ITB Asia 2026 opens at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, on 21 October and runs to 23 October, the show’s 19th year under organiser Messe Berlin Asia Pacific with the Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau behind it. MICE Show Asia and Travel Tech Asia 2026 share the halls and the badge, which puts leisure, meetings, corporate and travel-technology buying under one roof for three days. For 2026 the organiser forecasts 18,000 participants, a buyer count above 1,500, 1,000-plus exhibitors and a speaker list past 160.

Last year the floor reached five halls on two levels, two more than in 2024, and 96 tourism boards and convention bureaus took stands. The Singapore Tourism Board has committed to the show until 2028, and the 2027 and 2028 editions are already fixed for 20 to 22 October and 25 to 27 October. This year’s theme is “Experiences in Motion: Human-Centred Design in Travel & Tourism”. “The travel industry is undergoing a profound transformation driven by evolving traveller expectations and rapid technological advancement,” said Darren Seah, Executive Director of Messe Berlin Asia Pacific.

Here is why a hotel, OTA or airline leader books the trip now rather than in October.

1. 60,000 business appointments were made here last year

The 2025 edition set a 2025 record of more than 60,000 business appointments, 35% more than in 2024, out of 18,000 attendees and a buyer count above 1,500, itself 7% higher than the year before. Seah’s line on it: “ITB Asia remains to be the meeting point where the world connects with Asia.” A three-day pass carries up to 33 appointment slots with exhibitors, so a buyer who registers early and fills the diary walks in with a full first day.

2. Travel Tech Asia 2026 adds a hosted buyer programme for CIOs and CTOs

Travel Tech Asia launches a hosted buyer programme in 2026, and it is built for the technology side of the house: roughly 100 CIOs, CTOs and procurement heads drawn from hotel companies, travel agencies and DMCs, TravelMole reported. The exhibitor list already carries Agoda, Trip.com, SiteMinder, RateHawk, DerbySoft, Juniper Travel Technology, Rakuten Travel Xchange, Flywire, Airalo, DragonPass, GoGlobal Travel and China Mobile International. The Hotel Tech cluster has grown for 2026 and now spans reservation systems, CRM, AI tools, design and sustainability, with the hall open from 09:30 to 18:00 each day.

3. Booking.com, KAYAK and Kiwi.com are on the Travel Tech Asia stage

The Travel Tech Asia speaker list so far runs to Laura Houldsworth of Booking.com, Masahiro Yamashita of KAYAK, Oliver Dlouhy of Kiwi.com, Brett Henry of WebBeds, Mehereen Agha Suharwardy of Go City and Michele Ruberl of Travel Token Marketplace. “Technology has become a key driver of innovation and growth across the travel industry,” Seah said. Across the three shows the conference adds up to 170-plus speakers and 4,500-plus minutes of sessions, and any exhibitor, buyer or visitor badge covers all of it. One exhibitor is worth a stop for its newest product: Agoda put an AI assistant that builds a bookable trip from a rough idea into limited public beta on 15 September 2026, according to its press release.

4. A Tripadvisor-built Experience Pavilion debuts

The Experience Pavilion comes out of a memorandum of understanding that Messe Berlin Asia Pacific and Tripadvisor Singapore Pte Ltd signed on 15 October 2025, day one of last year’s show, with Tripadvisor shaping the pavilion’s theme and its content. “We saw over 11 million experiences booked on our sites (including Viator) in the first half of 2025, which is a 15% YoY increase,” said Scott Wegener, Director of Sales (APAC) at Tripadvisor. Around the pavilion sit three Experience Zones, one each for gastronomy, wellness and adventure tourism, and 2026 is the first year the show runs curated guided tours of the floor.

5. The early bird pass is SGD 50 cheaper

The three-day pass to all three shows is SGD 190 early bird, rising to SGD 240 at the listed rate, with 9% GST on top of either. The same pass holds the 33 appointment slots and the full conference programme. Registration is open on the ITB Asia site.

For organisers and prospective speakers: the ITB Asia conference takes proposals through a public “Register as a Speaker” route on its site, separate from exhibitor, buyer and visitor registration.

Key takeaway

A hotel or OTA leader holding a Q4 travel budget should book the SGD 190 pass now and keep all three days, with day one on the Travel Tech Asia stage and the Hotel Tech cluster. Technology buyers at hotel groups, agencies and DMCs should apply for the hosted buyer programme rather than pay their own way. We would leave the Tripadvisor pavilion and the Experience Zones for day two, once the appointment diary has settled.

