Trip.com Group under investigation over alleged monopolistic practices
Trip.com Group Limited, a leading global one-stop travel service provider of accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours, and corporate travel management, announced that it has received a notice of investigation from the State Administration for Market Regulations of the Peop [...]
Golden age for SMEs provided they seize the AI moment
“Without data, SMEs can’t scale. Without SMEs, the ecosystem loses meaning.”
By the time the SME-focused panel on “Smarter Tourism: Scaling Strategies For Success” was held on the third and final day of TOURISE in Riyadh, one message had been echoing across the corridors – it is time th [...]
Luxury redefined: From bling to meaning, from sand to soul
If the first age of luxury was about status, and the second about style, the new luxury is about substance.
As moderator Morris Sim (Montara Hospitality) put it, “Luxury is such an overused word. Everyone has their own version of it. But if we start from the customer’s point of view – who [...]
Different origins, same destination: Inside Asia’s three OTA journeys to the future
AirAsia MOVE’s social pivot, Traveloka’s scrappy reinvention, and Rakuten’s ecosystem edge show that the future of travel may be powered by tech, but fuelled by people.
If the past 20 years were about putting travel online, the next 20 will be about keeping it human, while algorithms, agents, [...]
2026: A Year To Stand Out, Stay Open and Fight One Battle After Another
While everyone was traipsing round the world during the holiday season, I stayed home and watched the world go by, in posts, reels, streams and stories. When did the world become such a stage where everyone is an actor in their own movie?
In between these bouts of voyeurism, I visited local place [...]
Fliggy’s holi-data. Mega-events surge. OYO owner’s IPO push. Robotaxi tests.
Uber, Nuro and Lucid begin robotaxi road tests ahead of 2026 launch
Uber, Nuro and Lucid confirmed that on-road testing of their robotaxi engineering prototypes began last month, with commercial service targeted for the San Francisco Bay Area in late 2026. Announced at CES 2026, the programme is le [...]
Data, not drama, should shape Airbnb’s short-term rental rules
What does it mean to be a lawyer for a platform operating across various jurisdictions, and doing it in real time? In a conversation with Darrell Chan, Airbnb's APAC General Counsel, the idea of “guerrilla lawyering” is used as a working philosophy. But what does that look like when regulations [...]
The experience surge: Where meaning, AI and human connection collide
In an age where travellers crave meaning as much as adventure, the experience economy is surging again, not through algorithms alone, but through the people and purpose behind them.
At WiT Singapore 2025, the session title said it all: The Experience Surge: The Quest for Personalisation, Meaning an [...]
All you need is WiT: 20 tales that rocked the Next 20
From rock-and-roll endings to raw honesty on AI, WiT Singapore 2025 hit every note –human, hopeful and hilariously unfiltered. Founders bared souls, CEOs dropped truth bombs, and travellers found faith again in connection. Here are 20 stories from Luke Clark that prove The Next 20 wasn’t just a [...]
The Great Debate: Who will win in the Age of AI?
At WiT Singapore 2025, seven voices sparred over travel’s next frontier and the answer might just be the traveller.
When WiT turns 20, it doesn’t start with a party – it starts with a fight.
Under the blazing lights of the Main Stage at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, seven industry minds fro [...]
