Can Japan leap beyond “the Italy of Asia” in the AI era?
Why quiet power may become Japan’s greatest competitive advantage
The travel industry is undergoing its biggest transformation since the rise of the internet.
The catalyst, of course, is generative AI.
Yet the most thought-provoking question I took away from WiT Japan 2026 wasn’t about AI [...]
The Sound of Quiet: Why the tourism ecosystem needs silence
"When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light, That split the night,
And touched the sound of silence."
~ Paul Simon
Let’s be honest: most of us in the travel industry spend our lives building infrastructure for the crowd. We map out route expansions, track footfall events, optimi [...]
Asia Pacific had the world’s busiest airport pairs in 2025, says IATA
IATA releases 2025 World Air Transport Statistics
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released the latest edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), providing comprehensive statistical data through to 2025.
Updated annually, WATS provides data related to demand, s [...]
Agoda’s Tim Hughes on online travel’s broken promise and AI’s “Reddit” dilemma
Twenty-five years and, by his own count, five completely different versions of Agoda later, Agoda’s Timothy Hughes sat down at WiT Queenstown to talk about why online travel never quite delivered on its oldest promise, and why the fix for AI’s travel-advice problem might be sitting in a small co [...]
Gemini goes local: What Google’s first Southeast Asia AI report means for travel
Google’s first-ever Gemini Report: Southeast Asia 2026, released on July 14 alongside the local-language rollout of its new “Gemini Spark” agent, claims the chatbot has become the fastest-adopted Google product the region has ever seen – active users more than doubled between April 2025 and [...]
Emirates adds rail. Amadeus’ solid growth. Ask Maps adds hotels. Trivago ups AI spend.
Emirates Skywards adds European rail booking
Emirates Skywards has launched Skywards Rail, a new service letting members redeem miles for train tickets covering over 12,000 destinations across Europe. The program connects to more than 40 major rail operators in 12 countries — including Eurostar, [...]
The next transformation: Inside Ascott’s agentic AI leap of faith
Chief Commercial Officer Tan Bee Leng on the mindset shift that took the company from owner to operator – and the one she says is even bigger
Ask Tan Bee Leng, chief commercial officer of Ascott, what her immediate challenge is and her answer was not what I had expected.
“Parity,” she says [...]
The reluctant author who sets himself on fire, again and again
New book, new AI-native app, new home – ixigo’s Rajnish Kumar on the next fire trial for travel
Rajnish Kumar didn’t want to write a book. In fact, for eight years, he actively resisted one, he told me when we met over coffee in Singapore, his new home after moving here from Malaga. (We’ll [...]
Young Focus: Building the long road out of Smokey Mountain, Philippines
Young Focus Foundation is WiT For Good’s 2026 beneficiary. Since 2008, WiT For Good has raised nearly $1 million for women and children across Asia.
Can you recall a moment that changed your life? For Paul van Wijgerden, living in Amsterdam at the time as a young man in the 1980s, that moment wa [...]
Tale of three startups: Discover, trust, experience and an investor’s take
It couldn’t have been better planned – the Founders & Futures: Global Startup Showcase at WiT Phocuswright Barcelona. On stage were three startups covering three stages of the traveller journey and facing them, Roger Sharp, chair of Technology Queenstown and investor via North Ridge Partners [...]