The post ITB Asia 2026: 5 reasons to book Singapore, 21 to 23 October appeared first on TravHQ.

Travel review and booking site TripAdvisor wants to become more social when it launches a new site and mobile experience later this year, enabling members to post photos and videos and get travel recommendations and inspiration from friends, brands and travel experts they follow.

Currently in beta format, the new-style TripAdvisor will look to expand its community beyond travellers leaving reviews to include publishers, such as National Geographic, as well as brands and social media influencers. Travellers will be able to follow and connect with individuals or content creators who share information that is relevant to their interests and travel plans.

Image source: Skift

TripAdvisor said over 500 launch partners have signed up for the new website – currently in beta test – including the Travel Channel, Business Insider, GoPro, PopSugar, Daniel Food Diary, Have Halal Will Travel, Denise Keller and Melissa C Koh.

In addition to the many content creators joining the platform, TripAdvisor’s team of destination experts and TripAdvisor Media Group brands, including Smarter Travel, Cruise Critic and TheFork.com, will also contribute to the site experience through unique profiles and travel content.

TripAdvisor members will be able to create and view new forms of content including photos, videos and articles. Members will also have the ability to create “Trips,” which can be in-depth travel guides, itineraries or simple wish lists of things to do while traveling. Trips can be made private and saved for personal use or shared with the community to inspire and help others.

A “travel feed” will enable TripAdvisor members to discover more relevant information faster when planning travel. Assisted throughout the entire travel planning process, members can draw advice and inspiration from their friends, family and trusted experts.

When a member logs onto the TripAdvisor app or site, their homepage transforms into a personalised feed of information. When searching a particular destination, the feed automatically narrows the scope of the information displayed to that particular geographic location.

Stephen Kaufer, CEO & co-founder of TripAdvisor, said in a statement: “The new TripAdvisor is the one travel site that brings together social-assistive tools, amazing content and our existing booking capabilities to merge the joy of planning and discovery together into a single experience. We are assisting our members at each step of their journey as we become a more personalised, inspirational and useful TripAdvisor.”

The post A revamped TripAdvisor wants to become the world’s first travel news feed appeared first on TravHQ.

Tripadvisor has invested in Bangkok-based restaurant booking service Eatigo, as the start-up announced today. While the amount was undisclosed, Eatigo said that this Series B coupled with Series A that they generated last December would bring their coffers to US$15.5 million.

Eatigo specialises in off-peak bookings helping restaurants fill tables which are usually empty. It operates in Singapore and the Thai cities of Bangkok and Pattaya. The team goes by the saying “connects empty stomachs with empty tables” with no coupon or pre-payment of any sorts is necessary.

These funds galore would be majorly used for expansion to more South-east Asian nations but the CEO Michael Cluzel is keeping mum on which country to go next.

“We have feet on the ground in some [new] markets, off the radar. So there’s definitely work going on already,” he says.

Eatigo’s business model is based on time-based discounts- which means periods with the empty tables will lead to greater discounts. The merchants, around 700, offer discounts all day long, every day and all of the merchants offer 50% discounts on all food items time during the day. The start-up claims that it experiences a Month-on-Month growth of over 20 percent in reservations and revenue. Eatigo is currently working on some new features including loyalty programmes and a new layer of an algorithm that would enhance the user experience.

The speculations keep circling that Eatigo might work in accordance with Tripadvisor’s TheFork in future as there would be an active dialogue between the two of them in due course of time, says Michael.

From what it looks like, the tech giants are getting all bundled up with acquiring experience and dining portals to provide a more holistic experience to its customer base. With Airbnb acquiring Trip4real and now Tripadvisor sponsoring Eatigo, the trend is on the rise and is here to stay for a while.

Source: Tech in Asia

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Many hoteliers and restaurant owners would tell you how much they hate it when someone gives them a low rating and a negative review on TripAdvisor or Zomato. We have even heard stories of how a series of negative reviews costed them their visibility on one of these platforms. And now it is not just TripAdvisor or Zomato. Facebook would ask you to leave a rating for any place you visit and it is the same story with Google. And of course there is Twitter with its capability to blow things out of proportion. With more platforms for people to voice their opinions, business owners, especially the ones that rely on their visibility on these platforms than their name, dread negative reviews.

