PROGRAMME
Episode 1: No Flight, No Road – The Battle To Open Borders




WiT
Yeoh Siew Hoon is the founder of WIT, launching it in Singapore in 2005 and going on to launch WIT editions across Asia Pacific. In 2016, WIT Europe made its debut in London, days after the Brexit vote.
WIT has won several awards including Most Innovative Marketing Initiative and Trade Conference Of The Year from the Singapore Tourism Board and in 2014, Siew Hoon was recognised Tourism Entrepreneur of The Year. A journalist by profession and passion, she’s also a speaker and facilitator at events around the world.
She’s also a published author of titles such as “Around Asia In One Hour: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries” and children’s books such as “Adventures of Habibie The Turtle” and “The Story of Baitong and Boon”.




WiT




Marina Bay Sands
As the Senior Vice President – Marketing for Marina Bay Sands, Maunik leads the marketing organization in developing and delivering a strong brand proposition and alignment to the service culture for Marina Bay Sands. Data, analytics and technology are at the core of the personalized and seamless customer experience he is charged with developing for the brand. Maunik started his career in revenue management for hotels, working with brands such as Taj Hotels, Le Meridien and Starwood, in India, Bahrain and Dubai, before moving to Macau to join the pre-opening team for the Venetian Macau and other Las Vegas Sands properties. With the experience of the casino industry, he moved to Singapore where he is based now, as part of the pre-opening team at Marina Bay Sands with the remit of extending the revenue optimization practice across the casino as well, before transitioning to lead the marketing function at the Integrated Resort.
Maunik holds an MBA in International Hospitality Management from IMHI in Paris, a program jointly administered by Cornell University, USA and ESSEC, France. His personal interests lie in travel and he has always had a desire to live and work in different parts of the world, learning about different cultures. He also serves on the HSMAI Asia Pacific Digital Marketing Advisory Board and has been involved with the organization for several years.




Marina Bay Sands
Borders in Asia Pacific are still closed despite the fact that countries in the region have been most successful in fighting the pandemic. In 2020, air travel was at 5% of 2019 levels and the first quarter of 2021 feels like the fifth quarter, flat as can be. When airlines are stuck, travel is too. A quick overview of where the airline and travel industry is after a year of no travel.
Travel/health passes/passports are being touted as the key that could unlock cross-border air travel, and a plethora of solutions are being offered, from associations as well as private sector entities. Will there be one pass to rule them all or several to confuse us all? We look at the critical role of passes in giving governments the confidence to reopen borders. Plus, an overview of the industry, a year on, where is the airline industry headed, what lessons have we learnt, how is it preparing for the rebound?
Moderator:
Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT
Panel:




International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Vinoop Goel is the Asia-Pacific Regional Director of Airports & External Relations for the International Air Transport Association (IATA). He is based at their Asia-Pacific regional office in Singapore. Vinoop leads a team that is responsible for all IATA’s activities in the Asia-Pacific region relating to Airports, Passenger Experience, Baggage, Ground Handling, Cargo Supply Chain, Security and Facilitation. In addition to this, Vinoop also heads the Member and External Relations department for the region that is responsible for IATA membership and government policy issues such as environment, taxation and aviation regulatory matters. Vinoop has a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT, Delhi in India. He has 3 decades of aviation industry experience including a 15-year stint in Japan and has been with IATA since 2005.




International Air Transport Association (IATA)




Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA)
Subhas Menon joined the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines in March 2020. Subhas has over 35 years’ experience in international aviation with the Singapore Airlines Group, having served in a wide spectrum of roles including international & government relations, marketing, product development, logistics, country & regional management.
In his various roles in the airline industry over the past three decades, he has developed a solid skill set that includes successfully building and managing relationships with different stakeholders, strong communications and public speaking skills as well as commercial acumen honed across different regions.
As Regional Vice President for an Asian airline in various regions around the world, and having also served as Chief Executive of SilkAir, Subhas is familiar with the Asian airline environment, its market dynamics and the region’s diverse political landscape. Building on his early experience in international relations, he has well-developed lobbying and negotiation skills as well as dealing with government affairs, which makes him well-placed to undertake the kind of advocacy and lobbying activities AAPA conducts as a trade association on behalf of its member airlines.
He is a graduate of the National University of Singapore, with a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) in Sociology.




Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA)




McKinsey & Company
Steve leads our travel, logistics, and infrastructure work in China. He helps clients achieve new levels of performance, with deep expertise in shipping, ports, and airlines.
His recent work has included supporting a successful merger in container shipping, building a China-focused cruise product, and building the turnaround plan for a major Asian airline. He designed a joint venture for a leading port player, and growth strategies for multiple ports across Asia. He has expertise in airline commercial performance: Steve has led revenue-management transformation for several Asian airlines, and he has helped airlines rethink their loyalty programs for growth.
Steve joined McKinsey in London in 2000 and transferred to Asia in 2005. He is currently based in Singapore and China, and his work covers the Asia region.
Steve is a sought-after expert and regularly speaks at shipping and airline conferences. He is currently leading McKinsey’s knowledge development on the Chinese outbound consumer.




McKinsey & Company




Expedia Group
Julie Kyse serves as Vice President of Transport Partner Services and Air Optimization for the Expedia Group, one of the world’s largest travel companies. In this role, she leads an experienced team of account managers who are responsible for managing the Expedia Group’s relationships with airline partners in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and support the marketing and distribution of airlines and schedules on Expedia®, Travelocity®, Orbitz® and Hotwire® consumer travel sites. Her team is also responsible for optimizing the Air Shopping display on Expedia Group’s worldwide sites.
Julie joined the Expedia Group in September 2011. Prior to that, she worked at British Airways for sixteen years in a variety of Sales and Marketing roles including managing the commercial team in Latin America and Caribbean.
She holds a BA from the University of Richmond – Virginia and an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas – Austin.
Julie lives in Miami, Florida.




Expedia Group
In this one-on-one, we ask a medical expert, who’s been actively involved in the development of digital health wallets in Singapore, his opinions on what role vaccines will play in the opening of cross-border travel in our region.
Interviewer:
Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT




Fullerton Health
Dr. Walter has seventeen years of experience in the Singapore and Asia-pacific healthcare markets. At Fullerton Health, he oversees the Clinical Services division in Singapore including primary care, allied health and pharmacy. He has led the Clinical Services Division in multiple COVID-19 response projects with the Ministry of Health, Singapore Health Promotion Board, Ministry of Manpower and Port of Singapore Authority. In his role as Deputy Country MD, Dr Walter leads health tech initiatives in Singapore including telemedicine and healthcare analytics. In his earlier career, he was a part of the team for Singapore’s national electronic health record and a physician at Singapore General Hospital and the SingHealth group.




Fullerton Health
Airlines are facing the biggest crisis in their history. Very low passenger traffic and confidence, government bailouts, huge debts piling up, borders closed will little political willpower to “reopen.” In short, travel is stuck. How do we get “unstuck?” An airline veteran, who’s worked in aviation across the world, offers his opinion on how sovereign ID could offer a way out and what’s needed for that to happen.




Zamna




Zamna
We catch up with the Maldives Minister of Tourism Abdulla Mausoom to find out how his islands stayed open for most of 2020 and remains open, the lessons it learnt around safe management and keeping travellers and its local communities safe and what other destinations can learn as they prepare to reopen, at the will of their governments.
Interviewer:
Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT




Dr. Mausoom holds a Doctorate Degree, conferred in 2004, by the School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham, UK. His doctoral thesis was on the interdependency and the relationship between the government and the private sector in sustainable tourism development. Mausoom did his MSc in Hotel Management at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. He has spent over 10 years abroad for higher studies in England, Northern Ireland, Germany and Malaysia. Mausoom is a Council member of the Villa College Council.
Mausoom, the former Head of Maldives Tourism Promotion Board (2004 to 2007), was also the MP for Kelaa Constituency (2009-2014) and held Maldives Government’s Cabinet Portfolios as Minister of Tourism & Civil Aviation and Minister of Environment, Energy and Water. He served at both Tourism Promotion Advisory Council and College Council of Maldives as a Council Member and served as Board Member of the Board of Directors of State Trading Organization (STO), and Maldives Transport & Construction Company (MTCC). Mausoom has worked as a tourism industry consultant, trainer and lecturer for over 10 years and was involved in the development of 3rd Tourism Master Plan of the Maldives and is the lead author of the Ministry of Tourism’s 2008 publication “35 Years of Tourism”.




