WE L C OME


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elcome to the April 2019 edition of Business Traveller Asia-Pacific. Technology has always played a major role in business travel, but we’ve come a long way since the


days of carting around huge “portable” typewriters and brick-sized mobile phones. Nowadays, its hard to keep up with all the latest smartphone models that are being released, let alone the plethora of other tech products that are coming to market with the frequent business traveller as customer in mind. On page 52 of this tech-focused issue, Mat Gallagher


introduces 10 innovative new travel gadgets from January’s Consumer Electronic’s Show in Las Vegas, including a suitcase that follows you around without your having to move a muscle, and a wallet outfi tted with GPS tracking. On the hotel front, on page 38, I have been looking


at what technologies hotel companies around the world are introducing to their properties to make the guest experience that little bit more convenient and comfortable. Most business travellers are familiar with


Handy smartphones, but have you ever woken up in the morning and gone down to the restaurant to fi nd a robot cooking your eggs? We also go to Japan to take a deep dive into


Hiroshima prefecture’s nascent technology scene on page 18. In that article, our deputy editor Craig Bright discovers how virtual reality (VR) is being used to train forkliſt truck drivers, as well as how drone technology is helping farmers recover from the devastation wroght by natural disasters. Also in this issue, our new Opinion writer, Ethan


Lou, who was an early investor in Bitcoin back in 2013 and has his own cryptocurrency mining operation in Calgary, Canada, argues on page 57 that business travellers should ditch their credit cards for Bitcoin, despite the generous perks that some card providers, such as American Express, off er their customers. If you are still keen to fl ash the plastic, however, our


editorial assistant Jackie Chen provides tips on page 66 on how to avoid excessive fees when using your credit card overseas.


Michael Allen Editor T HIS IS SUE ’S PIC K S


BEATING THE BETEL


We go to Taiwan’s rural east and ask why the habitual chewing of betel nut has been ingrained in the local culture for centuries (page 24)


AP RIL 20 19


4 HOURS IN SHOREDITCH


From grungy pubs to top notch street art, London’s hub of


hipsterism has a lot to off er the curious business traveller (page 36)


BEYOND BORDERS Mexico oſt en gets a bad press,


but the country is a powerhouse of literature, the arts,


architecture and gastronomy (page 28)


CRYPTOCURRENCY Bitcoin investor and journalist


Ethan Lou argues why we would all do well to ditch our credit cards and use Bitcoin (page 57)


bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om


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