As cruises grow in Asia, will tech and customer behaviour converge to rock the boat?
There are many things cruise companies say that they hold to be true. One of these is, if you’ve been on a cruise, you will become a fan for life.
I don’t necessarily believe that to be true – I went on my first sea cruise when cruising was just taking off in Singapore in the 80s with the l [...]
Letter from Las Vegas: The cowboys are coming, travel goes on, no matter what
As the plane approached Las Vegas, I wondered if I would find things changed. After all, it’s only been two months since that horrific shooting when 58 fans attending an outdoor country and western concert at Mandalay Bay were gunned down.
The year before, I had gone reluctantly to a shooti [...]
How to fly high: Lessons from Tony Fernandes
It was fitting that I was flying high on a United Airlines flight to San Francisco when I read the new book by Tony Fernandes, group CEO of AirAsia, as he told his story from the low cost airline to QPR (Queen’s Park Rangers, for those who may not be familiar with soccer).
It’s a great inflig [...]
Letter from Fort Lauderdale: From storms to tech, global forces that bind us
Piles of seaweed lie strewn along the water’s edge along Hollywood Beach in Fort Lauderdale. I am told it’s the remnants of Hurricane Irma which crashed through the state of Florida last month.
From the other side of the world, I’ve been receiving updates of the floods that have devastated [...]
ANA XPRIZE competitors envision a future of travel through avatars
If two men from All Nippon Airways (ANA) have their way, villages across the world could in future host avatars that experts could “log in” to and help the village with healthcare, engineering, education.
The avatars will be a shared service — like an Uber, or an Airbnb — so no one owns t [...]
Letter from Cempedak: Seven secrets to landing among the stars
It was exactly a year ago that I visited the private island of Cempedak in the Riau Archipelago of Indonesia and saw it in the making of stage. Piles of bamboo were strewn all over the white sand but there was a definite shape of a resort that resembled a sail unfurling out of the waters.
The isl [...]
WIT 2017 Conference: A battle of investor minds on China, money and innovation
The morning of the WIT 2017 Conference in Singapore began with a comical yet insightful tête-à-tête between two ambitious investors: Fritz Demopoulos (CEO, Queen’s Road Capital) and William Bao Bean (General Partner, SOSV; Managing Director, Chinaccelerator), on all things to do with China, [...]
Tech should make Better Travel for everyone, with disabilities you can or cannot see
What’s your disability? Because as far as clinical psychologist Nicky Abdinor, born without arms and shortened legs, is concerned, “everyone has a disability, it’s just that you can see mine”.
And perhaps disabilities you can see versus those that aren’t visible may be easier to deal wi [...]
Fried scorpion may not be his thing but helping travellers have better vacations is: Steve Kaufer on TripAdvisor’s great end game
Steve Kaufer, CEO & founder of TripAdvisor, could hardly remember what he ate for dinner the evening before. “It was something interesting,” he said. I was curious because he kept talking about how TripAdvisor wants to help travellers have awesome experiences in destinations – from tours t [...]
From Scottish herring to unicorn: 12 lessons from Gareth Williams’ Skyscanner journey
Gareth Williams and his two co-founders, Barry Smith and Bonamy Grimes, built the first prototype for Skyscanner in 2001/2002 in the docks area of Edinburgh and launched it in 2003. That means almost a 15-year journey before it was acquired by Ctrip for US$1.7 billion last November, proving there’ [...]
