Vio Travel’s Indonesian operations are the first to gain certification, following an independent audit confirming full compliance across the standard’s four core pillars: responsible management, people, nature and climate. Other Vio country offices will follow.

The audit confirms 100% compliance across all audited areas across the company’s Indonesia operations:

• Responsible management – ensuring all management and business practices are legal and responsible;
• People – upholding people’s well-being and human rights;
• Nature – protecting nature and the environment;
• Climate – actively reducing and mitigating climate impacts.

Indonesia is the first destination to achieve certification, with the same standards set to be progressively extended across Vio Travel’s network of 15 destinations. Importantly, this milestone reflects validation rather than transformation, formal recognition of practices already embedded within the business.

The official award ceremony took place in Bali on 30 April 2026, after working with local suppliers on sustainable practices.

Vio Travel’s Sustainability Coordinator, Novita Rosiana Dewi, led the certification process from the ground up, translating the company’s long-held values into the required documented frameworks.

Vio Travel Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Dominik Schaufler, commented: “We act as an extension of our partners’ businesses on the ground. The standards we uphold — and the suppliers we work with — directly shape the experiences their clients have. Our roadmap is clear: to progressively extend this sustainability framework across our network, applying the same rigorous standards that earned certification in Indonesia.”

Vio Travel operates across 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific, serving company partners with travel agents and tour operators globally, managing ground operations, supplier networks, and itinerary delivery in markets where trusted local execution is critical. Its corporate headquarters are in Bangkok, Thailand.

Preferred by Nature is one of the world’s leading sustainability certification bodies. Its Standard for Sustainable Travel Activities V1.1 is a Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Recognised Standard – the global benchmark for credible and transparent sustainability standards in tourism.

(Source: Vio Travel)

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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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IPS has a global footprint and a diversified customer base across the public and private sectors, and the EUR1.2 billion acquisition, upon closing, will further strengthen Amadeus’ biometric and identity capabilities by leveraging IPS’ market-leading technology, end-to-end platform, and strong global blue-chip client base. It will follow Amadeus’ 2024 acquisition of Vision-Box.

With trusted digital identity becoming a foundational layer across the end-to-end travel journey, and as biometric adoption quickly accelerates across the travel industry, this acquisition will accelerate Amadeus’ growth in airports and border verticals, enhancing its position in this space, underlining the company’s deliberate strategy to bring biometric identity capabilities into its core travel platform.

By integrating biometric capabilities with airline, airport, border, and hotel systems, Amadeus can support the next phase of automation, delivering more seamless, automated, and AI-enabled travel journeys while ensuring a secure identity layer is in place across the entire journey. A combined Amadeus-IPS offering will also drive further digitalisation of core travel processes, delivering faster, more secure interconnectivity among a range of stakeholders. 

Biometrics enable instant identity verification, leading to faster processing, stronger security, and more efficient operations.

At the same time, this acquisition will increase Amadeus’ ability to connect touchpoints across the traveller journey, aligning it with its ambition to be an orchestrator of the travel ecosystem and enabling it to support a more integrated passenger journey from booking through airport processing and boarding.

“This demonstrates further our long‑term commitment to biometrics as part of our broader platform strategy. Alongside AI, biometrics is one of the most transformative technologies for delivering fast, convenient, and secure end‑to‑end traveller journeys. This will enable us to deliver our services across more traveller touch points, in turn reducing friction and improving the traveller experience, while supporting our ambition to expand biometric capabilities further, extending traveller ID throughout the journey,” said Amadeus President and CEO, Luis Maroto. “In a fast‑evolving AI world, the bridging of physical and digital identity will be critical for seamless travel. By combining Amadeus and IPS capabilities, we will be able to create more joined‑up travel journeys in the future, better connecting the travel ecosystem and linking the traveller to the different steps of the journey.”

The intended acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, with closing expected mid-2027.

