European rail holidays are on the rise, with demand also coming from Southeast Asia, where more travellers are booking multi-country European rail itineraries than before.

Frank Marini, from Railbookers Group, joins us to unpack what's driving this trend, what appeals to travellers, and the business behind delivering a complete multi-country rail holiday.

We get into:


Why rail travel is booming among younger travellers, and what's different about Southeast Asian travellers compared to their Western counterparts.


The operational complexity of sequencing rail travel across different countries, booking systems, and ticketing rules, and how Railbookers guarantees prices years in advance despite operators releasing pricing and seat schedules just months out.


What it takes to run Railbookers as a 100% remote global company while rolling out rail travel products globally.

European rail holidays are on the rise, with demand also coming from Southeast Asia, where more travellers are booking multi-country European rail itineraries than before.Frank Marini, from Railbookers Group, joins us to unpack what's driving this trend, what appeals to travellers, and the business behind delivering a complete multi-country rail holiday.We get into:<ul><li>Why rail travel is booming among younger travellers, and what's different about Southeast Asian travellers compared to their Western counterparts.</li><li>The operational complexity of sequencing rail travel across different countries, booking systems, and ticketing rules, and how Railbookers guarantees prices years in advance despite operators releasing pricing and seat schedules just months out.</li><li>What it takes to run Railbookers as a 100% remote global company while rolling out rail travel products globally.</li></ul>

Helping you navigate the ever-changing universe of business, from headlines to the bottom line

Helping you navigate the ever-changing universe of business, from headlines to the bottom line

Enterprise Explores

The Business Behind Europe's Rail Travel Boom

Indigenous communities make up roughly 5% of the world's population, but they hold generations of knowledge about the plants around them. Historically, very little of that value has made its way back to the communities the knowledge actually came from. 

Chef James Won, a French-knighted chef and founder of Serumpun Sarawak, a UNESCO-endorsed conservation movement working with the Sarawak state government to document and protect the food knowledge of Borneo's 34 ethnic communities talks about the commercial value of Sarawak’s indigenous produce. 

We get into:


Conservation economics: How commercialisation and conservation can actually work together.


What's in it for indigenous communities: James describes himself as only a temporary custodian of Serumpun Sarawak's IP, with produce and ownership belonging to the indigenous communities. 


Going global: What James learned about promoting a local ingredient internationally.


Ingredients to watch: Which indigenous ingredients he believes are ready for export, and the challenges standing in the way.


Responsible sourcing: What a business should put in place to source and export an indigenous ingredient in a way that benefits the community it came from, not just the exporter.

Indigenous communities make up roughly 5% of the world's population, but they hold generations of knowledge about the plants around them. Historically, very little of that value has made its way back to the communities the knowledge actually came from. Chef James Won, a French-knighted chef and founder of Serumpun Sarawak, a UNESCO-endorsed conservation movement working with the Sarawak state government to document and protect the food knowledge of Borneo's 34 ethnic communities talks about the commercial value of Sarawak’s indigenous produce.&nbsp;We get into:<ul><li>Conservation economics: How commercialisation and conservation can actually work together.</li><li>What's in it for indigenous communities: James describes himself as only a temporary custodian of Serumpun Sarawak's IP, with produce and ownership belonging to the indigenous communities.&nbsp;</li><li>Going global: What James learned about promoting a local ingredient internationally.</li><li>Ingredients to watch: Which indigenous ingredients he believes are ready for export, and the challenges standing in the way.</li><li>Responsible sourcing: What a business should put in place to source and export an indigenous ingredient in a way that benefits the community it came from, not just the exporter.</li></ul>

Conserving and Profiting: Sarawak's Food Heritage

The US 10-year Treasury yield breached the psychologically significant 5% mark in mid-September, and it could keep climbing. Is the sell-off of US bonds the start of a longer trend, or a storm that will soon pass? And what does it mean for Malaysia's own borrowing costs and bond market?

We get into:


What's driving the spike: Inflation risk, foreign selling, and fiscal concerns behind the surge in yields, and why Barnabas sees these drivers as largely transitory rather than structural.


