Help for Pickleball fans
If you’re a fan of Pickleball – a fast-growing paddle sport combining elements of ping pong, badminton and tennis – chances are you will find it difficult to source a pickleball court on your travels.
Step up, TravelAI which specialises in personalised travel experiences by harnessing the power of applied AI to create ‘micro-segments’, dividing travellers into groups based on customer needs, preferences, and behaviours.
Providers can then tailor messaging and options to these ‘segments’ of travellers.
“The idea is to get to the ‘segment of one’ – where a single traveller’s query turns into a universe of tailored possibilities,” says CEO John Lyotier.
TravelAI can build niche travel sites based on trends, identified by using AI and machine learning, so when Pickleball grew beyond its US home, out came pickletrip.com for travellers looking to stay near pickleball courts.
The platform continuously refines its understanding of traveller preferences, helping travel sellers like Expedia, VRBO, Booking.com and others to optimise their offerings.
Through a network of complementary digital brands, travellers have booked more than 1.6 million transactions and have generated more than US$1.5 billion in gross booking value since 2018. TravelAI makes commissions on every booking across its platform.
“Hyper-personalized options – that’s how the industry will serve the next billion travellers,” says Lyotier.
WAGS and HABS net social media windfall
The WAGS (wives and girlfriends) and HABS (husbands and boyfriends) of players competing at the Melbourne Grand Slam tennis tournament this week have been pocketing fistfuls of dollars via their social media accounts.
Research conducted by the multiplayer card game site, World of Card Games, examined the social media profiles of the most influential WAGs and HABs of the 2024 Australian Open.
An influencer marketing calculator was then used to establish which star is the most influential on social media and how much they can earn per sponsored post.
The result? Sophia Thomalla is the highest-earning WAG or HAB of this year’s Australian Open, earning up to US$15,406 per sponsored social media post.
The German actress and television presenter, with an Instagram following of 1.4 million, has reportedly been dating German tennis player Alexander Zverev since 2021, and the loved-up couple are often posting affectionate snaps on social media.
Hollywood actress and model Madalina Ghenea has the potential to earn up to US$14,058 per post and has a 1.3 million strong Instagram following. The Romanian has been with Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov since early 2023 and has previously dated Leonardo DiCaprio.
Jelena Djokovic, with a follower count of 686,900, is the wife of Novak Djokovic who can earn up to US$8,859 per sponsored post. The childhood sweethearts have two children together. Jelena is the co-founder and CEO of the Novak Djokovic Foundation, which was set up in 2007 to help develop early childhood education projects in Serbia.
The American influencer and entrepreneur Paige Lorenze has 549,300 followers and the ability to make up to US$7,318 per post. Paige has dated a range of men from Armie Hammer to Morgan Wallen to her current beau, American tennis player Tommy Paul. Her content mainly consists of fashion and lifestyle posts and vlogs, and she created the lifestyle brand Dairy Boy in 2021.
American former professional basketball player David Lee is married to Danish tennis player, Caroline Wozniacki. He has an Instagram following of 388,600 and the capacity to make up to US$5,585 per sponsored post.
Robots on the bay in Tokyo
Tokyo Bay will have a major new attraction with the 1 March opening of Japan’s first immersive theme park.
‘Immersive Fort Tokyo’ ‘will feature 12 attractions on Odaiba, Tokyo’s entertainment island known for pleasure cruising, vast shopping centres and modern entertainment attractions.
Among the attractions at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation Miraikan, is Geo-Cosmos – a three-dimensional rendition of Earth as it shines in outer space.
The museum’s permanent exhibitions have also undergone major changes with new exhibitions highlighting robots and the Earth’s environment.
Odaiba’s mega shopping outlets are another drawcard with Aqua City Odaiba, a highlight. One of its attractions is a female robot known as Chihira Junco. Created by electronic company Toshiba, Junco is Aqua City Odaiba’s multi-lingual humanistic robotic information guide, ready to answer questions in Japanese, Chinese, and English.
TAT tags on to travel app
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Thai Digital Platform Social Enterprise have signed a MOU to further raise awareness of TAGTHAi, the ‘Super Aggregator Platform’ for tourists exploring Thailand.
The MOU places emphasis on Thailand’s national development plan, ‘Thailand 4.0’, which seeks to enhance technology and public-private data to drive the country’s competitiveness in the tourism industry.
The TAGTHAi travel app is a platform for local businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to promote their products and services.
Pronounced “Tak-Thaai”, meaning “greetings” in Thai, the all-in-one travel application is a collaboration platform between public and private agencies in Thailand who pooled their resources to develop the app.
Under the MOU, TAT will promote TAGTHAi via its marketing activities and publicity channels as well as share information on popular and upcoming tourist attractions and tour routes.
In exchange, TAGTHAi will provide data intelligence on tourist’s travel preferences in Thailand, by analysing user’s activity. This will enable effective data-driven connections between TAT’s online platforms and TAGTHAi.
Tourists can download the TAGTHAi app via the App Store or Play Store.