However, negative reviews aren’t all that bad. We tell you why:

1- New opportunity

You provide accommodation and serve every guest that walk into your hotel. A negative review would not create negative impact if you address it right. Show that you care and you are willing to address the trouble your customer has faced by stepping up and you might end up with a loyal customer and a brand advocate.

2- Realistic

An authentic negative review helps build some trust into the other reviews. If there is nothing but positive written about you online, people might find it hard to trust, maybe even pass it off as paid. Negative reviews will remove any doubt potential customers might have on the positive reviews.

3- Better perspective

I often scroll through the reviews to find the negative ones and there are many others who do the same thing. The negative reviews give an idea of what not to expect and that in turn results in more satisfied customers as people have more realistic expectations. The hotel food is not great? I am okay with that as I am going to eat at the local food joints. Small pool? Maybe I won’t even use it. With the expectations set right, a customer is more likely to leave happy and satisfied.

4- Reduces further attacks

If someone has already criticised certain aspect of a hotel or restaurant, one might refrain from doing the same thing all over again. This especially holds true when the review in question has been properly addressed and a proper solution or explanation has been provided. People tend to go straight to the solution instead of adding another negative feedback.

5- Feedback

If someone is taking the trouble of going online and writing down an entire paragraph about certain aspect of your business, maybe there really is something that you need to address. It might not be easy to always point out what your employees aren’t doing right but you can discuss both the positive and negative reviews with them to achieve the same result.

How do you deal with negative reviews about your business? Do share with us.

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The FICCI Tech Conclave, Delhi saw some leading travel professionals comment on the growing trends in the travel and hospitality sector. One of the topics that pooled various ideas was the future of search landscape. This session focused on how upcoming business models and analytics are the way ahead for metasearch engines.

The pioneers presiding over the session were Aloke Bajpai, Co-Founder & CEO, ixigo, Paul Whiteway, Sales & Commercial Director, APAC, Skyscanner, Nikhil Ganju, Country Manager, India, TripAdvisor, Ashwin Jayasankar, General Manager, India, Wego.

The key takeaways of the panel are as follows.

Business model is variable on the Indian soil

India doesn’t clearly differentiate between OTAs and Metasearches, hence the business model varies in the South East Asian geography given the lack of understanding of the two. The model that is highly efficient in the west, cannot gain roots here soon. This is because a majority of the population has a lesser understanding of the difference between the two than their western counterparts. The traditional methods to travel solutions are still prevalent here. Hence, the portals have a hard time reaching the bottom most layer of the consumer pyramid. Also, the Indian subcontinent is a faster growing marketplace which requires for an all-time-ready team of adaptive proffesionals

Mobile platform is a challenge in the current scenario

Generally speaking, m-commerce has reached its peak in India. With the advent of smartphones, a majority of the population is aware of the advantages of technology on the go. Because the consumer is highly cognizant, metasearch engines like TripAdvisor and Wego are facing a challenge in penetrating the Indian mobile market. The consumers find the major issue at hand is booking on the app, where it directs to the service provider’s platform. Now this creates a lag in the service as the consumable formats are different for both mobile and desktops. TripAdvisor is currently incorporating instant booking option on their app to bridge a gap in this lag which enhances the overall user experience on the mobile platform.

User generated content is more relatable

While metasearches are the just the aggregators of the prices offered by different vendors, a little perspective from the traveller’s side only helps in scaling the content consumption on the portal. User-generated content is always more relatable and consumers prefer them over any other third-party information. Metasearches have transformed itself from just content based portals to price comparison platforms. Metasearches should revamp their approach and focus on more on user generated content which drives more traction. Reviews on TripAdvisor are informative to the traveller while giving them insights on overview of the whole experience. Which is why it’s more reliable.

Specific gains in Indian subcontinent

The consumer database is huge. Indians are all about deals and they want to see more of them. This fact places metasearch engines at a strategically favourable point over OTAs. Having done all the research from various websites, zeroing down the kind of hotel one wants to put up in, the travellers doesn’t hop to different OTAs and then at a metasearch engine they comes across the best deal there can be. The thought process from a consumer point of view is that they get the cheaper deal. So, its a no brainer that the Indian subcontinent is the booming marketplace for a metasearch engine.

Stay tuned for more insights on the FICCI Conclave.

