Category: Laos Travel

Three paradoxes of digitalisation

An e-commerce boom is rapidly unfolding in several Asean member states, including Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam. A 2016 report titled “E-Conomy SEA ” by Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek and Google pegs e-commerce in Asean to rise to US$8.78 billion by 2025.

Thailand Wants Rich Chinese Tourists, Not Budget Groups

Thailand is nursing a slide in Chinese holidaymakers after cracking down on low-budget tours from the world’s most-populous country, muddying the Southeast Asian nation’s economic growth outlook. Arrivals fell 16 percent in December from a year ago, extending a slide that began after Thailand in September clamped down on operators bringing in large groups from China on cut-price holidays.

Huge rise in e-shopping signals Digital India takeoff

This is going to be music to ears for the Modi government, who, in the last 50 days, stressed that with demonetization going digital is the future for India. A study conducted by industry lobby group Assocham and business consulting firm RNCOS estimates that average wallet spends in retail transactions are likely to move from Rs 500-700 in 2016 prior to demonetization to Rs 2,000-10,000 in the near future.

IPrice gains $4m in Series A funding

IPrice Group, a Kuala Lumpur-based price comparison website, has received US$4 million in a Series A round of funding from a group of venture capitalists. The group was led by Asia Venture Group and includes Gobi Partners, DMP, Econa, Starstrike and a few individual investors.