PROGRAMME

Programme correct at time of publishing
All times shown are in Singapore Time (GMT +8)
MON, OCT 3
TUES, OCT 4
WED, OCT 5
10:00 - 16:30
Hosted Roundtables (By invitation only)

Venue: Level 3, Begonia 3011

Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre

 

10.00 AM – 11.30 AM   By Amadeus

 

3.00 PM – 4.30 PM       By Booking.com

14:30 - 16:30
WiT Bootcamp (Open to WiT attendees, limited capacity, pre-registration required)

View Programme →

 

Venue: Level 3, Begonia 3111 & 3112
Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre
 

Facilitators:

 

Louise Daley
CEO
Future Now Capital

 
 

Timothy Hughes
Vice President Corporate Development
Agoda

 
 

Coaches:
WiT Bootcamp (Open to WiT attendees, limited capacity, pre-registration required) image
Bart Bellers
CEO
Xpdite Capital Partners
WiT Bootcamp (Open to WiT attendees, limited capacity, pre-registration required) image
Chee Chong Chan
CEO & Co-founder
GlobalTix
WiT Bootcamp (Open to WiT attendees, limited capacity, pre-registration required) image
Chris Hemmeter
Co-founder & Managing Director
Thayer Ventures
WiT Bootcamp (Open to WiT attendees, limited capacity, pre-registration required) image
Kei Shibata
Co-founder & CEO
Venture Republic - TRAVEL jp & Trip101
WiT Bootcamp (Open to WiT attendees, limited capacity, pre-registration required) image
Lisa Katsouraki
Head of Corporate Development
Etraveli Group
WiT Bootcamp (Open to WiT attendees, limited capacity, pre-registration required) image
Rod Cuthbert
Board Member, VELTRA Corp/ Former Chairman & CEO,
Viator & Rome2rio/ Chairman, Jayride
WiT Bootcamp (Open to WiT attendees, limited capacity, pre-registration required) image
Ross Veitch
CEO & Co-founder
Wego
WiT Bootcamp (Open to WiT attendees, limited capacity, pre-registration required) image
Timothy O’Neil-Dunne
Principal
T2Impact
WiT Bootcamp (Open to WiT attendees, limited capacity, pre-registration required) image
Nicholas Cocks
Founder & Managing Director
Velocity Ventures
17:00 - 18:30
The Bridge Series – The Global Travel Tech Thinktank (By invitation only)

Hosted by Accor

 

Venue: SKAI Suites 3 & 4, Level 69, Swissôtel The Stamford

 

Politics may divide, but travel unites. For the first time, a collaboration between three of Northstar Travel Group’s travel technology brands, gathering industry leaders together to brainstorm the way forward for travel. A closed-door, by-invite session aimed at harnessing the collective experience and knowledge of the who’s who in travel tech on how we can create a better new world of travel.

19:00 - 21:00
“Hello, New World” cocktails (Open to all)

Hosted by Accor

 

Venue: SKAI Loft, Level 70, Swissôtel The Stamford

08:00 - 09:00
Checking In & Coffee

Venue: Level 3, Hibiscus Ballroom

Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre

09:00 - 09:15
Hello, New World

The past two years certainly forced us to confront some harsh truths about our industry. How vulnerable we are to forces beyond our control. How exposed we were when things came crashing down. How disjointed we are as an industry when it comes to handling a crisis of such a global, monumental nature. Yet we rose to the occasion, met the challenges head-on and after much pain, have come out on the other side. We thought anew, re-evaluated old assumptions, embraced new ways, tried new models. What does the new world look like? Are we better prepared to face it? Let’s get started.

09:15 - 10:00
At The Crossroads: Old World, New World Converge

As Calvin Russell sings in “Crossroads,” “I’m standing at the crossroads, there are many roads to take … one path leads to paradise, one path leads to pain, one path leads to freedom. But they all look the same.” In this session, we hear from two generations of leaders – those who rode the first wave of online travel and those who emerged in the second wave – and we pick their brains on how we can take the best of both worlds to forge a better road ahead. As is said, “those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it”.
 

