AI in action: Reshaping travel
10 key takeaways from a presentation at WiT Japan by Amy Wei, Senior Product Director, Trip.com Group
1. The shift is already here and accelerating fast.
Trip.com launched its AI assistant TripGenie in February 2023, just 2.5 months after ChatGPT. Three years of real user data tell a clea [...]
HopeGoo’s Malaysia Bet: China’s Travel Muscle Meets Local Manners
When HopeGoo, the international travel platform of Tongcheng Travel, entered Malaysia, it knew it had to take a highly localized approach so that it wouldn’t be just another Chinese app chasing Malaysian travellers but to become a travel companion for Malaysians heading to China — and eventually [...]
The country you think you know (but don’t): Florian Sengstschmid on marketing Azerbaijan
Before my interview with Florian Sengstschmid, CEO of the Azerbaijan Tourism Board, at WiT Phocuswright Middle East, I asked Claude, give me three good reasons to visit Azerbaijan.
Claude, having apparently tracked my recent interest in Dylan Thomas’s birthplace in Wales, came back with three a [...]
Letter from Athens & Corfu: Of beds, seasonality and service
Landing in Istanbul en route to Athens, I had six hours to kill at IST. Turned out not to be a problem.
The largest airport in Turkey, the second busiest in Europe, and the largest privately-owned airport operation in the world – it is impressive. Massive, in fact. Generously spaced retail, wel [...]
JTB acquires EXO Travel. Trip.com eyes 200m travellers. Agoda platforms ethical hackers. Vietnam tourism surge.
EXO Travel finds its next adventure under JTB Group
Asia-based Destination Management Company EXO Travel has been acquired by JTB Group, one of the world's largest travel organisations, via JTB's Asia Pacific arm purchasing All Wise Holdings Pte. Ltd., EXO's parent company. Founded in 1993 and oper [...]
AI in ASEAN travel. What’s working, what isn’t, what’s next.
Because of the widespread nature of AI, conversations about its applications and potential can get pretty vague. We didn’t want that to be the case, so at Travel Tech Thursdays Vol 9, we had three experts on the panel who are already deep in the build - Sarah Wan, GM for Singapore, Malaysia, Indon [...]
The Ground Shift: 10 things we now know
Gathering the key takeaways from WiT Phocuswright Middle East 2026
“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.” I simply had to open WiT Phocuswright Middle East last week in Barcelona with the opening line from Charles Dickens’ The Tale of Two Cities.
It felt apt – an event t [...]
Dispersal through discovery: Klook’s Wilfred Fan on using social to spread travel
The chief commercial officer on creator networks, the Hiroshima playbook, self-disruption — and a spontaneous detour to Heidelberg
There is an irony at the heart of social media’s relationship with travel. The same platforms that have made the world’s hidden places discoverable have also made [...]
Africa’s live events boom: The continent is ready for its mega-concert moment
From Springbok sell-outs to Formula E, South Africa is proving it can host world-class live events. But infrastructure gaps, rising costs and a talent drain are holding the continent back from its full potential.
The numbers don't lie
The global live events industry is on a tear. Valued at [...]
Japan’s travellers have already embraced AI. Its travel brands are still catching up
In Japan, artificial intelligence has quietly become part of how people approach travel. Consumers have absorbed the technology into their planning with little fanfare, even as many of the businesses they ultimately book with have been slower to respond.
That divergence between travellers who hav [...]
