Now available for online preview, with reservations opening on 13 May 2026, this is the first time Oceania Cruises has released two world cruises simultaneously. 

Hosting fewer than 500 guests and served by 400 officers and crew, the ship offers a residential ambience as it sails across the globe.

Among the highlights of the two Around the World voyages is a series of overnight port stays that allow for more time ashore for deeper exploration in destinations including Papeete, Bora Bora, Sydney, Bali, Tokyo, Singapore, Mumbai, Seville and Bordeaux.

Across each circumnavigation, nearly 100 UNESCO World Heritage sites are within reach, offering rare access to the world’s most treasured landmarks.

Alongside these two 180-day odysseys, Oceania Aurelia will also sail two 70-plus-day Grand Voyages: one through the Nordic and Baltic seas; the other spanning the Americas, linking the Caribbean, South America, and the Pacific.

Two Around-the-World Voyages

2028 Around-the-World Voyage: 180 days, Miami to New York, departing 18 January, 2028

2029 Around-the-World Voyage: 180 days, Los Angeles to New York, departing 6 January, 2029

Two Grand Voyages

Grand Nordic & Baltic Discovery: 78 days from New York to Boston, departing 18 July, 2028

Grand South America Adventure: 71 days from Miami to Los Angeles, departing 27 October 2028 – Holiday Voyage

(Source: Oceania Cruises)

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“Last year, I spoke about Tourism 2040, STB’s roadmap for the next chapter of quality tourism growth for Singapore,” she told a packed house of tourism leaders attending the annual gathering. “It sets out how we will respond to rising global competition, shifting demographics, and emerging opportunities, to reach our goal of SGD47 to SGD50 billion in tourism receipts by 2040. I am pleased to share that we are making good progress towards this long-term ambition.”

STB CEO: Speech standouts 

Changi Airport welcomed an all-time high of nearly 70 million passenger movements, while Singapore welcomed 375 ship calls and over 2 million passengers in passenger throughput.

The completion of the Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore expansion further reinforces Singapore’s status as Asia’s leading cruise hub.

The Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2025 attracted the second-highest crowd since its first race, with over 300,000 attendees across three days.

Singapore’s  MICE industry continues to demonstrate robust growth.

In 2025, MICE tourism receipts grew by more than 35% from 2024, reaching SGD2.3 billion.

This year, STB projects SGD31 to SGD32.5 billion in tourism receipts and 17 to 18 million in international visitor arrivals, while recognising that the ongoing tensions in the Middle East pose unprecedented challenges to the tourism industry.

“Our tourism businesses are under strain from the crisis, and global uncertainty will persist. While visitor arrivals held up in the first quarter with a 3% year- on-year growth, we expect muted demand in the months ahead,” the STB CEO cautioned. 

In the year ahead, STB will intensify efforts to strengthen sector performance and resilience through the three pillars of Tourism 2040:

• Cultivating future Demand to seize high-growth opportunities;
• Creating an attractive Destination, as we push ahead with new initiatives to strengthen tourism products and experiences;
• Advance the development of a future-ready tourism sector.

She noted: “The SGD740 million tranche of the Tourism Development Fund will enable industry partners to pursue opportunities under these three pillars.”

Cultivating future demand

Singapore remains a vital air hub, maintaining strong connectivity to key visitor markets, including China, Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, India, and beyond.

“Market diversification is a priority. We are establishing new flight connections to Palembang and Belitung in Indonesia; West Sydney, Newcastle and Sunshine Coast in Australia; and Dalian in China.” Ow noted

In 2026, Singapore’s hotel landscape welcomes new additions and transformations.

TUI Hotels & Resorts will debut in Singapore with Asia’s first The Mora property. Other new hotel openings include Asia’s largest Mövenpick hotel; Varel  Singapore, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel; and the newly rejuvenated Frasers House, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Singapore. 

(Source: Singapore Tourism Board)

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The airline will also launch five-times-weekly services to Madrid via Barcelona on 26 October 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

It will restructure its current twice-weekly Singapore-Barcelona services, SQ388 and SQ387, to operate on the route, making Madrid SIA’s 15th destination in Europe and its second in Spain. 