Facilitator:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 
Through The Looking Glass with New Eyes

In this conversation, we ask the current crop of leaders to share their perspectives and thinking as they lead their companies into the new world.

 

Eric Gnock Fah
Co-founder & COO
Klook

 
 

Omri Morgenshtern
CEO
Agoda

 
 

Looking Through The Rearview Mirror

 We pick pundits who’ve been attending WiT for the past decade and more – one or two were at the very first WiT in 2005 – to share their lessons from the old world and how to apply them to the new.

 

Timothy Hughes
Vice President, Corporate Development
Agoda

 
 

Rod Cuthbert
Board Member, VELTRA Corp/ Former Chairman
& CEO, Viator & Rome2rio/ Chairman, Jayride

 
 

Christine Tan
Independent Hospitality Consultant
(Attended every WiT since 2005)

 
 

Timothy O’Neil-Dunne
Principal
T2Impact (Founding team of Expedia)

10:00 - 10:30
Money Shaping The New World

It’s been a turbulent time for tech investments and particularly tough for travel. But then amid the dark clouds, there’s always the silver lining and investors are hard wired to seek out the bright spots. What do they see beyond the horizon, into the new world of travel and tech investments? Where are the hot spots? Where are the no-go zones? What’s their thesis on NFT and metaverse? All these questions and more from a panel with diverse perspectives.
 

Moderator:

 

Louise Daley
CEO
Future Now Capital

 

 

Panelists:
Money Shaping The New World image
Oliver Rippel
Founding Partner
Asia Partners
Money Shaping The New World image
Manpreet Ratia
Managing Partner
Jungle Ventures
Money Shaping The New World image
Chris Hemmeter
Co-founder & Managing Director
Thayer Ventures
Money Shaping The New World image
Steve Taub
Managing Director
JetBlue Technology Ventures
10:30 - 10:40
Creating The New World of Hospitality & Beyond

While travel stood still in Asia Pacific, one company didn’t. After raising $1.7 billion in July 2021, South Korean unicorn, Yanolja declared its intentions to become a decacorn, and went on an acquisition spree that has seen it take on several companies – 70% of Interpark (October 2021), Dable (December 2021), Blue Basket (June 2022) to form Gusto X. Its Yanolja Cloud solution business, which digitises spaces and distributes digitised information globally, is expanding to accommodation, leisure facilities, F&B (restaurants), golf courses and residential. A first-hand look at how it intends to create the new world of hospitality and beyond.

Creating The New World of Hospitality & Beyond image
Jong Yoon Kim
CEO
Yanolja & Yanolja Cloud
10:40 - 10:50
Exploration & Rejuvenation: Two Sides Of The Same Coin

Travel is all about exploration. And today, we stand on a new age of discovery with the launching of James Webb Space Telescope that is sending us amazing images of our universe, beyond the stars. Technology is also accelerating at the speed of light, or even faster, and is catapulting us into the third age of digital travel and a new other world of web. At the same time, the past two years have taught us that the earth needs rejuvenation. Mankind, too. How can travel lead the way in this new age of discovery?

Exploration & Rejuvenation: Two Sides Of The Same Coin image
Fritz Demopoulos
Founder, Melon Sci-Fi Festival/ Board Member, SETI/
CEO, Queen's Road Capital
10:50 - 11:20
Coffee Break, sponsored by Chubb
11:20 - 11:45
Fly, Pay, Collaborate

If there’s one thing the pandemic taught us, it’s the need for collaboration and partnerships – most of us would not have made it through alone. It also accelerated the quest to create seamless end-to-end experiences for our customers and that needs collaboration between the silos within travel. In this session, we find out how two founders of different B2B businesses – a technology enabler of low cost carrier content who wants to make it easier for everyone to fly and a horizontal payments business, getting into travel and recently invested in by Ant Group – sees the new world of collaboration, low cost flights and cross-border payments.
 