The post “Metasearch engines have a perfect market in the Indian subcontinent”, Ashwin Jayasankar, General Manager, India, Wego appeared first on TravHQ.

This has been an exciting year, for the travel industry as well as for us and that means we had plenty of stories to share. Newer brands made as many headlines as the established names and there were many highs and lows.

Looking back at this year, we have created a round-up of our most popular stories to refresh the events just in case you missed them.

#1- Plenty of investments

Many travel startups got a strong start to the year 2015 with heavy investments by both foreign and domestic investors. While the investor activity slowed down near the end of year, there were some newsworthy investments earlier. We compiled an infographic of the funding raised by the popular travel startups in different categories. Read full story.

#2- Twitter lessons from AirAsia India MD & CEO

Mittu Chandilya is the young Indian at the helm of AirAsia in India. While working his plans to make India operations the largest of AirAsia subsidiaries, he also actively engages with the customers on social media to ensure quality of service and customer satisfaction. We spoke with him to learn a thing or two about using social media right for an airline brand. Read full story.

#3- Year of budget stays

Budget hotel startups were the highlight of this year. This segment saw the entry of multiple players trying to revolutionise the way we look at the low cost hotels but at which some of them picked up pace, it was clear that the OTAs won’t be happy. They were gaining the power to leverage volume to their advantage, something that wasn’t seen in the hotel space at this scale until now. Read full story.

#4- OTAs hit back

Like we said, the OTAs didn’t appreciate the idea of letting the budget hotel aggregators feed on them. Before the startups could do serious damage, some major OTAs blocked them cutting one of their major source of bookings. Read full story.

#5- TripAdvisor takes a swing

It is not at all easy for the OTAs. The hoteliers don’t like them even when they drive large share of bookings. Not only the budget hotels but their friend TripAdvisor also entered the same playground. Lower rate of commissions and better visibility were enough incentives for smaller players to skip their name and shake hands with TripAdvisor. Read full story.

#6- Conversation with Winnie Tan, Tripzilla

The Singapore based company started in 2010 and quickly went on to become the favourite of outbound travellers in the region. Along with that they are also a good example to look for on how to use content right to inspire travellers. Recently they also launched a flight metasearch engine which gives the OTAs a pass and offers only direct deals. Read full story.

#7- Stayzilla shifted focus to alternative stays

India based accommodation booking platform Stayzilla took a strong focus on homestays and other alternative stays options this year. With the message of ‘Make room for something new’, they are actively inviting the people to start adopting the fast approaching shared economy trend. Read full story.

#8- Marketing lessons by the industry experts

There is something seriously wrong in following the patterns. There is no one strategy that can fit all brands and the marketers should stop pushing the same buttons. Marketing experts like Taranjeet Singh, Country Business Head, Twitter India and Terrence Voon, Director, Marketing Activation, Singapore Tourism Board shared some strong pointers for promoting a travel brand. Read full story.

#9- British Airways social media blooper

British Airways made lot of news this year, social media campaigns, new Dreamliner place and more. But one social media mistake made the strongest headlines for them. British Airways got strong backlash on social media after they sent a predrafted tweet to cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and stayed for quite a while in the twitter trends. Read full story.

#10- Technologies for the road

Driverless cars, especially the Google ones were also in the headlines every now and then. If and when they come in, the travel industry will see major transformations. While we were waiting for these autonomous cars to arrive, we also listed down some other technologies that are coming to our cars soon. Read full story.

We have got lot of exciting things lined up for the year 2016 and for a start, we have already announced Startup Knockdown Mumbai and there will be more coming soon.

The post 2015 Round-up: Most popular stories of the year appeared first on TravHQ.

Business travel is growing exponentially worldwide. This is bringing in a huge amount of business travel spending. According to Amadeus’ report, by 2025, the corporate travel spending in Asia Pacific region will become more than double from the current $400 billion to $900 billion. Observing the rise in the number of international business travellers, many organisations have come to the forefront to fulfil their requirements.

The Ascott Limited offers efficient premium services to the business travellers so that they can relax, enjoy and work comfortably in a luxurious environment. Mr. Jean Keijdener, Ascott’s Country General Manager for Thailand, has many years of progressive experience in the international hospitality operations, service & real estate – development & asset management – industry. Recently, we had a conversation with him to learn more about Ascott and its business association with TripAdvisor.

What is the role of TripAdvisor in managing hotel’s reputation?

