
Tokyo Station, the train hub of Japan’s capita [...]
Of travel fairs and Japan: A Malaysian love story
E-commerce, buying travel online, economic uncertainty and a weak ringgit (Malaysian currency) have not affected Malaysian's love for travel and thronging travel fairs to find the best deals and physically book their vacations.
A case in point – despite predictions that the annual travel fairs [...]
The Wrap: ‘We Were Built’ – The story of how a Singapore icon came to be
In the news: A journey down memory lane to discover the beginning of Raffles Hotel Singapore; Amadeus’ invests in automated pedestrian analytics and insights company CrowdVision; Alipay adds four more SEA countries to its platform.
HOTELS: ‘We Were Built’ – The story of how a Singapore [...]
The Wrap: Lost or delayed baggage a thing of the past with AI?
In the news: Airlines and airports look to AI revolutionise baggage management; videos to facilitate searching and booking travel; an airline on quest to make customers happy
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Lost or delayed baggage a thing of the past with AI?
One of the biggest nightmares of m [...]
WIT launches Indie event to champion creators of unique, local experiences
WIT is launching an Indie event aimed at empowering independents and creatives at the long tail of the travel experience. The first edition of WIT Indie will be held in Penang, Malaysia, on April 13, and is supported and sponsored by Penang Institute, one of Malaysia’s leading think tanks.
T [...]
Listen to the sounds of the US: Exploring the country in immersive 3D audio
With so much attention on virtual reality to simulate a realistic experience one may tend to forget the power of sound to do the same. And that’s what Brand USA and Expedia Media Solutions are leveraging to draw travellers to the United States – through immersive 3D audio.
They recently launc [...]
Letter from Penang: As Year of the Dog dawns, so will new travellers and citizens with different aspirations and expectations
Tomorrow, February 15, will be the peak of travel as millions of Chinese and their diaspora make the journey to wherever home is to gather for their Lunar New Year reunion dinners.
You can already feel it in Penang, when the population of the island more than triples with the return of Penangites [...]
