Seek Sophie: Building a tribe around conscious travel
When Jacinta Lim talks about her startup, Seek Sophie, you can feel both the grit and the idealism running through her words.
Speaking at Travel Tech Thursdays in Kuala Lumpur late last month, the co-founder admits that creating the company has been the hardest thing she’s ever done, harder tha [...]
From family epic to future growth: How Dawn Teo is future-proofing Amara post-delisting
When I listen to Dawn Teo speak about Amara Hotels, I feel she’s not just describing a business but a Singapore family epic that spans three generations – one that started with a grandfather wanting to honour his roots, to her father building up a strong and proudly Singaporean brand and now her [...]
Online Travel In Asia: The Untold Story (Chapters 5 – 8)
The next chapters of Online Travel in Asia: The Untold Story dive into the defining “moonshot moments” that changed the course of the travel tech industry. From Agoda’s acquisition by Priceline in 2007 to MakeMyTrip’s IPO in 2010, and Qunar’s $306 million sale to Baidu the following year, [...]
China’s Umetrip: A revival or a reboot?
When the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and 37 Chinese carriers – pretty much all of them – announced the launch of a unified direct ticket sales platform — embedded in the popular Civil Aviation Information app “Umetrip” — it immediately drew parallels to past airline-le [...]
Premiere | Online Travel in Asia: The Untold Story (Chapters 1 – 4)
Reflecting on the history of online travel while celebrating the future of things to come.
As the world counted down to the year 2000, headlines warned of Y2K chaos — crashing computers, frozen clocks, a world on pause. For Yeoh Siew Hoon, Founder of WiT, David Bowie’s Changes became the soundt [...]
Founders on fire: Indie spirit, big markets, bigger dreams
At WiT Indie, five startup founders took the stage, each tackling a different challenge in travel and tech. What they shared: courage, creativity, and a relentless drive to build from the ground up.
What do a lawyer-turned-AR entrepreneur, a molecular biologist-turned-cargo software builder, a th [...]
Tech, heart and hospitality: Three hoteliers, three roads to the future
From the polished corridors of a luxury hotel to the barefoot vibes of Potato Head Bali, and the brainy back-end of Lighthouse, three hoteliers – Christine Tan, Jack Tan, and Sharon Chen – embody different worlds of hospitality. But beneath the surface, they share a common goal: making sense o [...]
Greg Schulze on the Barry Diller moment, global scale and staying gentle | Conversations On Turning 20
When you get to the ripe young age of 20, you’re bound to collect lots of stories – not only about the past but lessons for the future.
As WiT marks its 20th year in 2025, we turn the spotlight on our community, our tribe pioneers and leaders, to tell their stories and share their views on th [...]
Rewriting travel: From anti-loyalty to creators’ power
At WiT Indie, where travel’s rebels and rule-breakers come to play, the conversation isn’t just about distribution channels or loyalty metrics – it’s about dismantling the old world of travel and building a new one grounded in community, creativity and traveller-centric thinking.
That’s [...]
Between rush and reflection: The curse of technology and the promise of indie travel
When WiT Indie opened in Penang, it didn’t begin with bold predictions or shiny tech promises. It began with two voices – one steeped in history and thought, the other in curiosity and courage – inviting the audience to pause, reflect, and rethink what it means to travel in these times.
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