We all work in travel because we know it’s the bestest, coolest thing. You meet people with open minds, you get to travel freely for your job, so much so that your work becomes your life, and you have friends all over the world that you can just pop in anytime and have a great time together. Well, that evaporated in 2020 and for those living in Singapore, where a roadtrip around the country takes less than a hour (tops), it’s been challenging. Like living in a golden (okay, green) cage. We ask three colleagues to share their campfire story.




Accor
Emilie has been engaged in the ACCOR adventure for the past 19 years with different roles in the Sales & Distribution, Guest Experience and more recently as head of the Digital Marketing for Asia Pacific. Her passion for travel has led her from Paris to Asia where she settled 15 years ago. Bangkokian at heart, she now calls Singapore home.




Accor




Expedia Group
Based in Singapore, Shyn Yee holds the role of Director, Global Product Management for Brand Expedia Group
Shyn Yee draws on a deep understanding of travel, the global online travel marketplace, and Expedia’s innovation and expertise. In her role as Director, Global Product Management for Brand Expedia Group, she is responsible for driving product local relevance, expanding both Expedia group’s global footprint and online travel audiences for suppliers around the world. Shyn Yee also oversees Expedia’s product strategy in the chat apps space. Shyn Yee directs and utilizes Expedia’s core technology and innovation, leverages global travel product to inform and design strategies aligned to business development goals.
In her six years with Brand Expedia Group, Shyn Yee also led Expedia’s retail strategy in China, and Merchandising efforts for Expedia across Asia, overseeing all regional merchandising strategies and activities for Brand Expedia and AirAsiaGo, Expedia group portfolio brands, across 25 points-of-sale in 13 countries.
Shyn Yee has spent her career developing a broad set of expertise in the travel industry, including general management, strategic development, product management, online distribution and hotel revenue maximization. Her perspective and experience span across Asia Pacific, having held various roles in organizations across the travel industry value chain.
Prior to joining Expedia, Shyn was part of the Digital Marketing team at Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts supporting more than 250 upscale hotel properties; and prior to that, Assistant Director at Horwath HTL where she led consulting engagements, focusing on strategic expansion and hotel and resort developments in the region.
A strong advocate for women empowerment, education and young talent development, Shyn Yee founded and co-led the Women at Expedia, Leading and Learning (WELL) Singapore Chapter from 2014-2016; and is also actively involved with her alma mater, the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a guest lecturer, student mentor and Founding President of the SMU Travel and Hospitality Alumni Group (SMUTH). She is a Fellow Member with the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) Company of Good programme for the year 2017, and is actively involved in Expedia Group’s community impact efforts in Singapore and the region.
Shyn Yee is a proud mother of a prolific Grade-schooler and an fearless toddler. In her free time, she is an avid reader, budding musician, and attempts to learn more foreign languages.




Expedia Group




GlobalTix
Chee Chong is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of GlobalTix Pte Ltd, a leader in ticketing technology in Southeast Asia’s tourism industry.
As GlobalTix’s lead visionary and architect, Chee Chong drives key relationships and provides the overall strategic direction of the startup-up. He is fully committed to developing a global distribution system (GDS) to enhance the overall experience of travel partners, merchants and end consumers.
Since the inception of GlobalTix in 2014 when the first ticket was sold, Chee Chong and the team have grown the business exponentially. Now, it sells one ticket every 10 seconds and hosts more than 80,000 products in 120 cities on its marketplace. Under his leadership, GlobalTix has won numerous industry accolades, including being named Top Partner in 2017 by Resorts World Sentosa and Wildlife Reserves Singapore. Its roll call of partners include major names such as Singapore Airlines, National Gallery Singapore, TripAdvisor and niche operators such as Boon Teng Kee chicken rice restaurant chain.
Chee Chong holds a Bachelor of Engineering (2nd Upper) degree from the National University of Singapore.