There is an agreed earn‑out structure that supports long‑term value alignment between the parties, which could result in total consideration of EUR1.35 billion.

BNP Paribas is acting as the exclusive financial advisor to Amadeus

(Source: Amadeus)

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This collaboration marks PKFARE’s expansion into hotel packaging services. Under the collaboration, Wano manages flight distribution, AirAsia MOVE drives consumer demand, and PKFARE powers the underlying technology infrastructure that integrates inventory, pricing, and real-time packaging capabilities into a unified system. It also reflects a broader shift in travel behaviour, as AI-driven trip planning and more connected booking journeys push travellers away from standalone flight and hotel purchases towards packaged, experience-led itineraries. 

Flight + hotel packaging

The PKFARE, Wano, and AirAsia MOVE packaging model is built around AirAsia Airlines’ real flight schedules, route-level demand, and airline promotional campaigns. This ensures hotel offers are positioned within relevant travel flows, instead of being surfaced through broad, non-specific search results.

PKFARE’s packaging engine dynamically builds bundles based on live flight availability and hotel pricing, improving competitiveness, enhancing conversion, and reducing friction between flight and accommodation components.

PKFARE, Wano and AirAsia MOVE packaging solution enables hotels to tap into airline-driven demand, shape it, optimise occupancy, and diversify their distribution mix as part of a broader revenue strategy. 

PKFARE CEO Jason Song said: “By collaborating with Wano and AirAsia MOVE, we are connecting live airline inventory and route-level demand signals with hotel supply in real time. Unlike static or pre-built bundles, this model allows hotels to participate in packaging with far greater precision — capturing demand that is already intent-driven while gaining access to a distribution layer that is more dynamic, measurable, and scalable than traditional packaging models.”

About PKFARE 
PKFARE, a subsidiary of DerbySoft Group, is a leading global travel wholesaler focused on curating high-quality content and driving efficiency to fuel real growth. Its live inventory includes 600+ airlines (400+ full-service carriers and 200+ low-cost carriers) and a million hotels across 100+ countries, serving more than 2,000 active clients worldwide.

About Wano
Established in September 2025, Wano Connect (Wano) is Capital A’s specialist B2B travel distribution platform and the exclusive distribution system for AirAsia. With a vast network of 16,000 travel agents, 100 OTAs, and aggregators, the company drives superior sales performance and connectivity in the world’s fastest-growing markets.

About AirAsia MOVE
AirAsia MOVE is Capital A’s travel platform offering over 700 global airlines and more than a million hotels worldwide, alongside a full suite of travel services including airport transfers, travel insurance, duty-free shopping, attractions, and live-event ticketing. 

(Source: PKFARE)

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They join enduring destination favourites such as Italy, the Alps, and Poland, along with a luxury rail journey in Malaysia. 

“For 2027, to meet the continued demand for Europe, we are looking beyond the expected with itineraries in less-explored regions such as Eastern Europe, while reimagining how guests experience perennial favourites like Italy through deeper access and more thoughtful pacing,” says Abercrombie & Kent. Director of Global Group Product, Suzanne Teng. “We are also seeing rising demand for experiential luxury, from the renewed appeal of rail journeys to a growing desire for immersive nature experiences in stunning settings like Alaska or Southern Africa.” 

Each Small Group Journey itinerary is led by A&K Resident Tour Directors and expert local guides, with insider access shaped by more than 60 years of experience.

Travelling with an average of just 14 guests, guests enjoy a more intimate way to explore, with the freedom to go deeper and experience more. 

New small group journeys for 2027 

Alaska Wilderness, Denali and the Last Frontier 
9 DAYS | FROM AUD19,125

Experience the many facets of Alaska’s still-wild frontier, from walking portions of the Port Valdez Trail System and travelling along the Denali Highway to cruising icy fjords of Prince William Sound, driving through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, one of Alaska’s most unique passages, and landing by helicopter on top of a glacier. 

