APAC consumers are ready for AI agent-led shopping, Accenture research finds
Accenture hosted a media briefing to present findings from its Consumer Pulse Survey 2026 and lay out a framework for how businesses across Asia Pacific should prepare for what it calls "agentic commerce" — a shift in which AI agents research, compare, purchase and manage returns on a consumer's b [...]
Indie travel, rewritten: Four shifts reshaping Asia’s independent traveller
At WiT Indie, Klook, AirAsia MOVE and Booking.com unpack the generational, AI, supply and community forces changing how APAC travellers explore on their own terms
Hot on the heels of WiT’s newly released “The Indie Stack”, which dove into the fast-growing and equally-fast-changing independent [...]
The Icelandic startup connecting the dots for air travellers, Asia next on radar
David Gunnarsson does not waste words. The CEO of Dohop, the Icelandic travel technology company that has spent two decades solving one of aviation’s most stubborn problems – how to connect passengers across airlines that do not talk to each other – speaks the way he thinks: directly, precisel [...]
Turning tourists into conservationists, RealNZ’s one ‘sound of silence’ at a time
“You can't help conservation and help the planet if you're not profitable. You've always got to have that balance.”
Two years into his role as chief executive of RealNZ, Dave Beeche is applying lessons from a career in major sports events to New Zealand's tourism industry. “Our purpose is to [...]
Expedia puts its money where the trail is
$4.3m Trails Fund a sign of sustainability meeting commerce
For Aditi Mohapatra, VP of Global Social Impact and Sustainability at Expedia Group, the launch of the Expedia Trails Fund is a signal that sustainability, often seen as a soft function within corporates, is finding its commercial footing. [...]
Saudi travel’s new shape: Domestic, westward and betting on Itself
The interview with Muzzammil Ahussain, CEO of Almosafer, at WiT Phocuswright Middle East started with a provocation. Saudi Arabia is reportedly projecting a $44 billion deficit for 2026. Construction contract awards fell 72% year-on-year. NEOM wasn’t even mentioned in the national budget. So: is t [...]
The next generation of hospitality: When the room is no longer the point
A ryokan owner, a global brand VP, a lifestyle acquirer and a boutique operator debate what will actually make a guest choose you in the next 20 years.
A panel at WiT Japan on “The Next Generation of Hospitality” brought together four voices with sharply different stakes in the answer.
Kyohe [...]
Vio Travel could automate 99% of bookings. Its CEOs explain why they won’t.
It’s also the first DMC in Asia to pass a 100% sustainability audit
Vio Travel has spent the last few years trying to fix a problem most travel agents know all too well, which is building multi-country itineraries by hand is slow, messy, and inconsistent. The company has combined direct supplie [...]
Airlines eye elite status. Wego’s digital Umrah platform. Dida’s bookable recommendations. Travel holds in 2026.
Wego and Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah launch digital Umrah platform
Wego, the largest online travel marketplace in MENA, has partnered with the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to launch an integrated digital platform combining flight bookings, verified hotels, licensed ground services, and fac [...]
The leaps made and those to come: Stephan Ekbergh on building in Africa
25 years in, Travelstart’s founder is still restless, still betting, and still asking the question: what’s next?
It probably comes from having lived the last 25 years amid the natural landscapes of Cape Town, South Africa. In his interview at WiT Phocuswright Middle East in Barcelona, Stephan E [...]
