Main character energy: The qualities tomorrow’s travel leaders need to succeed
As we learned in the recent WiT documentary ‘Online Travel in Asia: The Untold Story’, the travel leaders who made it to 2025 did so by navigating some game-changing hurdles – and in the case of the COVID pandemic, laboured through challenges that nothing could have prepared them for.
Admit [...]
Building product in the Age of AI with trust and velocity
Is this the golden age of travel product or just another hype cycle? Well, the panel, comprising Booking.com’s David Adamczyk, Google’s James Byers, and Klook’s David Liu did not hesitate – it’s a golden age, they declared at WiT Singapore.
AI has raised the bar and moved the starting l [...]
Inside the mind of Trip’s Xing Xiong: A technologist reflects on the AI age
AI cannot replace passion: Make safe decisions with limited resources, collaborate to put travellers first, focus on problems, not tech.
In a rare public appearance, Trip.com Group’s Chief Operating Officer Xing Xiong stepped out of his “engine room” to speak at WiT’s 20th anniversary con [...]
From intelligence to well-being: Inside JTB’s Eijiro Yamakita’s vision to enrich global tourism
In Japan, there is a saying, 縁は異なもの味なもの」(En wa i na mono, aji na mono) – which means literally, “Fate is a strange thing, and a flavourful thing” – meaning “the ties and encounters in life are unexpected and mysterious, but they bring richness and delight”.
It [...]
From spreadsheet to sky: How Skyscanner took flight
Three coders, one spreadsheet, and a restless idea that refused to stay grounded.
When Barry Smith, Gareth Williams, and Bonamy Grimes decided to start a business together, they had no idea what shape it would take. All they knew was that they wanted to build something – and that whatever it wa [...]
Whose order? Or, why everyone wants to own your trip (and make you pay for it)
A few weeks ago, as I planned my trip to join WIT’s 20th Anniversary Celebration, my inbox was littered with the usual barrage: multiple confirmation emails for each trip element and no single journey umbrella document. Each came from a different brand, with a different reference number, in a diff [...]
The next generation of travel: Trust, vibe and the coming AI wave
At the Next Generation Leaders event yesterday morning, held as part of WiT Singapore, four voices from across Asia’s travel ecosystem – Laura Houldsworth (Booking.com), Timothy Hughes (Agoda), Morris Sim (Montara Hospitality) and Jacinta Lim (Seek Sophie) – examined how the new travel [...]
The Next 20 years of travel – three industry leaders share their top predictions
WiT Singapore 2025: The Next 20 will spotlight the leaders at the forefront of change
As WiT celebrates two decades of convening the travel industry’s most progressive trends, it now turns decisively toward the future; the theme for this year’s WiT Singapore 2025, held between 6th-8th October a [...]
The Meaning of WiT | A new documentary on 20 years of stories, friendships and change
What makes WiT, well… WiT? Is it the debates and data? The big names and the startups? The art, music and poetry? Or is it the people - and the stories they bring with them?
As WiT turns 20, our new documentary The Meaning of WiT takes a step back to capture the essence of the event through the e [...]
Cruising goes digital: Complexity, connectivity and the human touch
Did you know that in 2009, online travel penetration in APAC was just 17.4%? By 2025, it has surged to 65.4%. The growth is huge.
Cruise, however, has always been the laggard. Flights, hotels, tours and activities all went online earlier. Cruise, with its complexity, was the last holdout. That� [...]