Singapore to Bali: Malaysia by Luxury Rail 
12 DAYS | FROM AUD39,790

Explore Singapore before boarding the luxurious Eastern & Oriental Express train, discovering Malaysia’s hidden sites with a choice of activities from a look into traditional Malay culture in Perlis to relaxing on a scenic beach in Langkawi, then fly to Bali for a respite in the lush rural settings of Ubud and the beach at Jimbaran Bay. 

Ultimate South Africa Adventure 
11 DAYS | FROM AUD24,485

Venture off the beaten path for curated experiences focused on food and wine, nature, marine life and wildlife, including a three-night stay at Grootbos Forest Lodge. Spend two days on game drives in MalaMala Game Reserve, one of the largest private Big Five game reserves in South Africa, and search for the Marine Big Five on a boating adventure. Discover the historic Stellenbosch on foot and embark on several wine tastings at estates in the famed Cape Winelands. 

Family Adventure in Southern Africa 
11 DAYS | FROM AUD30,605   

Discover the diverse treasures of Southern Africa on a journey designed specifically for families, from hotels chosen with kids in mind to curated kid-friendly activities not available on other group journeys, including viewing the Shark Exhibit at Two Oceans Aquarium over dinner, and taking part in a veterinarian-led rhino conservation experience in Marakele National Park.  

Italian Treasures: Venice to Amalfi 
12 DAYS | FROM AUD28,310   

Experience Italy’s highlights with unrivalled insider access to historic sites, exquisite food and wine, and exclusive encounters. Venture off the beaten path on a walking tour through Venice’s hidden gardens and private palaces, join in a pasta-making experience in Bologna, enter the private areas of Rome’s Villa Medici on an exclusive tour and experience the Vatican Museums and admire the Sistine Chapel at their best, visiting early to avoid the crowds. 

The Alps to the Adriatic 
12 DAYS | FROM AUD24,485

Exceptional hotels, expert guides, and exclusive experiences elevate this route as it unfolds from Munich and Salzburg through Tyrol and the soaring Dolomites, ending in the coastal city of Trieste. Savour an authentic taste of Bavaria on a guided foodie walking tour and discover the secrets of prosecco in the Treviso hills, then walk it all off on a wellness-focused trek through the Alpine foothills alongside alpacas. 

Poland: Witness to History
10 DAYS | FROM AUD13,770

Take in the country’s beautiful landscapes and Baroque architecture as well as its solemn history. Discover the lively culture and cuisine of this often-overlooked European gem during a guided tour of medieval Malbork Castle, a back-streets food tour of Warsaw and a private Chopin recital. 

Armenia and Georgia: Cultures of the Caucasus
12 DAYS | FROM AUD13,770

Explore two former Soviet republics with jaw-dropping scenery and rich cultural heritage. Sample rare wines in Georgia, behold magnificent churches in neighbouring Armenia and savour this diverse region’s music and cuisine.  

Cultural Landscapes of Albania and North Macedonia  
11 DAYS | FROM AUD10,705

Stunning mountain vistas, inviting beaches on the turquoise Adriatic and savoury Balkan cuisine make this the next must-visit region in Europe. Trace the legacy of the Ottoman Empire and find the region’s rich traditions of religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence reflected in its architecturally diverse mosques and churches. 

Each Small Group Journey includes handpicked accommodations, from five-star properties that combine first-rate comfort with a keen eye toward the locale, to intimate boutique camps and lodges in wilderness areas, available only to smaller groups. 

A&K exclusives include Traveller’s Valet, complimentary mid-journey laundry service and Travelling Bell Boy service to transfer luggage between accommodations. Private arrival and departure transfers are included, regardless of the date of arrival.

Find Abercrombie & Kent’s complete 2027 portfolio of 85 Small Group Journeys at www.abercrombiekent.com. 