Brent Oil Prices: Why he expects Brent to ease back to around $85 by year-end, even with tensions still simmering in the Middle East.


Who's selling, and why it matters: Why the sell-off looks concentrated in Japan and Greater China, and what that tells us about how serious it really is.


Echoes of 1981: Whether today's environment has anything in common with the last time US yields ran this high, and what eventually broke that cycle.


What it means for Malaysia: How a US Treasury sell-off could push 10-year MGS yields higher, whether Bank Negara is closer to a rate hike, and why foreign inflows into Malaysian bonds are holding up despite the global bond rout.

The US 10-year Treasury yield breached the psychologically significant 5% mark in mid-September, and it could keep climbing. Is the sell-off of US bonds the start of a longer trend, or a storm that will soon pass? And what does it mean for Malaysia's own borrowing costs and bond market?We get into:<ul><li>What's driving the spike: Inflation risk, foreign selling, and fiscal concerns behind the surge in yields, and why Barnabas sees these drivers as largely transitory rather than structural.</li><li>Brent Oil Prices: Why he expects Brent to ease back to around $85 by year-end, even with tensions still simmering in the Middle East.</li><li>Who's selling, and why it matters: Why the sell-off looks concentrated in Japan and Greater China, and what that tells us about how serious it really is.</li><li>Echoes of 1981: Whether today's environment has anything in common with the last time US yields ran this high, and what eventually broke that cycle.</li><li>What it means for Malaysia: How a US Treasury sell-off could push 10-year MGS yields higher, whether Bank Negara is closer to a rate hike, and why foreign inflows into Malaysian bonds are holding up despite the global bond rout.</li></ul>

The US Bond Sell-Off: What's Behind It?

If you're an SME owner, here's a number to pay attention to: RM3 million. That's the new e-Invoicing exemption threshold that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced during his Merdeka address at the end of August, the second time this threshold has moved in under a year.

Soh Lian Seng, Head of Tax at KPMG Malaysia, talks about what this shifting compliance landscape means for SMEs, and what businesses should be doing now to keep up.

We get into:


The moving threshold: The e-Invoicing exemption line has shifted three times in under nine months, from RM500,000 to RM1 million to RM3 million, exempting over a million businesses.


The sunk cost problem: What happens to businesses that invested early in accounting software and training, only to find themselves exempt entirely.


The oversight trade-off: Whether exempting so many businesses undercuts the government's goal of real-time tax visibility.


GST vs SST: Whether folding GST-style features like input tax credits into SST is actually workable.


The voluntary disclosure windows: What to do now, with the Stamp Duty Voluntary Disclosure Programme deadline approaching and a longer runway on the e-Invoicing Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme.


SST's wider net: What SMEs need to check now that SST covers more goods and services.

If you're an SME owner, here's a number to pay attention to: RM3 million. That's the new e-Invoicing exemption threshold that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced during his Merdeka address at the end of August, the second time this threshold has moved in under a year.Soh Lian Seng, Head of Tax at KPMG Malaysia, talks about what this shifting compliance landscape means for SMEs, and what businesses should be doing now to keep up.We get into:<ul><li>The moving threshold: The e-Invoicing exemption line has shifted three times in under nine months, from RM500,000 to RM1 million to RM3 million, exempting over a million businesses.</li><li>The sunk cost problem: What happens to businesses that invested early in accounting software and training, only to find themselves exempt entirely.</li><li>The oversight trade-off: Whether exempting so many businesses undercuts the government's goal of real-time tax visibility.</li><li>GST vs SST: Whether folding GST-style features like input tax credits into SST is actually workable.</li><li>The voluntary disclosure windows: What to do now, with the Stamp Duty Voluntary Disclosure Programme deadline approaching and a longer runway on the e-Invoicing Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme.</li><li>SST's wider net: What SMEs need to check now that SST covers more goods and services.</li></ul>

The Business Behind Europe's Rail Travel Boom

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