GlobalTix
A choice of Hosted Rooms to discuss specific topics or just gather in our “Serendipity Rooms” and see who you run into.
Hosted Room 1: Air Recovery: Making Sense of Travel Passes & Understanding Trends and Behaviours to Speed Up The Rebound
For air recovery to properly happen, travel passes need to work for all players in the travel value chain. How do we, as an industry, ensure travel passes do not end up fragmented and a headache for the trade as well as consumer? It is also important to understand what’s happening across different markets such as Asia and the Middle East and elsewhere; the challenges being faced in each region; what tech and solutions need to be deployed for a robust recovery. Come and brainstorm with our three hosts and share your ideas, recommendations and insights so that we all get through this, together.
Ross Veitch
CEO & Co-founder
Wego
Sebastien Gibergues
Vice President, Online Travel Asia Pacific
Amadeus
James Marshall
Vice President, Global Transport Services
Expedia Group
Hosted Room 2: Tapping Local Demand In A Global World Gone Local
While we wait for borders to open, it’s all about domestic as it has been for the past 12 months. What can hoteliers and tours and activities providers do to adapt their business to a local customer? What thinking has to change to cater to a local traveller vs an inbound visitor? What products work, what content sells and what partnerships do you need? Tactics may be local but ideas are universal. A session to learn from as well as brainstorm with those who’ve had to turn their sights inwards during Covid.
Sarah Wan
General Manager, Singapore
Klook
Baidi Li
Head of Growth Initiatives
Magpie Travel
Katy Gallagher
Commercial Director, APAC
Sojern
Liviu Nedef
Chief Marketing Officer
RedDoorz
Serendipity Rooms:
If you feel like just hanging out and seeing who you bump into, pop into these rooms and start a conversation with fellow roadies. We will have facilitators in the room to break the ice.
Note: We’ve come to the end of the first stage of our roadtrip. We’ve got five more stops to make – join us for two hours every month, from April to August, before we take a break and prepare for the final destination of the year, WiT Experience Week in Singapore, Oct 18-21. You stand to win great prizes if you collect all six “Roadie” badges. Winners will be announced during WiT Experience Week.




WiT
Yeoh Siew Hoon is the founder of WIT, launching it in Singapore in 2005 and going on to launch WIT editions across Asia Pacific. In 2016, WIT Europe made its debut in London, days after the Brexit vote.
WIT has won several awards including Most Innovative Marketing Initiative and Trade Conference Of The Year from the Singapore Tourism Board and in 2014, Siew Hoon was recognised Tourism Entrepreneur of The Year. A journalist by profession and passion, she’s also a speaker and facilitator at events around the world.
She’s also a published author of titles such as “Around Asia In One Hour: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries” and children’s books such as “Adventures of Habibie The Turtle” and “The Story of Baitong and Boon”.




WiT




Marina Bay Sands
As the Senior Vice President – Marketing for Marina Bay Sands, Maunik leads the marketing organization in developing and delivering a strong brand proposition and alignment to the service culture for Marina Bay Sands. Data, analytics and technology are at the core of the personalized and seamless customer experience he is charged with developing for the brand. Maunik started his career in revenue management for hotels, working with brands such as Taj Hotels, Le Meridien and Starwood, in India, Bahrain and Dubai, before moving to Macau to join the pre-opening team for the Venetian Macau and other Las Vegas Sands properties. With the experience of the casino industry, he moved to Singapore where he is based now, as part of the pre-opening team at Marina Bay Sands with the remit of extending the revenue optimization practice across the casino as well, before transitioning to lead the marketing function at the Integrated Resort.
Maunik holds an MBA in International Hospitality Management from IMHI in Paris, a program jointly administered by Cornell University, USA and ESSEC, France. His personal interests lie in travel and he has always had a desire to live and work in different parts of the world, learning about different cultures. He also serves on the HSMAI Asia Pacific Digital Marketing Advisory Board and has been involved with the organization for several years.