Singapore Airlines, Senior Vice President Marketing Planning Dai Haoyu said: “Europe is an important market for Singapore Airlines, and these adjustments reflect our commitment to it. We are seeing strong demand for travel to Europe, and increasing frequencies to key destinations such as Manchester, Milan, Munich, and London Gatwick in response. Madrid is also an increasingly popular tourist destination and a financial and business hub. These new services will give our customers more choice and greater value when planning their travel.”

From 13 July 2026, SIA’s Singapore-Manchester services, SQ302 and SQ301, will increase from five-times weekly to daily. SIA’s current three-times-weekly Singapore-London Gatwick services, SQ314 and SQ313, will increase to daily from 25 October 2026. This will give SIA two daily services to the airport and six flights a day to London, including the four daily services to London Heathrow. 

The airline’s Singapore-Milan services, SQ356 and SQ355, will increase from four-times weekly to daily from 25 October 2026. The three-times-weekly Singapore-Milan-Barcelona services, SQ378 and SQ377, will be cancelled from 27 October 2026, following the launch of the new Singapore-Barcelona-Madrid service. 

SIA will launch a new three-times weekly Singapore-Munich service, SQ340 and SQ339, from 26 October 2026, bringing its total to 10 weekly services to the German city.

The inaugural flight to Madrid, SQ388, is scheduled to depart Singapore at 2330 (local time) on 26 October 2026, arrive in Barcelona at 0640 (local time) on 27 October 2026, depart Barcelona at 0740 (local time), and arrive in Madrid at 0850 (local time) the same day. 

The return flight, SQ387, is scheduled to depart Madrid at 1000 (local time) on 27 October 2026, arrive in Barcelona at 1115 (local time), depart Barcelona at 1235 (local time) the same day, and arrive in Singapore at 0825 (local time) the next day. 

SIA will operate its Airbus A350-900 long-haul variant with 253 seats (42 in Business Class, 24 in Premium Economy Class, and 187 in Economy Class) on the Singapore-Barcelona-Madrid route. 

Spain’s capital is known for its vibrant culture, world-class museums, and landmarks like the Royal Palace of Madrid. It is also a business and financial hub for both the region and South America.

Tickets for the new Madrid service will go on sale from June 2026 via SIA’s distribution channels, while tickets for the additional services to Manchester, Milan, Munich, and London Gatwick will be released progressively. 

BARCELONA AND MADRID, SPAIN

SIA will restructure its current twice-weekly Singapore-Barcelona services into five-times-weekly Singapore-Barcelona-Madrid services.

LONDON GATWICK, UK

SIA will step up its second London Gatwick tranche to a daily operation during the Northern Winter 2026 operating season. This will complement SIA’s existing daily services, SQ312 and SQ309, to London Gatwick, and SIA’s four daily services to London Heathrow, bringing

SIA’s total London services to up to six times daily.

MANCHESTER, UK

SIA will increase its Singapore-Manchester services from five times weekly to daily.

MILAN, ITALY

SIA will increase its Singapore-Milan services from four times weekly to daily.

MUNICH, GERMANY 
SIA will launch a new three-times weekly service between Singapore and Munich. This will complement SIA’s existing services, SQ328 and SQ327, to Munich, bringing the total to 10 weekly services.

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These initiatives will guide the industry in accelerating AI and data integration, enhancing productivity and visitor experience, and positioning Singapore to lead in the next era of travel.

AI Playbook for Tourism

One of STB’s priorities in tech transformation is to accelerate GenAI adoption to help the sector increase productivity, expand global visibility, and reduce operating costs.

The AI Playbook for Tourism includes a roadmap that defines four key phases for tourism businesses to get started on their AI journey:

• Nascent stage: Businesses start with easy-to-adopt AI technologies, like GenAI, which is built into existing tools.

• Optimised stage: Businesses use GenAI or Agentic AI to streamline backend processes.

• Connected stage: AI technologies are integrated to coordinate services in various industries, from hospitality and attractions, so that multiple AI agents across different businesses interact with each other.

• Transformational stage: AI agents can plan, execute, and optimise end-to-end operations without human initiation.

Through the AI Playbook for Tourism, businesses can also access a list of support measures to accelerate adoption, spanning capability development and workforce training programmes, innovation programmes, and grants to de-risk digital investment.

Additionally, in the second half of 2026, STB will continue building industry capabilities through curated workshops with leading industry partners to cover topics such as prompt engineering and generative engine optimisation.

