Year of the Horse ignites global travel surge
During the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday (Feb. 15-23), Weixin Mini Programs saw a total transaction value increase of over 65% year-on-year (YoY). Outbound Chinese tourists drove significant growth across several sectors, including a 35%+ YoY rise in dining (with a 40% rise for HEYTEA) and a 50%+ YoY increase in transportation transactions. Booking activity also surged, with user visits for accommodation up 50%+ and attraction tickets up 85%+. “Zodiac Tourism” fueled a “Year of the Horse” trend in destinations with the Chinese character “ma” in their names; consequently, offline transaction value rose 131% YoY in Malaysia and 186% YoY in the Maldives. Italy emerged as a “dark horse” market with a 190%+ YoY increase in transaction value, while Thailand ranked as the top non-Chinese territory by offline transaction volume.
Inbound tourism to the Chinese mainland also experienced rapid growth, with the average daily number of visitors using Weixin Mini Programs more than doubling month-on-month. Medical aesthetics was a standout category, seeing transaction value double year-on-year, while healthcare transactions by Hong Kong residents at mainland private hospitals and clinics rose 117% YoY. The expansion of interoperability played a key role in this momentum, as Weixin Pay now supports 29 overseas wallets across 12 countries and regions, leading to a 28% YoY increase in such transactions during the holiday period. Within Southeast Asia, Malaysia maintained its position in the Top 5 markets by transaction volume, supported by a 1.4x YoY growth in transaction value on Malaysia-based Mini Programs.
Klook and Osaka partner to enhance visitor distribution
Klook and the Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau (OCTB) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to enhance visitor distribution and support sustainable tourism management across the prefecture. The partnership leverages Klook’s digital platform and Travel Pulse 2026 study, which shows 48.6 per cent of travellers visiting Japan plan to include Osaka, to focus on joint content development, data sharing, and digital solutions like audio guide capabilities. While intent is particularly high among millennials at 53.4 per cent, platform data reveals a trend of travellers using Osaka as a gateway for regional exploration via Shinkansen tickets and car rentals. By connecting data and technology, the collaboration aims to support small and medium-sized merchants beyond Osaka City, refine the strengths of each municipality into market-ready products, and ensure a more balanced visitor flow that benefits local communities.
Agoda and China Airlines launch StayMiles for travel rewards
Agoda’s strategic partnerships arm, Rocket Travel by Agoda, has partnered with China Airlines to launch StayMiles, a new hotel booking platform that allows members to earn and redeem miles globally. As the sole digital travel partner, Rocket Travel by Agoda manages the complete customer journey, providing access to over 600,000 hotels worldwide across markets including Taiwan, North and Southeast Asia, North America, Canada, and Europe. This collaboration aims to redefine travel rewards by integrating hotel bookings with flight services, strengthening loyalty through a seamless booking environment and a comprehensive array of global properties.
Airbnb launches ‘Reserve Now, Pay Later’ for Asia Pacific travellers
Airbnb is introducing Reserve Now, Pay Later in Asia Pacific, a new flexible payment option that allows guests to reserve eligible listings globally without paying anything at the time of booking. This feature, which follows a U.S. launch that helped drive an acceleration of bookings in Q4 2025, is available for stays with moderate or flexible cancellation policies, requiring full payment only shortly before the free cancellation period ends. According to a survey of travellers in Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, and Thailand, 67% of respondents value flexible payment options, while 41% have missed out on preferred accommodation due to the time spent coordinating payments with co-travellers. Designed to complement existing tools like Pay Part Now, Part Later, this initiative aims to help guests lock in “rare finds” early for major global events like Coachella and the FIFA World Cup while ensuring hosts have sufficient time to secure new bookings if a guest cancels.
Amadeus acquires SkyLink to scale AI-driven conversational travel
Amadeus has announced the acquisition of SkyLink, an AI-first, New York-headquartered technology company specializing in orchestration and conversational automation, to accelerate the deployment of AI across the travel industry. By integrating SkyLink’s proprietary AI architecture and multilayer orchestration engine, Amadeus aims to enable travellers to book and service flights and hotels conversationally in a matter of seconds through platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams. The deal, which builds on SkyLink’s success of tens of thousands of bookings already completed, specifically enhances Amadeus’ solutions for the Travel Management Company (TMC) world and expands its customer base in North America. While the immediate focus remains on corporate travel, Amadeus plans to expand these AI-driven conversational capabilities across airlines, airports, and hospitality, leveraging its global scale of processing billions of search requests and millions of travel transactions every day to deliver more seamless and responsive experiences at scale.
PKFARE debuts Southeast Asia hotel partner awards
Global travel wholesaler PKFARE launched its first-ever Hotel Partner Awards across Southeast Asia to recognize contributions to its network of more than 30,000 directly contracted hotels globally. Award recipients were selected based on performance metrics, inventory contribution, strategic collaboration, and overall value, with representative honorees including Archipelago International (Excellent Strategic Partner Award), Furama Hotels & Resorts International Management (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Outstanding Performance Award), Only One Tour (Preferred Strategic Partner Award), and The Peninsula Bangkok (Premium Value Partner Award). By honoring these hotel chains, boutique hotels, and DMCs, PKFARE aims to strengthen its high-quality, scalable, and diverse hotel supply ecosystem while helping regional partners expand their global presence, particularly in the US and European markets.