Marina Bay Sands
Borders in Asia Pacific are still closed despite the fact that countries in the region have been most successful in fighting the pandemic. In 2020, air travel was at 5% of 2019 levels and the first quarter of 2021 feels like the fifth quarter, flat as can be. When airlines are stuck, travel is too. A quick overview of where the airline and travel industry is after a year of no travel.
Travel/health passes/passports are being touted as the key that could unlock cross-border air travel, and a plethora of solutions are being offered, from associations as well as private sector entities. Will there be one pass to rule them all or several to confuse us all? We look at the critical role of passes in giving governments the confidence to reopen borders. Plus, an overview of the industry, a year on, where is the airline industry headed, what lessons have we learnt, how is it preparing for the rebound?
Moderator:
Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT
Panel:




International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Vinoop Goel is the Asia-Pacific Regional Director of Airports & External Relations for the International Air Transport Association (IATA). He is based at their Asia-Pacific regional office in Singapore. Vinoop leads a team that is responsible for all IATA’s activities in the Asia-Pacific region relating to Airports, Passenger Experience, Baggage, Ground Handling, Cargo Supply Chain, Security and Facilitation. In addition to this, Vinoop also heads the Member and External Relations department for the region that is responsible for IATA membership and government policy issues such as environment, taxation and aviation regulatory matters. Vinoop has a degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT, Delhi in India. He has 3 decades of aviation industry experience including a 15-year stint in Japan and has been with IATA since 2005.




International Air Transport Association (IATA)




Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA)
Subhas Menon joined the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines in March 2020. Subhas has over 35 years’ experience in international aviation with the Singapore Airlines Group, having served in a wide spectrum of roles including international & government relations, marketing, product development, logistics, country & regional management.
In his various roles in the airline industry over the past three decades, he has developed a solid skill set that includes successfully building and managing relationships with different stakeholders, strong communications and public speaking skills as well as commercial acumen honed across different regions.
As Regional Vice President for an Asian airline in various regions around the world, and having also served as Chief Executive of SilkAir, Subhas is familiar with the Asian airline environment, its market dynamics and the region’s diverse political landscape. Building on his early experience in international relations, he has well-developed lobbying and negotiation skills as well as dealing with government affairs, which makes him well-placed to undertake the kind of advocacy and lobbying activities AAPA conducts as a trade association on behalf of its member airlines.
He is a graduate of the National University of Singapore, with a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) in Sociology.




Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA)




McKinsey & Company
Steve leads our travel, logistics, and infrastructure work in China. He helps clients achieve new levels of performance, with deep expertise in shipping, ports, and airlines.
His recent work has included supporting a successful merger in container shipping, building a China-focused cruise product, and building the turnaround plan for a major Asian airline. He designed a joint venture for a leading port player, and growth strategies for multiple ports across Asia. He has expertise in airline commercial performance: Steve has led revenue-management transformation for several Asian airlines, and he has helped airlines rethink their loyalty programs for growth.
Steve joined McKinsey in London in 2000 and transferred to Asia in 2005. He is currently based in Singapore and China, and his work covers the Asia region.
Steve is a sought-after expert and regularly speaks at shipping and airline conferences. He is currently leading McKinsey’s knowledge development on the Chinese outbound consumer.




McKinsey & Company




Expedia Group
Julie Kyse serves as Vice President of Transport Partner Services and Air Optimization for the Expedia Group, one of the world’s largest travel companies. In this role, she leads an experienced team of account managers who are responsible for managing the Expedia Group’s relationships with airline partners in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and support the marketing and distribution of airlines and schedules on Expedia®, Travelocity®, Orbitz® and Hotwire® consumer travel sites. Her team is also responsible for optimizing the Air Shopping display on Expedia Group’s worldwide sites.
Julie joined the Expedia Group in September 2011. Prior to that, she worked at British Airways for sixteen years in a variety of Sales and Marketing roles including managing the commercial team in Latin America and Caribbean.
She holds a BA from the University of Richmond – Virginia and an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas – Austin.
Julie lives in Miami, Florida.




