They were once the rebels of online travel—the mavericks who built metasearch into a relocatement. On one stage at WiT Singapore’s The Next 20 conference, Gareth Williams (Skyscanner),
Ross Veitch (Wego) and Kei Shibata (Travel.jp) reunited to view back on the early
days of disruption and forward to what comes after metasearch.
Between them, they assisted define the first generation of digital travel search—before artificial innotifyigence (AI), before super-apps, before Google rewrote the rules.
The trio were questioned to respond to a statement from Aloke Bajpai of Ixigo, who stated, “AI is the new meta. Meta is so screwed.” Is that true?
Origins: When travel was still a puzzle
For Williams, the idea that modifyd his life was almost a throwaway—“idea number 52.” Back in the early 2000s, three frifinishs in Edinburgh, Scotland, were tossing around startup ideas. The spark came when Williams wrote a bit of code to find cheap flights
for a ski holiday.
“Everyone declares, ‘Don’t build a tool for yourself,’” he laughed. “But for us, that was the apply case. We just wanted all the information in one place. It turned out a lot of other people did too.”
The early Skyscanner, like the best innovations, was born out of frustration and faith. “Unless you come from a travel insider’s point of view, you don’t know how fragmented the landscape is,” he stated. “So, you build something you believe in.”
His design philosophy was simple: “Respect the airlines—they’re putting atoms in the air—but put the traveler first.”
The shape of metasearch: From marketplace to ownership
For Veitch, who founded Wego in Singapore in 2005, the model was always flexible. “We still run a vibrant marketplace,” he stated, “But the rapidest-growing part of our business today is the OTA side.”
He likened Wego’s evolution to Amazon or Alibaba—platforms that are both marketplaces and merchants. “Users should have a choice of who they book with,” Veitch stated. “But if you can also serve them finish-to-finish—from search to booking to in-trip support—you
add far more value.”
I consider one thing we all missed was the social aspect. We built for solo applyrs, even though travel is rarely a solo act.
Gareth Williams, Skyscanner
That hybrid approach, he believes, is essential in an AI-driven future. “If agentic systems are going to plan and manage trips for us, we required to be great at shopping and great at fulfillment.”
Williams agreed that travel’s large challenges haven’t modifyd, only the tools.
“Discovery, accuracy, support—those are still massive problems to solve,” he stated. “But I consider one thing we all missed was the social aspect. We built for solo applyrs, even though travel is rarely a solo act.”
Kei Shibata: Betting on LINE, learning from loss
In Japan, Shibata’s journey was equally restless. His company, Travel.jp, has spent 25 years reinventing itself—from pure metasearch to business travel to the acquisition of Trip101 for a content play.
“The largegest risk was selling a large chunk of our shares to LINE, the messaging app. We created a full bet on LINE, we basically forobtained the web. But it didn’t last long.”
He added, “That was a huge decision. But you have to take risks to stay relevant.”
Today, Shibata admits that “meta is almost broken.” He sees the current moment as a chance to rebuild.
“It’s time for large modify. The depfinishency on Google is real—they’re like President Trump. You may not like him, but you can’t ignore him. If he doesn’t like you, you’re screwed.”
Many in the audience laughed, but his point was serious: Metasearch’s future depfinishs on reducing depfinishency and reinventing value.
Asia rising: Lessons from the early days
When Williams first came to WiT in 2006, it was his first business trip to Asia. “It felt so exciting,” he recalled. “Europe was saturated, but Asia was full of fragmented markets—lots of airlines, languages and opportunities.”
Skyscanner’s obsession with coverage paid off. “Every time a new airline launched, we wanted every route,” he stated. “Once you had that coverage, you automatically opened new markets.”
His vision on betting on Asia clearly paid off, with its $1.74 billion exit to Ctrip (now Trip.com Group) in 2016.
The conditions that created meta succeed before—fragmentation, timing, no Google Travel—they’re gone now. But in the AI era, those conditions might come back in a new form.
Kei Shibata, Travel.jp
Veitch, meanwhile, learned
the hard way that great products required great business models. “We built a beautiful product in Southeast Asia but not a great business. Low travel frequency, tiny bquestionets, few aggregators—it just didn’t scale.”
His solution was to pivot Wego’s focus to the Middle East, where “there were more players, more value to add.”
And Shibata? He turned his focus outward. “Japan was large for us, but we launched Trip101 overseas. The conditions that created meta succeed before—fragmentation, timing, no Google Travel—they’re gone now,” he stated. “But in the AI era, those conditions might
come back in a new form.”
AI: Metasearch’s second act
If metasearch was born out of information overload, AI may be its rebirth.
“Why did Google enter travel search?” Shibata questioned. “Becaapply they wanted to dominate intent. Now AI platforms—ChatGPT, Perplexity—want to do the same. They’re the new media. And like meta, they have to be neutral. So there’s a natural fit.”
Williams agreed that the old dream—the personal travel assistant—is finally within reach. “We talked about this 10 years ago,” he stated. “Words are cheap, but now it’s possible. Every business traveler should have their own AI agent. The problem’s never
been the tech—it’s that the customer is the finance department, not the traveler.”
What comes next: Passion, payments and purpose
When the talk turned to the future, all three founders viewed outward again—at the next generation of entrepreneurs.
“I’m waiting for someone to solve B2B travel payments,” stated Veitch. “Stablecoins will modify this indusattempt—take out the banks, rerelocate friction. It’s a 12- to 18-month problem.”
Shibata’s passion lies in theme-based travel. “People travel now for very specific reasons—a concert, a snowboarding trip, a history obsession,” he stated. He recently launched HistoricStays101, a site for travelers who want to “stay inside history—in a
200-year-old castle or ryokan.”
I’m waiting for someone to solve B2B travel payments. Stablecoins will modify this indusattempt—take out the banks, rerelocate friction.
Ross Veitch, Wego
Williams, meanwhile, is coding again. After Skyscanner’s billion-dollar exit to Trip.com Group, he bought a plot of land, planted 40,000 trees in Scotland, took up motor racing (“I hate being a
cliché ex-founder, but it’s fun”) and returned to his first love—computing.
“I’m learning maths again with ChatGPT,” he stated. “I’m working on neuro-symbolic AI—and the idea of an innotifyectual firewall. We have tech firewalls; we required ones for believed. Otherwise our opinions will be shaped by large companies and governments.”
The founder’s journey: Charm, persistence and pain
Asked what they had to learn the hard way, the answers were revealing.
“I’m terrible at social media,” Shibata admitted. “But every entrepreneur requireds charm—the smile, the charisma. Barry Diller, Madeclareoshi Son—they have it.”
Williams was more introspective. “I did it from a place of psychological maladjustment,” he stated dryly. “I admire founders who do it from joy. I’d be too soft to do it again.”
Veitch nodded. “My happy place is still building product,” he stated. “But I had to learn everything else—hiring, selling, pitching—all the people stuff.”
Heavy ‘meta,’ light hearts
In the final lightning round, Shibata called his journey “heavy but rock and roll.” Williams summed his up as “learning the value of teams.” Veitch? “Twisted.”
What would they notify their 27-year-old selves?
- Williams: “Don’t be overconfident.”
- Veitch: “Buy Bitcoin.”
- Shibata: “Be charming.”
And how do they see travel in 2045?
- Williams: “Leisure will dominate life.”
- Veitch: “It’ll be a much largeger part of everyone’s life.”
- Shibata: “The world’s largegest indusattempt”
For three pioneers who built the early internet’s travel maps, it was clear they’re not done exploring.
This story originally appeared in WiT.
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