(Source: A&K)

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New Office Address:

36 Carpenter Street #02-01 Singapore 059915

Effective Date: 08 May 2026

In the company’s official notice on the change of address, Managing Director & General Manager Kei Satho noted that Tour East contact numbers, email addresses, and services will remain unchanged.

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This strategic expansion underscores the company’s focus on deepening its regional footprint across high-potential Tier 1 and  2 markets.

Bareilly, an emerging market with rising disposable incomes and evolving travel aspirations, presents a compelling opportunity for SOTC to engage new and first-time holiday consumers. In contrast, Noida, a key hub in the NCR region, has a large base of affluent professionals, a strong corporate presence, and high outbound travel demand. Together, these locations highlight a strategic expansion, enabling the company to effectively cater to diverse, high-potential consumer segments across North India.

Both stores will offer a comprehensive portfolio of domestic and international holidays, group tours, personalised holidays and cruises, along with value-added services, including travel insurance.

Uttar Pradesh travel trends

Top domestic destinations: Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Andaman & Sri Lanka.

International: Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, South Africa, Morocco, Europe.

Spiritual/Darshan portfolio: Strong interest in pilgrimage experiences, including the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, Do Dham/Char Dham Yatra and Vaishnodevi Yatra, reflecting the region’s continued affinity for spiritual travel.

Regional product portfolio: Exclusive special tours designed specifically for our customers. These itineraries include local Indian language–speaking tour managers, Indian cuisine options, and culturally aligned experiences, ensuring greater comfort and familiarity for travellers.

Emerging Travel Preferences: Travellers from the state are increasingly seeking experiential and bucket-list holidays such as luxury multi-destination cruises, polar expeditions to Antarctica, Northern Lights experiences across Finland, Norway and Iceland, self-drive holidays and adventure-led itineraries.

Top customer segments: Multi-generational families, honeymooners and couples, working professionals, millennials and Gen Z. Average holiday duration: four to six days for domestic/short haul; 10 to 15 days for long haul.

SOTC Travel Limited Senior Vice President & Head – Holidays, Rakesh Bawa said: “North India continues to be a key growth engine for SOTC, with strong demand emerging from both metro and tier 2 markets. While Bareilly represents a fast-growing market with increasing travel aspirations, Noida offers access to a mature and well-travelled customer base within the National Capital Region (NCR).” 

(Source: SOTC)

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Moving beyond traditional coach tours, the new ride itineraries offer a more immersive way to experience Southeast Asia on the backs of Vespas, motorbikes, and tuk-tuks, taking travellers through cities, coastlines, and countryside with expert local drivers, with every detail handled along the way.

“Young travellers are moving beyond the Instagram ‘greatest hits’ and looking for trips that connect and immerse them in destinations,” says Contiki’s Head of Brand, Tom O’Hara. “These new trips deliver exactly that – exploring Vietnam by Vespa and motorbike or Cambodia by tuk- tuk.

“A small group of like-minded travellers can share meals with locals, staying in family-run accommodation and discover off-the-beaten-track towns and villages, all while being led by an experienced and knowledgeable Contiki crew. It’s about getting closer to the culture, the communities, and the moments that make travel unforgettable.”

From Cambodia’s streets to Vietnam’s coastlines, each itinerary is designed around movement as the core experience, with transport that brings travellers closer to local life. Trips are available to book now with travel beginning in November 2026.

Ride Cambodia

Over eight days, travellers will explore Cambodia entirely by tuk-tuk, venturing down dirt roads, across rice fields, and into communities well off the beaten path, from the temples of Siem Reap to the streets of Phnom Penh. 

Key experiences include a sunrise at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Angkor Wat, overnight homestays in Kampong Khleang on Tonle Sap Lake and Sambor Prei Kuk, and visits to Tuol Sleng Prison and Choeng Ek in Phnom Penh. Groups are capped at 14, with prices starting from USD1,600 per person.