Expedia Group
In this one-on-one, we ask a medical expert, who’s been actively involved in the development of digital health wallets in Singapore, his opinions on what role vaccines will play in the opening of cross-border travel in our region.
Interviewer:
Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT




Fullerton Health
Dr. Walter has seventeen years of experience in the Singapore and Asia-pacific healthcare markets. At Fullerton Health, he oversees the Clinical Services division in Singapore including primary care, allied health and pharmacy. He has led the Clinical Services Division in multiple COVID-19 response projects with the Ministry of Health, Singapore Health Promotion Board, Ministry of Manpower and Port of Singapore Authority. In his role as Deputy Country MD, Dr Walter leads health tech initiatives in Singapore including telemedicine and healthcare analytics. In his earlier career, he was a part of the team for Singapore’s national electronic health record and a physician at Singapore General Hospital and the SingHealth group.




Fullerton Health
Airlines are facing the biggest crisis in their history. Very low passenger traffic and confidence, government bailouts, huge debts piling up, borders closed will little political willpower to “reopen.” In short, travel is stuck. How do we get “unstuck?” An airline veteran, who’s worked in aviation across the world, offers his opinion on how sovereign ID could offer a way out and what’s needed for that to happen.




Zamna




Zamna
We catch up with the Maldives Minister of Tourism Abdulla Mausoom to find out how his islands stayed open for most of 2020 and remains open, the lessons it learnt around safe management and keeping travellers and its local communities safe and what other destinations can learn as they prepare to reopen, at the will of their governments.
Interviewer:
Yeoh Siew Hoon
Founder
WiT




Dr. Mausoom holds a Doctorate Degree, conferred in 2004, by the School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham, UK. His doctoral thesis was on the interdependency and the relationship between the government and the private sector in sustainable tourism development. Mausoom did his MSc in Hotel Management at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. He has spent over 10 years abroad for higher studies in England, Northern Ireland, Germany and Malaysia. Mausoom is a Council member of the Villa College Council.
Mausoom, the former Head of Maldives Tourism Promotion Board (2004 to 2007), was also the MP for Kelaa Constituency (2009-2014) and held Maldives Government’s Cabinet Portfolios as Minister of Tourism & Civil Aviation and Minister of Environment, Energy and Water. He served at both Tourism Promotion Advisory Council and College Council of Maldives as a Council Member and served as Board Member of the Board of Directors of State Trading Organization (STO), and Maldives Transport & Construction Company (MTCC). Mausoom has worked as a tourism industry consultant, trainer and lecturer for over 10 years and was involved in the development of 3rd Tourism Master Plan of the Maldives and is the lead author of the Ministry of Tourism’s 2008 publication “35 Years of Tourism”.




We all work in travel because we know it’s the bestest, coolest thing. You meet people with open minds, you get to travel freely for your job, so much so that your work becomes your life, and you have friends all over the world that you can just pop in anytime and have a great time together. Well, that evaporated in 2020 and for those living in Singapore, where a roadtrip around the country takes less than a hour (tops), it’s been challenging. Like living in a golden (okay, green) cage. We ask three colleagues to share their campfire story.




Accor
Emilie has been engaged in the ACCOR adventure for the past 19 years with different roles in the Sales & Distribution, Guest Experience and more recently as head of the Digital Marketing for Asia Pacific. Her passion for travel has led her from Paris to Asia where she settled 15 years ago. Bangkokian at heart, she now calls Singapore home.




Accor




Expedia Group
Based in Singapore, Shyn Yee holds the role of Director, Global Product Management for Brand Expedia Group
Shyn Yee draws on a deep understanding of travel, the global online travel marketplace, and Expedia’s innovation and expertise. In her role as Director, Global Product Management for Brand Expedia Group, she is responsible for driving product local relevance, expanding both Expedia group’s global footprint and online travel audiences for suppliers around the world. Shyn Yee also oversees Expedia’s product strategy in the chat apps space. Shyn Yee directs and utilizes Expedia’s core technology and innovation, leverages global travel product to inform and design strategies aligned to business development goals.
In her six years with Brand Expedia Group, Shyn Yee also led Expedia’s retail strategy in China, and Merchandising efforts for Expedia across Asia, overseeing all regional merchandising strategies and activities for Brand Expedia and AirAsiaGo, Expedia group portfolio brands, across 25 points-of-sale in 13 countries.
Shyn Yee has spent her career developing a broad set of expertise in the travel industry, including general management, strategic development, product management, online distribution and hotel revenue maximization. Her perspective and experience span across Asia Pacific, having held various roles in organizations across the travel industry value chain.
Prior to joining Expedia, Shyn was part of the Digital Marketing team at Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts supporting more than 250 upscale hotel properties; and prior to that, Assistant Director at Horwath HTL where she led consulting engagements, focusing on strategic expansion and hotel and resort developments in the region.
A strong advocate for women empowerment, education and young talent development, Shyn Yee founded and co-led the Women at Expedia, Leading and Learning (WELL) Singapore Chapter from 2014-2016; and is also actively involved with her alma mater, the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a guest lecturer, student mentor and Founding President of the SMU Travel and Hospitality Alumni Group (SMUTH). She is a Fellow Member with the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) Company of Good programme for the year 2017, and is actively involved in Expedia Group’s community impact efforts in Singapore and the region.
Shyn Yee is a proud mother of a prolific Grade-schooler and an fearless toddler. In her free time, she is an avid reader, budding musician, and attempts to learn more foreign languages.




