Travel and hospitality professional with more than 20 years of experience working across the global travel industry and over two decades living and working in Asia.
I have spent more than two decades building, operating, and scaling travel businesses across Southeast Asia. This has not been from the outside looking in. It has been through developing products, managing supplier networks, handling customers, and running operations across multiple destinations in one of the most complex travel regions globally. Today, I continue this...
AI is becoming one of the most discussed topics in the travel industry. From automated itineraries to dynamic pricing and customer service, the promise is clear. Faster processes.Lower costs.Better decisions. But there is one fundamental misunderstanding. AI will not fix broken travel operations. The AI Hype in Travel Many travel businesses are looking at AI...
If you look at most travel businesses from the outside, success appears to be driven by product, pricing, and marketing. Better itineraries.Better pricing.Better visibility. But in reality, none of these are the foundation of a successful travel business. Supplier relationships are. Because in travel, your product is only as strong as the people delivering it....
If you are involved in developing or promoting a destination, it is easy to focus on branding, visibility, and marketing. Position the destination.Promote its uniqueness.Increase awareness. But this is rarely what determines success. A destination is not successful because of how it is branded.It is successful because of how well it is packaged, structured, and...
If you are looking at a destination management company from the outside, scaling the business can appear relatively straightforward. Add more destinations.Increase volume.Work with more suppliers. From a distance, it looks linear. In reality, it is not. Scaling a DMC is not a linear process. It is exponential in complexity. And this is where many...
If you are a travel agency operating in Asia, your biggest risk is not pricing, product, or competition. It is assuming that contracts will protect your business. They will not. Contracts define the structure of a partnership. But in Asia, they rarely define the outcome. The Illusion of Control Many Western travel companies approach Asia...