Tcube Centre of Excellence (CoE)

Tcube has been refreshed as the Tcube Centre of Excellence (CoE). In this one-stop resource hub, tourism businesses can access practical tools, data resources, and industry knowledge to drive digital transformation. The CoE is designed to help tourism companies improve productivity and deliver better visitor experiences through technology and data.

Since its launch in 2021, Tcube’s “Learn-Test-Build” framework has helped tourism businesses identify gaps in their digital transformation capabilities and gain insight from tourism use cases (“Learn”), experiment with promising new startup and scaleup technology (“Test”), and tap into data and industry-wide shared content to guide their business decisions (“Build”).

Tcube has engaged hundreds of tourism companies through its initiatives:

• 426 companies for knowledge-sharing initiatives (i.e.Tcube events and workshops)

• 247 companies for data programmes

• 146 companies for tech and data pilots

• 550 companies on The Singapore Tourism Analytics Network (Stan)

Tcube has also seen successful use case adoptions:

• Mount Faber Leisure Group piloted an AI platform and Extended Reality (XR) simulation to enhance cable car troubleshooting by optimising training cycles and accelerating fault diagnosis, with the potential to save more than 200 overtime person-hours annually. For technicians and engineers, this means reducing the time spent on manual diagnostics and enabling faster troubleshooting resolution.

• Conrad Centennial Singapore leveraged local tech startup Inside. The software’s AI-powered smart scheduling tool provides predictive forecasting of labour demand and creates a unified management hub for all workers. This led to over 90% in time savings.

Tcube is evolving its approach from a “Learn-Test-Build” to a new “Learn-Test-Scale” user journey. The emphasis is now on helping businesses adopt and scale technologies that have already been proven to work. This means tourism companies can move faster by

implementing tried-and-tested solutions, such as electronic check-in systems for hotels or travel management platforms for travel agents.

Tcube CoE will also support the industry in leveraging data to unlock new growth opportunities.

The upcoming refresh of the Singapore Tourism Analytics Network (Stan) will give Singapore tourism companies access to refreshed dashboards and new insight reports, along with:

• Data partnerships with industry stakeholders and other government agencies, to foster a cohesive data ecosystem that enables richer insights, promotes industry-wide alignment, and strengthens the collective impact of marketing and product development efforts.

• Data pilots to tackle business problem statements alongside industry stakeholders. These pilots derive actionable insights that can sharpen marketing strategies and guide the development of tourism products.

• Data products to improve data accessibility, through user-friendly dashboards with integrated GenAI capabilities.

For more information on the destination and tourism: www.stb.gov.sg  or www.visitsingapore.com 

(Source: Singapore Tourism Board)

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In addition to the existing daily flights that depart Munich 1230, Singapore Airlines will offer evening flights from Munich Airport on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Evening flights will depart at 2030 and arrive in Singapore the following day at 1515.

The airline serves the Singapore-Munich route with an A350-900 aircraft configured with 259 seats.

As Star Alliance members and joint venture partners, Singapore Airlines and the Lufthansa Group will offer 17 weekly connections between Munich and one of Asia’s most important economic and financial hubs.

Munich Airport Senior Vice President Aviation Oliver Dersch said: “We are very pleased that Singapore Airlines is further expanding its commitment to our premium hub in Munich. For our passengers, this means more choices, greater flexibility, and excellent connections to many destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Singapore Airlines General Manager Germany, Austria and Switzerland,

Alastair Haycampbell highlights: “Our new evening departures from Munich create excellent onward connections to destinations, such as Bangkok, Denpasar (Bali), Koh Samui, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, and nearly all routes to Australia and New Zealand. This expanded schedule marks a significant step toward strengthening our footprint in the German market, while also offering our customers greater flexibility and choice. With the introduction of the 2026 winter schedule, Singapore Airlines will operate 24 weekly flights connecting Frankfurt and Munich directly to Singapore.”

(Source: Munich Airport)

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The airline also exercised options for an additional six aircraft from its 2014 order with Airbus. The new aircraft will be delivered progressively starting in 2028.

With these 11 additional aircraft, which will be powered by the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G-JM (GTF) engines, Scoot’s total A320neo family orderbook will increase to 20 aircraft.

The new aircraft will feature 186 seats on the A320neo and 236 on the A321neo, all in a single-class configuration. For more information, please see Annex A.

