PENANG, 29 May 2026: WiT Indie 2026, the event for independent travel, will relocate to Bangunan UAB in the heart of George Town, Penang, as part of a new partnership with Think City, Malaysia’s urban impact organisation dedicated to making cities more livable, sustainable and resilient.
The event, now in its seventh year, returns under the theme “The Next 20: Small Is Mighty,” bringing Asia’s independent travel community into the creative, heritage and civic fabric of a UNESCO World Heritage city.
Bangunan UAB carries the weight of that history. Built in the 1930s as a godown, it later housed the first overseas branch of Indian Overseas Bank in 1937 before being restored in 2016. Today, it is home to Think City’s George Town operations, a building shaped by commerce, conservation and reinvention, much like the city around it.
WiT Founder Yeoh Siew Hoon said: “It is only through collaboration that the small gets mightier, and we are pleased that this partnership with Think City will enable us to be closer to, and more connected with, the creative and heritage community of George Town. The new space and its location will enable us to create the most vibrant, creative and collaborative WiT Indie ever with the local travel community in Penang. Bangunan UAB is not just a venue, it is a witness to George Town’s transformation, and Think City has been part of that transformation since the beginning.”
Established in 2009 with a specific purpose — to kick-start urban regeneration in George Town and stimulate economic growth for the city and the state — Think City has spent 15 years asking a single question: how do we build a sense of ownership in city communities, so that people take pride in their city and become active in its development?
The work that followed — across the North Seafront precinct, from the Padang and Esplanade to the Seawall, Fort Cornwallis, the moat reinstatement, and the Astaka — was about restoring the conditions for a liveable, sustainable, and inclusive city.
Think City Managing Director Dato’ Hamdan Abdul Majeed said: “Cities endure because people continue to find reason to gather within them. That is what we have worked to create in George Town, not just physical infrastructure, but the fabric of a place that draws people in and gives them reason to stay, return and invest their energy. It is with this spirit that we are delighted to welcome Asia’s independent travel community to Bangunan UAB and to George Town. Having the entrepreneurs, storytellers and travellers who give places their meaning convene here is exactly the kind of activation that a living heritage city needs.”
The partnership is a deliberate alignment of two complementary missions. Think the city’s regeneration work lays the foundation; WiT Indie activates it. Thriving cities, as Think City’s work has consistently shown, are sticky. They attract talent, creative communities, and sustained economic activity not through infrastructure alone but through the quality of the experience they offer.
Bringing the independent travel ecosystem into the heart of George Town deepens that stickiness, connecting a global community of travellers and entrepreneurs to a city that has earned its place on the region’s cultural map.
Since its launch in 2018, WiT Indie has been held at Penang Institute as part of a partnership with the state government’s think tank.
Siew Hoon said: “We’re grateful to Penang Institute for their support from the very beginning. With their support and community outreach, we’ve been able to grow our event to what it is today.”
Penang Institute, Executive Director Dato’ Dr Ooi Kee Beng, added: “We welcome any initiative that we feel can enhance Penang’s cultural economic stature and diversity over time. We give them advice, context and connections to help them realise how correct they have been in seeing Penang as a steady step up the ladder towards international success.”
WiT Indie was created by WiT (Web in Travel), part of the Northstar Travel Group, to focus on the independent travel sector, a sizeable and growing market enabled by the different waves of technology that have empowered travellers at every stage of the travel journey – from dreaming to planning, booking and experiencing.
