Maggie White: She called Australia home and she is now at home
She was the soul of discretion. You can imagine that’d be annoying to a pesky, nosy journalist wanting to find out news about the organisation she worked for almost her entire career, but Maggie White had a way of keeping that bit at a distance and yet drawing you close to her way of being.As long [...]
When a venue becomes a true partner, your event cannot help but fly – thank you, Nikko
For the last four years, we’ve held our WIT Japan at the Hotel Nikko in Odaiba and over the years, I’ve come to regard it as home. That Rainbow Bridge right outside my hotel window inspired the theme for our inaugural event in 2012 – “Building Bridges”. The staff know us. They know our eve [...]
Letter from Tokyo: So much easier to enjoy, and things are just getting started
Arrived in Tokyo Monday morning on the Japan Airlines red-eye from Singapore. There’s a lot to be said when travelling to a foreign country on their home carrier – it prepares you for the destination.
We spend a lot of time lambasting national carriers and how wasteful and inefficient they ar [...]
Travel disruption alert and who owns the customer journey
With all the talk in the industry about who owns the customer journey, Yeoh Siew Hoon wonders if travelers want to be owned.
Many things were said at Phocuswright Dublin including how as part of Expedia’s test and learn strategy, 1,500 changes were made in 2014 versus the 200 changes made in to [...]
Letter from Dublin: From misery to silicon
Walked out this morning towards the Liffey River with a spring in my step. It’s late spring in Dublin but frankly, it feels like winter to me. The hood I am in – Grand Canal Dock, nickname Silicon Docks – represents the new face of Dublin, the home for innovation and start-ups and the new Mast [...]
Letter from beautiful and vulnerable Bali, just like Nepal: United in travel
Last night, I slept to the sound of the ocean. It was the most blissful night’s sleep I’ve had in a while. Nothing like the sound of waves crashing to the shore to soothe the restless mind.
This morning, I woke to the same sound. Only this time there was laughter floating in the sea breeze.
[...]
Letter from Kuching: The time has come for Sarawak to be discovered, enjoyed and loved
I first visited Kuching when I was a young, bug-eyed reporter and was somehow lucky enough to land a writing assignment for a photography book on Sarawak.
I don’t know why I thought myself qualified to do the job but I’ve never been one to let ignorance stand in the way of endeavours.
Robe [...]
10 lessons from Singapore, the Start-Up: Learning from Lee Kuan Yew
Like everyone living in Singapore, I spent most of last week reading, listening and learning about the life of Lee Kuan Yew and how he built a nation from scratch. And it made me realise that in many ways, Singapore is like a start-up and the late Mr Lee its founder.
Here are the 10 lessons I fee [...]
Remembering LKY by his words, and deeds
As much as any of us has been expecting it, we’re never prepared for that moment of finality.
I remember the doctors preparing us, days ahead, for my father’s death. Yet when it came, it was still like a thunderbolt that left a big gap that’s yet to be filled.
Noise, then silence. Transi [...]
Virtual reality, smartwatches and Apple Pay – their implications for travel
The first time I started wearing glasses was when I noticed how many people were wearing them too. It made me less self-conscious to be called “Specky”.So when I put on my first pair of Occulus Rift virtual reality glasses, it made me wonder if in a few years’ time, when this technology become [...]