Nowadays, people tend to do more research on accommodation, dining, activity selections prior their trip. Undeniably, travellers’ reviews on one of the biggest online travel communities like TripAdvisor are having a big impact on the fellow travellers. Especially in a high competitive market as Bangkok, the higher ranking you are on TripAdvisor meaning the more visibility and more opportunity for potential guests to choose you over other thousands of Bangkok accommodation choices.

Having good reputation on TripAdvisor not only helping Ascott properties in Bangkok in term of revenue but it’s also helping the properties to better understand the customers’ point of view. Whether it’s positive or negative review, each one of them is motivating and encouraging the team to keep delivering service excellent. Of course, everyone loves to hear positive feedback from guests. However, the negative feedback is also beneficial in some way. Guests’ complaints help the properties to learn the areas that needed to improve. Hence, the properties can address their action and use TripAdvisor space to apologise and explain the situation. Managements’ respond is not just a message to the particular reviewer, but it’s also showcasing how well the properties can handle their complaints.

Mr Jean Keijdener, Ascott’s Country General Manager for Thailand, said: “At Ascott Thailand, we understand the power of ‘word-of-mouth’ on the current online world. We pay close attention to the reviews on TripAdvisor as well as other review websites. Each review is checked, thoughtfully responded by high-level management and shared to the team for further actions.”

This year, Ascott properties in Bangkok have been recognised again with ‘TripAdvisor® Certificates of Excellence 2015’. Eight of our properties have received the prestigious award whilst three properties have been inducted into the ‘Hall of Fame Winners 2015’, for being recognised successfully for five consecutive years earning their annual ‘Certificate of Excellence’. The above prestigious awards are part of the fruitful results of how much effort Ascott Thailand puts into the TripAdvisor.”

Mr Jean Keijdener – Ascott’s Country General Manager for Thailand

How are you leveraging Twitter & Facebook page to create the awareness of the property?

Ascott is using the social media channels eg. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin to build awareness of its properties and also to create instant two-way communication channels with the guests and potential customers.

The Ascott social media channels are managed by the corporate online marketing team in Singapore. Ascott Thailand online marketing team as well as other local online marketing teams are feeding interesting local content to the corporate online marketing team to be featured on these channels.

One of the main benefits of using the brand social media channels is; the fans and followers can receive the news and information of Ascott properties in various locations across over 25 countries which might be their next holiday destinations or relocation cities. In addition to content sharing on the social media channels, Ascott Thailand is also encouraging its guests and corporate clients to help building brands awareness via check-in and hashtag features on social media channels as well.

For example, the recent social media campaign that used the #GoGreenAscott hashtag to create awareness on green features and initiatives from Ascott properties worldwide, which received about a thousand Go Green posts on the Instagram platform. Another example from Ascott Thailand is to use the social media campaign to tie-in with corporate events, which encourages the corporate clients to share their experiences and happy moments during the corporate events and activities on their social media platforms via #thelinkclubTH hashtag.

Ascott

The building of Somerset Sukhumvit Thonglor Bangkok

The pool view of Somerset Park Suanplu

Ascott Sathorn

The evening view of Somerset Sukhumvit Thonglor

A room in Somerset Lake Point

TBEX 15 was conducted recently which drove participation from a number of travel bloggers. Have you been working with travel influencers to amplify the visibility for Bangkok property?

Travel Blog Exchange event (TBEX) is the world’s largest gathering of travel bloggers, writers, new media content creators, and social media savvy travel industry professionals. This year, the TBEX was conducted in Bangkok and it brought together a number of travel bloggers from around the world to Thailand. Ascott Thailand took this great opportunity to work with the international travel influencers who came to join the TBEX.

Working with trustable online travel influencers is one of the best ways to amplify the visibility for Bangkok properties and it’s worthwhile for all parties; the brands, the influencers and the fellow travellers. Great marketing content which created by prominent travel influencers will help building up an online reputation for the brand. The influencers themselves are also having good chances to exclusively experience the products and services from the brands at fewest or no cost. This marketing content is also helping fellow travellers to have in-depth information about the destination and the brands, especially in the hospitality section.

Bangkok’s hospitality market is becoming more and more intense. Having a good reputation in the online world helps to make Ascott brand and its properties in Bangkok stay ahead in the market. Aside from working with the travel bloggers from the TBEX, Ascott Thailand has also been working with many prominent travel influencers recently. This is not only limited to the form of blog posts but including vloggers and social media influencers as well.