Interviewer:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Speakers:
Fly, Pay, Collaborate image
Mary Li
Founder & CEO
Atlas
Fly, Pay, Collaborate image
Aung Kyaw Moe
Founder & Group CEO
2C2P
11:45 - 12:15
Aviation: Preparing For The New World

Whether it’s about upping their game in distribution and marketing, addressing the challenges of sustainability on all fronts – environment as well as their own business models, facing the future with the new technology coming into their air space, airlines have certainly got their work cut out for them. In this panel, we explore the bigger issues facing aviation in the new world, from different perspectives.
 

Moderator:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Panelists:
Aviation: Preparing For The New World image
Hon Lung Chu
Head of APAC
Volocopter
Aviation: Preparing For The New World image
Jonathan Tong
Senior Vice President, Airline Solutions, Delivery & IT Sales, Asia Pacific
Amadeus
Aviation: Preparing For The New World image
Kathleen Tan
Chief Executive Advisor
MYAirline, Malaysia
12:15 - 12:35
Coffee Chat

He celebrated his 20th anniversary at Expedia in June. That’s quite a milestone. In that stretch of time, he’s covered different markets – Europe, Middle East, Africa and North America, and most recently, led Expedia Group Media Solutions. Today, he oversees globally all things accommodation, including vacation rentals – clearly a hot topic for the current times – with a traveler laser-focused approach. Let’s get into what this executive, who started out as a manager with Oberoi Group, feels are the hot topics of our times.
 

Interviewer:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Speaker:
Coffee Chat image
Hari Nair
SVP, Lodging Partners
Expedia Group
12:35 - 14:00
Lunch, sponsored by Wego
14:00 - 14:05
Open Space
14:05 - 14:35
Building A Better, Green World

As someone said, “At the onset of the pandemic, we said that the pandemic is the battle of our lives and sustainability and environmental concerns, the war of our lifetime.” How are travel brands taking on this war of our lifetime? How do we create a new, better world centered around this big S word? How do we bridge sustainability with commercial in a way that makes sense for all stakeholders, including our planet?
 

Moderator:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Panelists:
Building A Better, Green World image
Danielle D’Silva
Head of Sustainability
Booking.com
Building A Better, Green World image
Andrew Dixon
Owner
Nikoi & Cempedak Island
Building A Better, Green World image
Brenda Quek
Associate Director/ Asia-Pacific Travel, Meetings & Events Program & Engagement Leader/
Ernst & Young Solutions, LLP
Building A Better, Green World image
Marcus Hanna
Managing Director
Fairmont & Swissôtel The Stamford
14:35 - 14:55
Coffee Chat

In August this year, Sentosa became the first island destination in Asia to be recognised globally for championing sustainability, when the Sentosa Development Corporation was conferred the Global Sustainable Tourism Council – For Destinations certificate. Sentosa joins 23 other certified sustainable destination such as Vail, Colorado and Snæfellsnes Peninsula in Iceland. It’s part of an ongoing journey for this island in Singapore to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.. We go behind the scenes to understand the execution of SDC’s “strong push for collective and collaborative whole-of-island efforts towards achieving a more sustainable Sentosa”, including the Sentosa Carbon Neutral Network.
 

Interviewer:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Speaker:
Coffee Chat image
Lee Cheh Hsien
Divisional Director, Planning
Sentosa Development Corporation
14:55 - 15:05
How To Be Part of The Creative Economy In The New World

In travel, we’ve always said content is king. But in the new world, this has been raised to a whole new level with the unleashing of the creator’s economy. How do you ensure your place in it? What new thinking do you have to embrace? How do you apply your skills and learnings to a new world where everything has blurred? We get the views of two Gen Y/Z executives, one of whom went from artist to entrepreneur to startup nurturer at Stripe and the other from film maker to luxury goods to technologist at SAP, and how they have blended art and technology to create their view of the future of experiences.

