Reflections on 2016 and Predictions for 2017 (Part II)
It’s that time of the year when we ask industry leaders for their thoughts on what happened in 2016 and what they forsee will happen in the new year. Here’s Part 2.
Kei Shibata, CEO, Venture Republic
3 Top Things That Happened and That Mattered in 2016
1. Ctrip acquired Skysca [...]
Mobile is generation-busting, it’s not all about Millennials, be Mindful of that
I know there are many of us who can’t wait to see the end of 2016. It’s been a horrible year and even one day before New Year’s Eve, there are people saying, “Hey wait, it hasn’t ended, let’s get through 2016 first.”
It’s like we’re constantly bracing ourselves for more bad news [...]
Reflections on 2016 and Predictions for 2017 (Part I)
It’s that time of the year when we ask industry leaders for their thoughts on what happened in 2016 and what they forsee will happen in the new year. Here’s Part 1.
Steve Hafner, CEO & Co-founder, KAYAK
Top 3 Things That Happened and That Mattered in 2016
1. Rise of AI. [...]
Tours & Activities: The Misunderstood and Under-Loved Segment
The tours and activities space could almost be described as a final frontier in travel simply because of how vast and often misunderstood the space truly is.
At the Expedia Partner Conference earlier this December, Douglas Quinby (VP Research, Phocuswright) shared the key challenges facing the to [...]
Letter from Las Vegas: Where polar bears play, Elvis is alive and Trump rules
At San Francisco airport, the queue for immigration is packed with mainly people of Asian descent – Malaysians, Singaporeans, Indonesians, Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Koreans and Indians.
Maybe it’s the timing – I have flown in direct from Singapore – and the flights at this time of the [...]
Getting real and more human is the only way we can beat the machines, AI included
I was at the Accor Hotels Showcase last week. This is an annual roadshow put together by the fastest-growing hotel company in Asia Pacific to showcase their range of hotels across the region.
It’s an event that’s been going for 13 years (formerly named World of Accor) and Singapore was the fi [...]
Technology, travel and Trump – key takeaways from Phocuswright
Call it a funnel or a sieve or whatever, let’s face it, things are changing in online travel, lines are blurring even faster than you can say “revolution” and everyone, it seems, wants to be all things to all people.
Has specialisation died at the altar of growth – imagine, Airbnb getting [...]
Letter from Los Angeles: Globalisation and experiences are the new order in a Trump world
There were several elephants in the room during the Phocuswright conference in Los Angeles this week.
Airbnb launching Trips, taking it into Experiences and Places, with Flights and Services to be added in the future; Google Now being rolled out on top of Google flights now available in 27 co [...]
Letter from a traveller: What will it be like in the new America?
Two weeks ago, I was in Amsterdam and you couldn’t find a more liberal country than Netherlands where the coffee bars serve more than caffeine and where the people speak several languages just because they have to, situated as they are in the middle of Europe.
Even then, I sensed a growing unea [...]
Three key pillars of any startup from Air Black Box’s Timothy O’Neil-Dunne
Timothy O’Neil-Dunne is no young chook in travel. His career history includes being part of the founding team at Expedia, head of technology at Worldspan, co-founder of VaultPAD Ventures, and a managing partner at T2Impact. Needless to say, he’s built an impressive CV over the years.
Neverthe [...]
