Letter from Seoul: A snowy backdrop to outbound trends, AI innovations and a search for community
Caught in the first snowfall in Seoul, Yeoh Siew Hoon has time to thaw out her brains while the plane is being de-iced on the tarmac to reflect on the key takeaways from WiT Seoul 2024.
The Koreans believe that first snowfall is auspicious. If this is true, then Seoul’s travel industry is in fo [...]
Fast Forward: Where tours & activities will take us in a decade
Editor’s Note: Remember back when we used to plan a decade ahead? Luke Clark does: and thanks to some WiT enabled rose-tinted glasses, he takes a look at some of the trends driving tours and activities into the next decade and beyond.
Bill Gates is believed to be responsible for the truism that [...]
Southeast Asia’s tech sector at pivotal moment for value creation
Asia Partners’ Oliver Rippel Says Travel Will Serve as Foundational Sector
Southeast Asia’s travel tech sector is at a pivotal moment for tech-driven value creation. Speaking at WiT Singapore, Oliver Rippel, co-founder and partner at Asia Partners, says, “We believe that Southeast Asia’s ti [...]
How fintech is transforming Asia’s travel industry
In Asia’s fast-evolving travel industry, a revolution is quietly unfolding. Driven by rising consumer expectations for seamless experiences and the need for cost efficiencies, travel companies are embracing fintech solutions like never before.
Watch full session:
https://youtu.be [...]
Mobility and hospitality startups, MOVV and DOWHAT, win at K-Travel Tech Summit
MOVV (Moving Mobilities), which offers global travel mobility software as a service, and DOWHAT, a smart hotel platform for guests, staff and management, won the Showcase at the K-Travel Tech Summit held in Seoul this week.
Hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and organized by t [...]
Rise in direct sales and low cost carriers are keeping intermediaries on their toes
The airline industry is undergoing a significant shift as major airlines ramp up their efforts to sell directly to travellers, in an attempt to bypass intermediaries like online travel agencies (OTAs) and Global Distribution Systems (GDS).
At the same time, low cost carriers (LCCs) are expanding [...]
Too much data? Agoda’s approach to learning, making mistakes and creativity
How much time does a tech company allocate for learning and experimentation in an age of rapid tech advancement? This is a question Agoda addresses every day, according to its Chief Technology Officer, Idan Zalzberg. In the WiT Studio, Zalzberg shared how Agoda is shifting its view on customer exper [...]
With APAC leading in air travel, Digital Identity is key to managing growth
Benefits are clear, but so are challenges of inter-operability and scalability
As passenger numbers soar globally, especially across Asia Pacific, the travel industry is looking to technology to make the airport experience faster, smoother, and less frustrating. Central to this vision is digital id [...]
Letter from Phoenix: Of bomb cyclones, flight disruptions and super agents
On the day I was to fly out from Phoenix to San Francisco came news of the “bomb cyclone” that battered the Pacific Northwest and Northern California, causing power outages, downing trees and power lines, and tragically killing two people in Washington State.
It resulted in flight cancell [...]
All-in-one: justfly.com reveals the tech, market gaps and challenges of building a one-stop travel shop
It’s no secret that the demand for seamless travel, or the ‘connected trip’, is rising exponentially. There are two important factors to note here: One, more and more people are relying purely on digital platforms to plan, book and fulfill their travel needs. And two, the growing number of app [...]