Expedia Group




GlobalTix
Chee Chong is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of GlobalTix Pte Ltd, a leader in ticketing technology in Southeast Asia’s tourism industry.
As GlobalTix’s lead visionary and architect, Chee Chong drives key relationships and provides the overall strategic direction of the startup-up. He is fully committed to developing a global distribution system (GDS) to enhance the overall experience of travel partners, merchants and end consumers.
Since the inception of GlobalTix in 2014 when the first ticket was sold, Chee Chong and the team have grown the business exponentially. Now, it sells one ticket every 10 seconds and hosts more than 80,000 products in 120 cities on its marketplace. Under his leadership, GlobalTix has won numerous industry accolades, including being named Top Partner in 2017 by Resorts World Sentosa and Wildlife Reserves Singapore. Its roll call of partners include major names such as Singapore Airlines, National Gallery Singapore, TripAdvisor and niche operators such as Boon Teng Kee chicken rice restaurant chain.
Chee Chong holds a Bachelor of Engineering (2nd Upper) degree from the National University of Singapore.




GlobalTix
A choice of Hosted Rooms to discuss specific topics or just gather in our “Serendipity Rooms” and see who you run into.
Hosted Room 1: Air Recovery: Making Sense of Travel Passes & Understanding Trends and Behaviours to Speed Up The Rebound
For air recovery to properly happen, travel passes need to work for all players in the travel value chain. How do we, as an industry, ensure travel passes do not end up fragmented and a headache for the trade as well as consumer? It is also important to understand what’s happening across different markets such as Asia and the Middle East and elsewhere; the challenges being faced in each region; what tech and solutions need to be deployed for a robust recovery. Come and brainstorm with our three hosts and share your ideas, recommendations and insights so that we all get through this, together.
Ross Veitch
CEO & Co-founder
Wego
Sebastien Gibergues
Vice President, Online Travel Asia Pacific
Amadeus
James Marshall
Vice President, Global Transport Services
Expedia Group
Hosted Room 2: Tapping Local Demand In A Global World Gone Local
While we wait for borders to open, it’s all about domestic as it has been for the past 12 months. What can hoteliers and tours and activities providers do to adapt their business to a local customer? What thinking has to change to cater to a local traveller vs an inbound visitor? What products work, what content sells and what partnerships do you need? Tactics may be local but ideas are universal. A session to learn from as well as brainstorm with those who’ve had to turn their sights inwards during Covid.
Sarah Wan
General Manager, Singapore
Klook
Baidi Li
Head of Growth Initiatives
Magpie Travel
Katy Gallagher
Commercial Director, APAC
Sojern
Liviu Nedef
Chief Marketing Officer
RedDoorz
Serendipity Rooms:
If you feel like just hanging out and seeing who you bump into, pop into these rooms and start a conversation with fellow roadies. We will have facilitators in the room to break the ice.
Note: We’ve come to the end of the first stage of our roadtrip. We’ve got five more stops to make – join us for two hours every month, from April to August, before we take a break and prepare for the final destination of the year, WiT Experience Week in Singapore, Oct 18-21. You stand to win great prizes if you collect all six “Roadie” badges. Winners will be announced during WiT Experience Week.