The additional A320neo family aircraft will expand Scoot’s capacity and route deployment flexibility across a five- to six-hour radius, enabling the airline to launch new services and optimise feed into the wider SIA Group network. These capabilities will enhance the depth and breadth of Singapore’s air connectivity between Southeast Asia, North Asia and beyond, reinforcing its standing as a premier global air hub. This growth also reflects confidence in the long-term outlook for air travel, particularly within the Asia-Pacific region.

Since FY2022/2023, the airline has bolstered the SIA Group’s connectivity with 25 new destinations, including emerging non-metro cities such as Chiang Rai in Thailand and Phu Quoc in Vietnam, as well as long-haul destination Vienna in Austria. Of these new destinations, 16 are operated exclusively by Scoot out of Singapore.

By June 2026, Scoot will serve 85 destinations, accounting for about half of the destinations that Singapore currently connects to via Changi Airport. Of these destinations, 37 are operated exclusively by the airline, underscoring Scoot’s role in opening new direct city links and stimulating traffic flows that might otherwise remain underserved.

Scoot Chief Executive Officer, Leslie Thng, said: “We expect travel demand to continue growing, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, in the coming years. The range and capacity of the A320neo family aircraft will enable Scoot to expand and deepen the SIA Group’s network connectivity, providing the SIA Group with new growth opportunities and offering customers more seamless travel options.”

“Scoot’s mix of Embraer E190-E2 regional jets, Airbus A320 family narrowbody aircraft, and Boeing 787 family widebody aircraft allows us to operate an extensive network of flights. This covers short, medium and long-haul routes, which complement the broader SIA network and further enhance Singapore’s position as a leading global aviation hub,” added Thng.

Scoot currently operates a fleet of 63 aircraft, comprising 24 widebody Boeing 787 Dreamliners (including the -8 and -9 variants), 30 A320 family aircraft (six A320ceos, 12 A320neos, and 12 A321neos), and nine Embraer E190-E2 aircraft. As part of its fleet renewal programme and to maintain a more fuel-efficient fleet, Scoot plans to phase out its six A320ceo aircraft by 2028.

Since 2024, Scoot has added Embraer E190-E2 regional jets to its fleet, which are among the quietest and most fuel-efficient aircraft in their class. In FY2025/2026, the airline replaced eight A320ceos with new-generation A320neos and A321neos. 

(Source: Scoot)

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The tooling is powered by an AI-driven multimodal content system that helps travellers across Agoda’s platform in a more intuitive way.

When browsing hotels on Agoda, travellers previously viewed photo galleries and reviews in separate sections. To verify if a pool photo matched traveller feedback, for example, they had to search through reviews manually. Agoda’s new feature surfaces relevant review snippets alongside images, bringing visual content and guest opinions together in a single view.

The system processes over 700 million images and millions of reviews across 40+ languages. Using a topic-based approach, the platform maps images and reviews to common attributes such as ‘breakfast’, ‘pool’, or ‘location’. When a traveller views breakfast photos, they immediately see guest comments about breakfast quality and an aggregated sentiment score.

Agoda Chief Technology Officer Idan Zalzberg said: “There is a clear benefit for travellers to connect what they see with what others experienced. Previously, this required time and effort, with travellers jumping between different sections. With the new multimodal content system, travellers get the full picture right there in the photo gallery, making it simpler to make the right choice for their trip.”

The system runs across Agoda’s entire property inventory, curating the best images for each topic and extracting the most relevant review snippets. Each topic shows up to 15 images, guest quotes in the traveller’s language, and a sentiment breakdown showing positive, negative, and neutral feedback percentages.

(Source: Agoda)

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The decision expands earning opportunities for travel advisors and reinforces the brand’s long‑standing commitment to being a trusted, long‑term partner to the travel agency community.

Effective with the launch of new itineraries, covering the 2028 Summer and 2028-2029 Winter seasons and 2028 and 2029 Around the World voyages, published commission rates will apply to the full commissionable cruise fare.

Travel advisors will earn more commission on every booking, while guest‑facing pricing and overall value remain unchanged. New-season launches are set to open for sale from May to June this year.

