Singaporean travellers just wanna have WiFi in the sky

WiFi tops the list of half of the 1,000 Singapore’s travellers’ most-wanted in-flight entertainment in a new research conducted by global travel search site, Skyscanner.

About 42% of the respondents were prepared to pay to access the Internet at 30,000 feet, with WiF mosti in demand. However, less than 19% were willing to pay for newspapers or magazines to keep abreast of news while in flight.

With some airlines such as Emirates now offering live TV onboard, travellers were asked if they would be prepared to pay for such a service. Over a quarter (28%) would pay to access live television, but movies prove to be even more popular with 35% stating they’d part with cash to watch their favourite movie.

Video games also proved popular with a quarter of passengers prepared to pay extra to keep themselves entertained with in-flight consoles.

About 60% would pay for extra legroom given the option, while almost half (49%) would pay to sit in a two-person row of seats.

The findings revealed women were prepared to pay more in almost every category except food.

Younger travellers were keener to pay for additional items across the board than their older counterparts, with 60% of 18-24 year-olds prepared to pay for WiFi and 40% for movies compared to only 30% and 27% of over-55’s, respectively.

Skyscanner spokesperson, Sam Poullain, said, “We’re not surprised to see that WiFi is in such high demand with travellers, as this reinforces some of our recent research on the social media habits of travellers, many of whom aim to stay connected every day when they go away. However, it’s clear that on the comfort front, additional legroom is also still in demand and many people will choose to pay extra for this to improve their in-flight experience.”

travelmob’s new section on local events

Social stay marketplace, travelmob, has launched Local Events, a new section that highlights key events in the Asia Pacific region.

Global travellers visiting the region can find out details of key trade, sporting and cultural events taking place in a local destination, and search for accommodation near specific event venues. They also get to experience local living nearby.

Prashant Kirtane, CTO and co-founder of travelmob, said this section was in line with the company’s continued mission to promote APAC destinations to global travellers, as well as to enhance “search” on the site.

“We have noticed many visitors, from business travellers to sports enthusiasts, search for apartments or rooms for rent near events they are attending in the region. As some of these local destinations may be unfamiliar to global tourists the Local Events section serves as a useful guide to not only provide more details on the event, but also help them easily shortlist from a curated list of accommodations near these event venues.”

The Local Events section currently offers information about upcoming events in APAC over the next quarter with plans to add more events across the region soon. Events to look out for include the Great Singapore Sale, Hong Kong Gifts and Premium Fair, Amazing Thailand and the Bali Arts Festival.

Wego opens up travel opportunities through tie up with European LCCs

Wego has partnered with eight new European low-cost airlines to enable travellers to discover affordable destinations outside of the region’s capitals.

The eight LCCs are Spain’s Vueling Airlines, French XL Airways, British Monarch, Air Berlin, Brussel Airlines, Latvian airBaltic AS, Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines and Icelandic WOW air.

Wego said the tie-up had opened up a world of travel opportunities for its users across the company’s 50 customised sites available in 30 languages globally.

“We’re so excited to welcome these key European carriers into Wego’s extensive airline inventory,” said Dean Wicks, Wego chief flights officer. “Today’s travellers seek more than a holiday, they want an experience and these airlines connect to a whole new world of exhilarating travel opportunities.”

Beyond European destinations the additional low cost airline partnerships open links to Marrakech, Sharm el Sheikh, Dubai, Phuket, Cancun, Las Vegas and San Francisco. Business travel will also benefit from greater options for London, Frankfurt, Moscow and New York.

“Many of the budget carriers offer a 30 to 40 minute check-in deadline making last minute decisions to fly no issue, saving valuable time, as well as money,” added Wicks. “We believe that Wego users, including our corporate travellers, will find our expanded European portfolio of airlines an essential component to travel planning.”

Six OTAs plugged into SiteMinder’s RDX  channel connectivity platform

Six major online travel agencies and booking platforms in Asia and Europe will gain direct connections to hotel reservation systems after connecting with SiteMinder’s Room Distribution Exchange (RDX) via SiteMinder’s channel connectivity API, SiteConnect.

The OTAs are:

Best Hotel Online: Hong Kong based booking site primarily servicing South-east Asia, and representing more than 125,000 hotels in 248 countries.

Hotusa: Major Spanish reservations site representing over 2,500 properties in 50 countries, with a focus on smaller, independent hotels in continental Europe.

PegiPegi: One of Indonesia’s largest OTAs for both business and holiday purposes.

ImpulseFlyer: membership based site representing hand-picked, luxury hotels in the Asia Pacific region.

Prestigia: UK based site representing over 5,000 luxury and boutique properties around the world.

Yuktravel: Major Indonesian site selling rooms for hotels worldwide.

SiteMinder product manager, Matt O’Kane, said the new connections would help hotels around the world gain more efficient access to the growing markets that are serviced by each of these booking sites.