How To Be Part of The Creative Economy In The New World image
Gintare Zukauskaite
Innovation Lead, SAP/
Co-founder, Third Space
How To Be Part of The Creative Economy In The New World image
Lily Wu
Startup Partner Lead, SEA, Stripe/
Co-founder, WOW Pixies NFT
Founder, Third Space
15:05 - 15:35
Changing Things Up, On The Ground

When we were grounded, the sector that underwent the most change was the stuff that happens on the ground and in-destination. Attractions and tours and activities providers had to find new, domestic customers. Not only that, they had to find new ways to operate safely amid changing restrictions and regulations and as customer behaviour changed, they had to invest in tech and adapt to the new world. What has come out of the maelstrom? We get different perspectives on the changes that happened – from attractions undergoing digital transformation to players trying to change it up for the new world, and the way we play, eat and pay.
 

Moderator:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Panelists:
Changing Things Up, On The Ground image
Baidi Li
Senior Vice President, Commercial, APAC
Go City
Changing Things Up, On The Ground image
Bryant Kok
Director (CIO), Digital Transformation & IT
Gardens By The Bay
Changing Things Up, On The Ground image
Chee Chong Chan
CEO & Co-founder
GlobalTix
Changing Things Up, On The Ground image
Lu Dong
CEO & Founder
TakeMe Co., Ltd.
15:35 - 16:05
Coffee Break, sponsored by Skyscanner
16:05 - 16:35
Hello, Fresh Diverse Voices

Disruption often leads to innovation and out of the wreckage sprouts new startups and voices, who found a more open world for their ideas. In this track, we put the spotlight on the fresh, diverse voices who want to change their world. Is it their time?
 

Moderator:

 

Darrell Chan
Deputy General Counsel
Airbnb

 
 

Panelists:
Hello, Fresh Diverse Voices image
Akshai Sarin
Founder
BlessdBuy.com & TTOGETHER.co
Hello, Fresh Diverse Voices image
Elizabeth Liau
Founder
Maison de L’Asie
Hello, Fresh Diverse Voices image
Mark Corbett
Founder & Director
Thrust Carbon (WiT Startup Of The Year 2021)
Hello, Fresh Diverse Voices image
Courtney Saville
Executive Director
The Island Foundation
16:35 - 17:15
Heavy Meta/OTA: Soul & Flight Searching In The New World

Putting things in context, flight search started in the early 2000s. Skyscanner was first in 2001, KAYAK followed in 2004, Qunar took on China in 2005, the same year that Wego attempted to bridge South-east Asia. Ixigo took India in 2007, the same year that Hopper muscled its way into the North American market; Etraveli Group has been acquired by Booking Holdings for €1.6 billion (pending approval); and ixigo has carved out a completely new model in its home market, transforming to OTA, and has declared IPO intentions. Meanwhile, in Japan, founders of Travel.jp took a different path and perhaps seeing the challenges for local search diversified with a content-led search model with Trip101. The pandemic has reset the stage. Let’s see what these players are planning amid the soul-searching for their meaning and relevance in the new world, even with the big G hanging over their heads.

 

Co-moderators:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Pete Comeau
Managing Director
Phocuswright

 
 

Panelists:
Heavy Meta/OTA: Soul & Flight Searching In The New World image
Mike Ferguson
Commercial Director, DMOs, Hotels and Travel Data partnerships
Skyscanner
Heavy Meta/OTA: Soul & Flight Searching In The New World image
Reno Wang
GM, APAC Business
Hopper
Heavy Meta/OTA: Soul & Flight Searching In The New World image
Lisa Katsouraki
Head of Corporate Development
Etraveli Group
Heavy Meta/OTA: Soul & Flight Searching In The New World image
Aloke Bajpai
Group CEO & Co-founder
ixigo
Heavy Meta/OTA: Soul & Flight Searching In The New World image
Kei Shibata
Co-founder & CEO
Venture Republic - TRAVEL jp & Trip101
17:15 - 17:30
Coffee Chat