Ride Vietnam

Spanning six days across Central Vietnam, travellers will explore by Vespa and motorbike, weaving through some of the country’s most iconic landscapes and hidden backroads. Top trip highlights include an evening Vespa food tour through the lantern-lit streets of Hoi An, a countryside ride past rice paddies and artisan villages, a motorbike tour of Da Nang’s street food scene, and a full-day ride across the legendary Hai Van Pass with stops at freshwater springs along the way. The trip accommodates up to 16 travellers, with prices starting at USD1,200.

The trips are launching with Contiki’s “Vibes On Overdrive” campaign, featuring six creators who experienced both itineraries firsthand, with content rolling out across influencer and Contiki channels. The content offers a first look at the journeys and will help travellers better understand what to expect before they book.

For more information on the new trips and content, visit contiki.com/vibes-on-overdrive. 

(Source: The Travel Corporation).

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The launch aligns with the company’s strategic focus on high-growth regional markets and the increasing demand for foreign exchange services across Assam and the wider Northeast.

With this addition, Thomas Cook India expands its network to three locations in Assam, including its presence at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (LGBIA).

(LGBIA: Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (IATA: GAU, ICAO: VEGT), or Guwahati Airport, is an international airport serving the largest city of Assam and the state capital, Guwahati and Dispur, in India.)

• The product-service portfolio, available at the sales outlet, includes:

• Prepaid Travel Cards in partnership with Mastercard and Visa;

• Holidays: Borderless Travel — prepaid multi-currency card with 12 global currencies;

• Business Travel: FX Enterprise card – India’s first Eco-Friendly Forex prepaid card

• Overseas Education: Study Buddy card

• Thomas Cook One Currency Card: India’s first prepaid card with zero cross-currency conversion fees

• Overseas Education Forex for the strong student segment: transfer of university/tuition fees, living expenses, discounted air fares, excess baggage, insurance and foreign exchange products like the Study Buddy Card

• Currency: 26 global destination currencies

• Overseas Remittances: Thomas Cook Forex’s Send Money Abroad covering over 120 countries

Guwahati has witnessed a steady rise in foreign exchange demand, supported by increasing outbound leisure travel, a growing student segment, and strong business activity. The anticipated boost from direct international connectivity, following the launch of the new terminal at LGBIA, further strengthens Guwahati’s potential as a key forex market. 

“Guwahati is a high-potential and fast-evolving forex market, serving as the gateway to Northeast India with increasing outbound leisure and student travel, rising passport penetration and growing digital adoption,” said Thomas Cook (India) Limited Chief Business Officer – Foreign Exchange Deepesh Varma. “The launch of our new outlet reflects our confidence in the city’s growth trajectory and the strong demand we are seeing across walk-ins, digital enquiries and assisted channels.”

(Source: Thomas Cook (India))

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Organised in collaboration with Vietnam Airlines and Dusit International’s luxury villa brand, Elite Havens, the trip strengthened key partnerships while revealing the destination’s depth and diversity of experiences.

Led by Asian Trails’ Director of Sales for the French and Benelux markets, Pankaj Patpatia, the journey showcased the island’s natural beauty and rich heritage, including the UNESCO-listed rice terraces of Jatiluwih, travelling in vintage Volkswagen Kübelwagens for a nostalgic touch, before enjoying a scenic lunch in a tranquil bamboo forest.

A full day in a traditional village allowed participants to connect more closely with local life, gaining insight into daily routines and time-honoured practices such as rice cultivation and coconut oil production — experiences that can be seamlessly integrated into bespoke client journeys.

The programme concluded with a catamaran cruise to Lembongan Island, where crystal-clear waters and a laid-back coastal atmosphere provided the perfect finale.

This trip not only strengthened product knowledge and partner collaboration but also equipped agents with authentic, experience-led insights, enabling them to inspire clients with culturally rich journeys to Bali, the Island of the Gods.

For advice about planning a similar journey in Indonesia, contact Asian Trails Indonesia. Indonesia · Asian Trails. 

(Your Stories — Asian Trails News).

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