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’ [...]
Getting uncomfortable with the comfortable – how Maria Trujillo used Tern as her stage debut
Everyone can admit that taking your first step into the modern workforce is not a particularly pleasant experience. Building up the courage to introduce yourself to a company executive isn’t easy and even a simple hello can be intimidating.
That is why career events like Tern – a travel caree [...]
The day when Hurricane Dara lashed travel – imagine what he could do with Uber and Asia
Just as Hurricane Harvey was battering Texas and severe tropical storm Pahkar was lashing Hong Kong over the weekend, another kind of storm was being unleashed in the tech and travel industry– the news that Expedia Inc CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had been picked as the candidate to head Uber.
As soci [...]
People and culture, the one thing you can’t copy, and here’s how Sabine Hansen Peck intends that to be Amadeus’ competitive advantage
Yeoh Siew Hoon catches up with the power woman who runs people and culture at Amadeus IT Group, Sabine Hansen Peck, and talks Asia, diversity, gamification, and even animals and flying.
If she wasn’t yet convinced, her latest whirlwind trip through Asia Pacific, which covered Bangkok, Tokyo, th [...]
On the Rocks, Hoshino talks ryokans, minpaku and recognition
I suppose when you work in travel, you shouldn’t be surprised who you run into so when I heard that Hoshino Resorts was having a media lunch in Sydney the week I happened to be in town, I gatecrashed it.
I wanted to catch up with Yoshiharu Hoshino, who wants to take his fourth-generation fa [...]