One big trend being seen in travel is the rise of digital nomads and one company that’s betting on this trend as a business and as an employer is Airbnb. How is it addressing this market opportunity and how is it working with governments across Asia to cater to these new workers as people seek more balanced lives in the new world? What new policies are needed, and how does the industry have to adapt? A conversation with someone who just spent 2.5 months in Japan, trying out the digital nomad lifestyle.
 

Interviewer:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Speaker:
Coffee Chat image
Steven Liew
Director of Public Policy, APAC
Airbnb
17:30
It’s A Wrap for Day One
09:00 - 10:00
Checking In & Coffee

Venue: Level 3, Hibiscus Ballroom

Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre

10:00 - 10:10
Hello, New World
10:10 - 10:30
Welcome To The Third Age of Digital Travel

We’ve gone from Web 1.0, a browser-based world, to Web 2.0, when everything went social and mobile. Now we’re into the third digital age of travel – a new promise of decentralisation and democratisation, a future that includes Web3 but not exclusively. Will it herald the next golden age or a constrained future? We ask four industry leaders with diverse perspectives to share their projections for the future. What’s the new world we are coming into and how do we, in travel, engage with it?
 

Moderator:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Speakers:
Welcome To The Third Age of Digital Travel image
Melissa Yang
Founding Partner, Atom Capital/
Co-founder, Tujia
Welcome To The Third Age of Digital Travel image
Ross Veitch
CEO & Co-founder
Wego
Welcome To The Third Age of Digital Travel image
Johnny Thorsen
Vice President, Strategy & Partnerships
Spotnana
Welcome To The Third Age of Digital Travel image
Timothy O’Neil-Dunne
Principal
T2Impact
10:30 - 11:00
The Big Four: Transforming For The New World

Nothing should stand still, even when travel stood still. In the past two years, OTAs, global, regional and local, have withstood tremendous challenges and undergone dramatic transformation. They come out into the new world, looking decidedly different and thinking and acting different from their former selves. How are they thinking about the new world?
 

Moderator:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Panelists:
The Big Four: Transforming For The New World image
Julie Kyse
Vice President, Global Air Partnerships
Expedia Group
The Big Four: Transforming For The New World image
Matthias Schmid
Acting Senior Vice President, Trips Division
Booking.com
The Big Four: Transforming For The New World image
Ooi Chee Teong
Associate VP, International Flight Business
Trip.com
The Big Four: Transforming For The New World image
Alfan Hendro
Chief Operating Officer
Traveloka
11:00 - 11:25
Hello, New Travellers & Trends Shaping The New World

As soon as borders opened in APAC, travellers were off. First, it was travel for love – to reunite with families and friends. Then it was for all the reasons we travel – to meet business associates, to escape for peace of mind, to connect with different cultures and communities, to savour the different tastes of the world. New traveller types emerged, along with new customer behaviour. In this session, we combine data, research and insights from Google and Phocuswright to shed light on the new world of travel.

Hello, New Travellers & Trends Shaping The New World image
Pete Comeau
Managing Director
Phocuswright
Hello, New Travellers & Trends Shaping The New World image
Charuta Fadnis
Senior Vice President, Research & Product Strategy
Phocuswright
Hello, New Travellers & Trends Shaping The New World image
Hermione Joye
Sector Lead, Travel & Vertical Search APAC
Google
Hello, New Travellers & Trends Shaping The New World image
Michael Trauttmansdorff
Director, Product Management, Travel Ads
Google
11:25 - 11:50
Hello, New Models: Finding The New Travellers

We know who the new travellers are but where do we find them? Where do we fish and cast our nets? We gather those who are offering new models of commerce and those who are all about targeting the new customers.
 