There are many hotels which have dedicated mobile apps, handy phones and keyless entry for check-ins. What are you doing in this direction to cater to the smart travellers?

The Ascott Limited has recently entered into an exclusive partnership with Samsung Asia Pte Ltd, a unit of Samsung Electronics (Samsung) to jointly develop smart home technologies customised for our serviced residences to offer our guests a seamless ‘Smart Living Experience’.

Ascott aims to test bed the new technologies at selected Ascott serviced residences by the first half of 2016, with plans to roll out to its properties across over 25 countries globally in phases.

In the new age Ascott serviced residence, guests will be able to use customised settings on their mobile devices or smart TV to control one or multiple devices simultaneously no matter where they are — turning on air conditioning or monitoring laundry cycle, for example – while inside or outside the serviced residence, or even while travelling abroad.

Ascott will work closely with Samsung to co-innovate and test customised hospitality solutions, with some initial development work done at Ascott’s Innovation Hub in Singapore before testing at its properties. Guests will get to try out the new smart technologies and appliances in specially designed Samsung Experience suites or residents’ lounges in selected Ascott properties for a trial period. In addition, Ascott will explore the application of automated technologies such as robotics at its serviced residences to enhance its employees’ productivity, so that they can focus on ensuring that guests have a memorable stay at its serviced residences.

Headquartered in Singapore, The Ascott Limited provides 26,000 operating serviced residence units in cities of the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Gulf region and has another 16,000 units under development. It has 30-year industry track record and serviced residence brands under it that enjoy recognition globally.

The post How Ascott Thailand is leveraging Social Media & Mobile to enhance guest engagement? appeared first on TravHQ.

TripAdvisor, the American travel brand that provides reviews of travel-related content, launched a new feature called ‘Travel Timeline’ in its app for travellers to log and share their experiences from the trips.

For the convenience of the travellers, the travel timeline feature of TripAdvisor automatically keeps a track of the places visited and the photos taken on the trips. This allows travellers to recall and review sites and share their travel timeline with friends. The travel timeline feature can run without an internet connection, helping travellers avoid data and roaming charges.

How does it work?

To use travel timeline, the interested travellers should log on to the TripAdvisor mobile app and opt-in to the feature. When the feature gets activated, it will record the points of interest that the user has visited in a running timeline. The travellers can give their feedback for the hotels, restaurants or tourist attractions. The travel timeline feature uses the phone’s GPS and motion sensors to predict when the travellers are visiting the places or if they are just passing by those spots.

Features of Travel Timeline:

• Offline: The travel timeline feature allows travellers to log their experiences without an internet connection. The travellers can avoid data and roaming charges.
• Customizable: By using this app, the travellers can modify their timelines and photos as per their requirements.
• Shareable: Sometimes, travellers want to share their memorable experiences with family and friends. The travel timeline feature allows that too.
• Private: Each traveller’s timeline and photos remains private by default. Only when the user shares it, it will be viewable to others.

Adam Medros, Senior Vice-President, Global Product, TripAdvisor, quoted:

“Travel Timeline is a useful and valuable tool for chronicling travel experiences and conveniently capturing moments to remember. TripAdvisor not only helps travellers plan and book their trips, but with Travel Timeline we help our community document and share them too.’’

TripAdvisor makes up the largest travel community in the world with approximately 350 million unique monthly visitors. It has 290 million reviews and opinions covering 5.3 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites are accessible in 47 countries world-wide.

The travel timeline feature of TripAdvisor will be available only on iOS in 28 languages globally.

The post TripAdvisor launches ‘Travel Timeline’ on its mobile app appeared first on TravHQ.

Apple took its own sweet time in bringing the Apple Watch to India and by the time it was officially launched, many enthusiasts had already brought the device from other countries. Now that the device is officially here, there will be more users adopting the wearable. Even before it came in, some Indian travel brands were ready with their Apple watch apps so that they are ready when the users are. Whether you have recently bought one or have been using the Apple Watch for months, here are five apps that you need to have on your Apple Watch when you travel:

#1. Uber

This one is a no brainer. Once at your destination, you will have to travel locally and that is when nothing is able to match Uber. Of course there are local cab options everywhere but then you can’t always count on them to be reliable. Using the Uber Apple Watch app, you can request a ride and get notified once your cab arrives. In order to keep it simple, some features like uberPOOL and Split Fare aren’t available which is fair considering the use case of Apple Watch.

