In my neighbourhood in Tanjong Rhu, Singapore, there’s an undercurrent of excitement leading up to this weekend. Actually, forget undercurrent. There’s an over-the-top buzz happening because, well, Taylor Swift starts her six-day concert run this Saturday at the National Stadium, across the river from me.
All week, I’ve been sent messages about her flight path to Singapore, her aircraft, her fans mobbing her at the Capella, where she’s staying. My inbox is full of travel companies sending data about the Swiftie effect on flight bookings and hotel occupancies – and that’s all covered in a related article on our website.
Let’s face it, pop stars are good for business. More than 300,000 tickets have been sold for the concerts in Singapore, with a large number of fans travelling in from South-east Asia and the rest of the world.
It’s also caused a bit of a political brouhaha.
The calm before the storm: Preparations at the National Stadium to prepare for the Swift performances.
Local news reported that “On Feb 16, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said he was informed by AEG that the Singapore Government offered subsidies of up to US$3 million (S$4 million) for each concert – in exchange for Swift agreeing not to perform elsewhere in South-east Asia during The Eras Tour.
The Singapore Tourism Board and MCCY then issued a joint statement saying that the upcoming concerts got the support of the authorities in the form of a grant, but stopped short of saying how much was pumped in.”
All’s fair in music and business, I guess.
All round, it’s been a good news week for travel and tourism, with the top travel companies all reporting healthy fourth quarter 2023 and full year 2023 results – from Airbnb, Booking Holdings, Expedia Group, Trip.com Group, Amadeus …
You can get the financial results anywhere but let me call out just a couple of things that caught my eye.
One, Booking Holdings is facing regulations headwinds – there’s a draft decision from Spanish regulators that alleges Booking.com has violated Spanish competition laws and should be fined $530 million. And it is appealing the decision by the European Commission in September to block its acquisition of Etraveli Group.
Two, Expedia Group, undergoing a leadership change from Peter Kern to Ariane Gorin this May, is expected to shed up to 1,500 jobs, roughly 9% of its most recently reported employee count. This has immediately sparked questions as to whether these cuts are due to AI; indeed any shedding of jobs by companies now is being attributed to AI.
Let’s face it, just as we blamed Covid for a lot of things, we will do the same with AI.
Take this recent conversation I had with a lawyer friend about AI being used by hoteliers in pricing and revenue management.
“Hoteliers tell me that AI sets bolder rates than their staff, and the rates sell,” I told him.
“That’s because it’s got no fear, it knows only numbers,” he replied.
I asked, “But what if it fails? Can the human say, it’s not my fault, it’s AI.”
Laughed my friend, “Yes, I’d totally abdicate responsibility.”
So, what else is happening in APAC travel tech this week? In brief …
Ixigo, the Indian OTA, has filed with the Security Exchange Bureau of India to go public. This is its second go – we wish CEO Aloke Bajpai good luck. Things are certainly brighter this time round.
And did you know? Today, February 29, is the 12th anniversary of Traveloka, the Indonesian-born OTA, born on this leap year day. This marks a full cycle according to the Chinese astrological calender – in the first cycle, Traveloka rode on the mobile and social wave. What will the next cycle bring?
Meanwhile, back to the pop world. I think Stevie Wonder is the original voice cloning machine. If you’ve watched the Netflix documentary, “The Greatest Night in Pop”, about the making of “We Are The World”, there’s a bit in there about Stevie Wonder mimicking Bob Dylan, who is obviously struggling with the harmonies, to help the latter along.
Well, Wonder mimicking Dylan is better than Dylan doing Dylan.
Here’s to travel healing the world.
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