“Travel advisors are central to Oceania Cruises’ growth strategy—today and long into the future,” said  Oceania Cruises Chief Sales Officer Nathan Hickman. “Eliminating the non‑commissionable cruise fare increases advisor earning potential on every booking and reflects our commitment to building the most advisor‑centric commercial model in luxury cruising.”

By removing NCFs entirely on newly launched sailings, the company is simplifying advisor compensation, improving earnings transparency, and reinforcing its position as the partner of choice for travel advisors worldwide.

This strategic shift comes as Oceania Cruises enters its next phase of growth, including the recent announcement of an order for the fifth ship in its Sonata‑class fleet. As capacity expands and long‑term demand grows, the company continues to invest in travel advisors as the cornerstone of its commercial strategy.

(Source: Oceania Cruises)

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From March 2025 to December 2025, Traveloka tracked booking behaviour across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Traffic rose more than 20%, and transactions climbed nearly 25% on double-digit dates such as 1.1, 2.2, 3.3, 11.11, and 12.12, compared to the surrounding days.

The more telling finding is what happened when no sale was running. Indonesia and Malaysia each recorded organic spikes of close to 10% in traffic and transactions on non-promotional double-digit dates. Singapore saw a more modest but consistent 5% lift. The takeaway is clear: whether or not they are on sale, travellers see these dates as ideal for planning their travel.

This is a testament to the fact that travellers are increasingly attributing value to these dates, stemming from China’s “Singles’ Day”, which has since been popularised by e-commerce giants.

Maximising value

Armed with these insights, Traveloka’s 2026 marketing calendar was shaped to keep up its end of the unspoken appointment, introducing more “smaller” numbered sales (1.1, 2.2) in Q1 2026. Traveloka customers responded in force, with Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam customer bases showing large growth of up to 70% in overall transaction value. March 2026 also saw Vietnam hit a historical high in transactions during its 3.3 sale.

“Our users have shown that they want to plan their journeys around these numerically‑significant days, and we want to show up when they do. By aligning our marketing calendar with this behaviour, we not only meet consumer expectations but also create tangible value for them,” said Traveloka Head of Marketing, Alex Jung.

Early-year travel interest sees East Asia as the predominant destination for SEA travellers. For Singapore, 2.2 saw a lot of interest in trips to Japan, Taiwan, Mainland China and the broader Southeast‑Asian region – especially for Sakura‑season and Chinese‑New‑Year travel. During 3.3, Singapore’s outbound demand expanded internationally to include South Korea, the US, Australia, and the UK, in addition to the core Mainland China-Japan-Taiwan corridor.

Malaysia’s 2.2 sale saw strong outbound flows to Indonesia, China, Japan and Thailand, alongside its own domestic market, with 3.3 seeing even stronger performances by the domestic market and Indonesia as destinations. 

Thailand’s 2.2 and 3.3 sales are both centred on Japan, with Thailand itself remaining a key source. Similarly, Vietnam’s travel profile consistently highlights Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam as principal outbound destinations.

Travel windows

The data from Q1 2026 reflects a broader trend among SEA travellers of prioritising travel to East Asia in the March – June window, but destination preferences shift noticeably towards the end of the year. From October to December, Singapore’s outbound mix widens, with a clear uptick in European bookings alongside its usual Asian traffic. Malaysia also sees a broader spread extending to longer‑haul corridors such as Australia, India, Europe, and the Middle East. Thailand’s share of non‑Southeast‑Asian destinations rose, although domestic travel remains the dominant component.

The 5.5 EPIC Sale is the largest Traveloka sale of the year and a direct response to the behavioural patterns above. Running from 4 to 8 May 2026, the sale offers discounts of up to 80% on flights, accommodations, and attractions across the region.

About Traveloka 
Founded in 2012, Traveloka is Southeast Asia’s all-in-one travel tech platform with operations in Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

(Source: Traveloka)

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The initiative enhances Ponant Explorations’ immersive exploration programme developed with Smithsonian Journeys, offering guests culturally rich, expert-led voyages across global destinations.

Available on a selection of eligible voyages, including several sailings with free solo supplement, this offer is valid for new bookings made by 30 June 2026. It can be combined with a range of additional incentives, including the Ponant Bonus, free solo supplement, back-to-back savings, referral benefits, Ponant Yacht Club privileges, and contracted consortia shipboard credit, but excludes event and group offers. 

(Source: Ponant Explorations)

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