#2. TripCase

If you like to plan everything before you head out on a trip, it is very likely that you use a trip planning or itinerary management app. TripCase is one of the best tools you can pick to manage your travel and its Apple Watch app complements the mobile app very well. It shows the upcoming trips on the watch display. It also offers the option to access the TripTime widget on the watch.

#3. TripAdvisor

Another one that goes without saying. You don’t have to look any further than TripAdvisor for reviews about places. Using location data, the glance screen can quickly offer nearby recommendation. It considers the time of day while recommending places so at lunch time, it will recommend restaurants near you. The app also offers walking directions without you having to pull out your phone all the time.

#4. Cleartrip

If we talk about Indian OTAs, Cleartrip was the first one to come up with Apple Watch app. They have always been at the forefront when it comes to adopting new technologies, be it a mobile website or a mobile app. The Cleartrip Apple watch app shows you a short list of your upcoming flights and in the last 24 hours of your trip, the glance screen shows the flight details including flight number, status and departure time.

#5. Wunderlist

Travelling for leisure or business, there are always a dozen things to take care of before you leave for your trip. An itinerary planning app will only help you plan your trip but Wunderlist will remind you to pick the backpack you let your friend borrow or to book a cab to airport. It will help you manage your agenda and easily check items off the to-do list. The glance screen offers a quick view of your day ahead when you are travelling making it a good companion for your trip.

What other Apple Watch apps you use while travelling? Do share with us. You can read our experience of using the Apple Watch here.

The post Here are the five apps every traveller needs on his Apple Watch appeared first on TravHQ.

ITB Asia 2015, organized by Messe Berlin (Singapore) Pte Ltd and backed by Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau, will be held at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore from 21^st October to 23^rd October next week. Besides featuring hundreds of exemplary businesses from different sectors like Corporate, Leisure, MICE, Travel Technology and Responsible Tourism, this time the trade show will reveal a few new partners of ITB Asia that are making a difference in the Asia-Pacific, European and American markets.

ITB Asia was a major success last year and 2015 promises to be even bigger. Image Credit: ITB Asia

On the first two days, ITB Asia – the three-day annual trade show – will conduct sessions from exceptional leaders and visionaries from Ctrip, Airbnb, Agoda, Expedia, Tunia, TripAdvisor, Uber, Venture Republic Global and MakeMyTrip. These leaders will share their insights and experiences on trends and developments that can drive industrial growth.

Since the market as a whole is ever changing and dynamic, anticipating development trends of the global travel industry is a must! Keeping this in mind, GfK– a market research agency, will hold a session on how delegates can avail the best opportunities through the online and offline medium, thereby communicating frequently with the consumers and increase their profits. The cracking panel session will have experts from InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott, Starwood and Travelodge talk in detail about the current and emerging industry trends.  There will also be sessions from Professional Travel Bloggers Association (PTBA) that will bring to light on how social media, blogs and e-mail marketing can be used in a beneficial way. Panel discussions on ‘Responsible Tourism’ will be held as well.

Image Credit: ITB Asia 2015 Website

This year’s conference will also host new partners of ITB Asia from different sectors of the industry. Incentive Conference & Event Society Asia Pacific (ICESAP) will become a part of a half-day session that would elaborate on exploring key areas of interest from technology developments to workable solutions that can make meetings more useful and beneficial. KIT Group will highlight how global associations can further improve their relationships within the Asia-Pacific region. Global Business Travel Association will actively host ‘Business Travel Day’ that will focus on how businesses can wisely spend their money in the next two years.

According to the report, Katrina Leung, the Executive Director of Messe Berlin (Singapore), quoted,

“Every year, we plan our line-up around the trending topics within the rapidly changing market that is shaping the future of corporate, leisure and MICE travel. We address these topics by partnering with leading professional associations as well as bringing in forward-thinking speakers who are at the top of their game. These specially invited movers and shakers help set our agenda for each session, sharing insights into their own experiences and pitfalls to lead delegates into the next stage of their business and guide the progress of our industry.”

For more details related to this year’s ITB Asia trade show, you can read the official press release.

ITB Asia is a partner event of TravelRave 2015. Stay tuned for our live updates as we bring you round of news, interviews and more from Singapore.

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