A blockbuster eCommerce announcement and a strange travel signal with an Asia-Pacific twist
Amazon has just done something not quite so quietly disruptive: it has taken another piece of its logistics engine, put a price on it, and handed the market a benchmark. That matters far beyond e-commerce. Which is why we should all be paying attention.
For travel, the lesson is obvious. The indu [...]
Ten years of Klook: Marcus Yong on growth, AI, and the responsibility of being pan-Asian
He started on Labour Day. May 1. “I still don't know how that happened,” says Marcus Yong, laughing. Ten years later, Klook’s vice president of global marketing is sitting across from me, and the irony of choosing to begin his startup journey on the one day the world takes a break hasn't been [...]
The Middle East travel market: Resilient, reset, and recalibrating
Three months after the first attack on Iran sent shockwaves through the region, I spoke to four OTA leaders operating across the Middle East to get a read on where things stand. What emerged wasn't a single story but four different ones, shaped by market size, business model, and temperament.
&nb [...]
The aspiring traveller has spoken, now who will build for them?
MOVE’s Nadia Omer on unlocking ASEAN's next wave of travellers
The desire to travel has never been stronger in South-east Asia. The problem, says Nadia Omer, is that the industry hasn't caught up with the person doing the desiring.
Speaking at Travel Tech Thursdays Kuala Lumpur, themed “ [...]
Letter from Cape Town: Finding your Table Mountain
The travel industry is living through its most unsettling moment in 30 years since the Internet. AI is redrawing the front door through which travellers enter the funnel. Jobs are being reconsidered, business models questioned, and in classrooms from Singapore to Cape Town, students are asking the q [...]
SAA’s Tebogo Tsimane: On survival, looking east and fixing tech in small steps
South African Airways' Chief Commercial Officer on navigating the Middle East crisis, rebuilding from business rescue, and why open skies in Africa can't happen without cheaper fares.
Tebogo Tsimane has spent 24 years at South African Airways, starting behind a reservations desk – issuing manual [...]
Capital A signals growth and diversified future amid oil volatility
Speaking at a press conference held at The Chow Kit in Kuala Lumpur, Capital A CEO Tony Fernandes balanced the news of increased travel costs with the appointment of a new Deputy CEO and, with this being the final stage of its solidification, a rundown of Capital A’s portfolio.
The aviation vet [...]
The albatross that had to be let go
Even as we charge pell-mell into the future, it’s good, necessary, even, to take a walk back into the past to understand how we got to where we are today.
This week, I did exactly that. I visited The Albatross File: Singapore’s Independence Declassified, a permanent (actually it’s five years [...]
The direct booking secret no algorithm can beat
This week, a front desk executive succeeded where technology failed – she made me rethink my booking behaviour with a single human act. No algorithm. No AI layer. No vibe coding. Just awareness, initiative and follow-through.
Last week I checked into Amari Boulevard Kuala Lumpur. Since we launch [...]
Filip Filipov and his 10 big bets on the future of travel
At WiT Singapore last October, Filip Filipov, COO (now CEO) of OAG, opened his presentation with a provocation and a timer: 80 slides in 900 seconds. The pace mattered. Travel has entered its vertical-line decade, he argued – a period where technology cycles compress, incumbents retool faster than [...]
