Letter from Seoul: High anxiety, hard questions and high stakes
“Don’t worry about the next 20, worry about the next six months”
Back in Singapore, after landing at 1am and walking my dog through tropical humidity six hours later, I found myself reflecting on the strange magic of travel.
Just 24 hours earlier, I had been in Seoul, pacing along the Han [...]
From photography, influencing and storytelling, travel’s creative minds reimagine the future
“Always go a little further into the water” – David Bowie
While much is written about the technology toys of the future, the part that too often seems to be lacking is an exploration of just how creative tomorrow’s talent needs to become, in order to help master the challenges ahead of us.
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Charlene Wee: Flying into the future of airline retail
When Charlene Wee took the stage at WiT Singapore, she had just transitioned from heading distribution at Singapore Airlines (SIA) to overseeing operations, a move that bridges two worlds often kept apart: how airlines sell, and how they serve.
After 15 years with SIA, Wee now manages 9,000 [...]
USTA’s Geoff Freeman: “We are going the wrong way”
He probably has the toughest job in travel right now – for instance, I had more anxiety travelling to the US than Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where I had just been before making my way to San Diego.
So, when U.S. Travel Association president and CEO Geoff Freeman spoke at Phocuswright, I listened with [...]
Airline distribution and the role of aggregators in a fragmented future, with AeroHub’s Kelvin Fu | WiT Studio
Airline distribution is at a crossroads. The centralized Global Distribution Systems (GDS) is more fragmented, driven by NDC (New Distribution Capability) and direct distribution. In the WiT Studio, Kelvin Fu (CEO and Founder of AeroHub) weighs in on the direction of the industry. He asserts that di [...]
Meili’s McGearty: Rooting for a direct future that puts travellers first
“AI could tilt discovery against suppliers”, he warns at WiT Singapore
Mike McGearty, CEO and co-founder of Meili, believes the next decade of travel will be defined by direct relationships between suppliers and travellers – but not at the expense of balance across channels.
“There wil [...]
Barry Diller: On truth, end of Google search and travel’s endurance
I’ve long been a fan of Barry Diller, so when he walked onto the Phocuswright Centre Stage in San Diego, 20 years after his last appearance, I was all agog with anticipation – as were the delegates in the room. Let’s just say it was the most packed session of the three-day event.
And so it [...]
The Next 20: What will shape travel’s new era?
Global Travel Tech Thinktank identifies trust among 3 key battlegrounds - here's a summary
If the past 20 years were about putting travel online, the next 20 will be about rebuilding travel entirely — powered by AI, reshaped by demographics, and tested by global risks we can no longer ignore.
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Founders betting on a moonshot moment: The age of tech you don’t see, but feel
Half the room attending WiT Singapore raised their hands when moderator Pete Comeau of Phocuswright posed the opening challenge: Will the next 20 years give us tech we don’t see but feel? during the panel on “Founders & Futures: Milestone To Moonshot”.
It was a fitting provocation fo [...]
It’s the remix! Meet travel’s masters of reinvention
Those on the outside looking in, sometimes assume that travel planning must be easy. They assume that once you are established, the process of managing travel products becomes easy – and that early travel success is a near-guarantee of future success.
Sadly, where this staunchly competitive ind [...]