Moderator:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Panelists:
Hello, New Models: Finding The New Travellers image
Trevor Spinks
Commercial Director, APAC
Sojern
Hello, New Models: Finding The New Travellers image
Tejveer Singh Bedi
Head of Travel, SEA
TikTok
11:50 - 12:05
Hello, New World of Events

Through the pandemic, Marina Bay Sands proved its agility and nimbleness to adapt to new conditions, both in hardware and software. It built new studios for virtual and hybrid events, it installed new technology into its meeting and exhibition spaces for them to adapt to a new world, it showed leadership in showing the battered industry what’s possible. It won the Outstanding Event Venue Experience Award at the Singapore Tourism Awards 2022, among other accolades heaped onto it these past two years. An inside look from the leader who remains in the frontline of shaping the future of events.

Hello, New World of Events image
Wee Min Ong
Vice President, MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions)
Marina Bay Sands
12:05 - 13:15
Lunch
13:15 - 13:20
Open Space
13:20 - 13:45
Hello, Other World: Meta, Web3, NFT, ETC

While the real world came to a stop, a new, other world emerged. We take lessons from the gaming and advertising world and speak to an executive with experience working with brands and game publishers to connect gaming and marketing opportunities. Previously with mobile gaming in-app advertising platform AdColony, where he led the Asia Pacific business, he’s now strategic advisor to Anzu.io, touted to be the world’s most advanced in-game advertising platform. We will explore the opportunities there are for travel brands in this other Web3 realm of metaverse, NFTs, etc, and we link that to a travel startup that’s getting into this space with luxury experiences and loyalty. Are there real riches to be mined yet?
 

Moderator:

 

Marissa Trew
Senior Content Lead
Blokhaus Inc

 
 

Panelists:
Hello, Other World: Meta, Web3, NFT, ETC image
Tom Simpson
Strategic Advisor
Anzu.io
Hello, Other World: Meta, Web3, NFT, ETC image
Martha Waslen
CEO & Founder
DayAway
13:45 - 14:15
Hello, Markets Old, New & Renewed

We go on a tour of markets and destinations, old, new and renewed to find out what’s changed and what new opportunities there are to capture in their new world they are trying to create post-pandemic. We peel back the curtain on Japan, which remained close longer than most destinations in Asia. We cross the sands to Saudi Arabia, the newest destination in the making with billions of dollars being poured into infrastructure and tourism development. We fly down under to Australia which has seen a proliferation of nature- and community-based experiences as Australians discovered their own roots.
 

Moderator:

 

Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT

 
 

Panelists:
Hello, Markets Old, New & Renewed image
Yoshiyuki Takano
Head of Travel & Mobility Business, Senior Executive Officer
Rakuten Group, Inc.
Hello, Markets Old, New & Renewed image
Muzzammil Ahussain
Executive Vice President
Almosafer, part of Seera Group
Hello, Markets Old, New & Renewed image
Brent Anderson
Regional General Manager of South & South East Asia
Tourism Australia
14:15 - 14:45
Controlling Wallets, Hearts & Minds In The New World

It can be said that she who controls the wallets controls the hearts and minds – fintech has become as much of travel as flights or hotels or tours and activities. Indeed, as Agoda’s Timothy Hughes said in a recent interview, “If you’re not a fintech company as a travel company, you’re missing a beat. We spend as much time thinking about payments as we do about travel.” So how has the payments landscape changed the past two years? What are the new models out there, beyond Buy Now, Pay Later – a model of payment Traveloka, for example, introduced in 2018 for the Indonesian consumer? Who’s doing what? We get a look in with this session.
 

Moderator:

 

Timothy Hughes
Vice President Corporate Development
Agoda

 
 

Panelists:
Controlling Wallets, Hearts & Minds In The New World image
Damien Cramer
Global Head of Airlines & Travel
Worldline