SINGAPORE, May 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Digital travel platform Agoda has unveiled its ranking of what Asian travelers prioritize most when searching for accommodation in 2026. Looking at the most-used search filters on its website this year, Agoda reports that Asian travelers consistently prioritizing accommodation type, included breakfasts and strong review scores when seeking holiday stays.  

At 19% of all filter activity, choice of accommodation type ranked first for Asian traveler searches in 2026, emphasizing the importance of selecting the right stay over all other factors. Travelers from Southeast Asian markets are even more decisive: Indonesia leads with 45% of all searches from the market filtering for accommodation type. Malaysia and Vietnam each register 31%, all well above the regional average and highlighting a strong preference from Southeast Asian travelers for hotel, resort and apartment options.

Across the region, review scores of 8 and above, which made up 9% of all search filter activity, also rank among the top three search filters for Asian travelers in 2026. The trend points to travelers increasingly seeking trusted, high-quality stays that are verified by other guests. India leads this preference with 13%, well above the regional average, signaling strong demand for highly-rated properties amongst other travelers.

Dining and creature comforts drive Asian travel choices

Dining is a key focus for Asian travelers. The filter for breakfast included stays is the region’s second-most searched at 12%, reflecting a widespread desire for convenience and value at the start of the day. Japanese travelers are especially food-minded, with 21% searching for both breakfast and dinner included stays. A particularly strong culinary focus is also seen with Taiwanese travelers, with 14% searching for breakfast and dinner included stays, as well as for afternoon tea as part of their accommodation options – underscoring that food offerings across the day can be a key differentiator for properties in select markets.

Asian travelers also seek specific creature comforts when choosing stays. Bathtubs appear in the top 10 filters for Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and India, signaling a preference for room amenities that help guests relax and unwind. Air conditioning also features in Southeast Asian traveler searches, with travelers from Vietnam and Indonesia most likely to include in-room air-conditioning among their top filters.

Asian travelers want flexibility before, during and after the stay

Flexibility across booking, payment and stay options are clear priorities for Asian travelers in 2026. Free cancellation and pay-at-hotel options featured among the top 10 search filters, highlighting the interest in refundable and on-site payment choices that reduce booking friction.

Other search options that offer flexibility, choice and convenience also feature amongst to top 10 search for Asian travelers, including location, bed type and car parking facilities. These indicate that travelers are increasingly keen on accommodation that can cater to their diverse preferences, whether this be traveling as a group, driving to their destination, or wanting to be close to public transport and other attractions.

Andrew Smith, Senior Vice President, Supply, at Agoda, said: “In 2026, travelers across Asia are looking for the stay that feels right, whether this be through convenience, choice or comfort. Picking the type of accommodation comes first, but tasty meals, trusted reviews and flexible payment options matter just as much. Agoda’s easy-to-use search filters and wide range of accommodation choices, amenities, locations and more enable our customers to find the perfect stay based on individual needs and wants.”

With over 6 million holiday properties, more than 130,000 flight routes, and over 300,000 activities, Agoda enables travelers to plan and combine every part of their journey in one place. Running from 7 May to 21 May, Agoda’s 21st Birthday Sale will offer up to 60% off on hotel bookings, with a special flash sale of up to 70% on 19 May and exclusive deals on flights and activities. Agoda VIP members will receive early access to deals from 3 May to 6 May. Discover more on Agoda’s mobile app or at Agoda.com. 

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SOURCE Agoda

BEIJING, May 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — In an era marked by ecological challenges, development dilemmas and geopolitical dynamics are increasingly intertwined. Through a series of innovative practices, Chinese modernization offers a “green solution” to some of humanity’s pressing questions of survival and development. Rooted in the wisdom of Chinese civilization and refined through Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization, this approach presents both a philosophical vision and a practical pathway toward sustainable development.

In this context, the Global Times (GT) launches the “China through a ‘green’ lens” series. It invites leading scholars and observers worldwide to decode the underlying logic behind China’s green development and to better understand the global implications of China’s green development philosophy.

In the fourth installment of the series, Zamir Ahmed Awan (Awan), the founding chair of Pakistani think tank Global Silk Route Research Alliance, told GT reporter Liu Xuandi that many countries in the Global South find the Chinese approach relatable, because it aligns with their development stage and practical needs, presenting an alternative development paradigm: greener, more balanced and better suited to the developing world.

GT: China has put forward the concept of “building a community of all life on Earth,” calling on all countries to work together to promote harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature and create a clean and beautiful world for us all. In your view, what significance does it have for addressing the current global challenges of sustainable development?

Awan: The vision of “building a community of all life on Earth” reflects China’s commitment to multilateralism, shared development and common responsibility. It also embodies China’s understanding that humanity and nature form an interconnected whole, and that ecological challenges can only be addressed through solidarity.

This concept recognizes that environmental protection is not merely a technical issue, but also a matter of ethics, governance and civilization. It offers not merely environmental slogans, but also systematic development practices. China’s remarkable achievements in renewable energy, ecological restoration, electric mobility and green industries have given this philosophy practical credibility.

For global sustainable development, this vision is highly timely. The idea of a community of all life on Earth encourages collaborative solutions, technology sharing and inclusive green growth. It also reflects China’s role as a constructive force in global sustainability, contributing a Chinese perspective to global ecological governance – one based on cooperation, shared benefit and long-term planetary wellbeing.

GT: In recent years, China has promoted the development of a green Belt and Road to deepen South-South cooperation in green infrastructure, green energy and green transport. Based on concrete examples, do you see China’s green cooperation with other Global South countries as a threat or an opportunity?

Awan: I see China’s green cooperation with Global South countries overwhelmingly as an opportunity. For many developing nations, it has become a key driver of green transformation, industrial upgrading and sustainable development. Many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America face urgent needs for affordable clean energy, infrastructure and technology. China has responded through practical cooperation in solar, wind, hydropower, electric transport and green industrial capacity.

China’s approach is often based on partnership. It respects different development stages and helps countries pursue green transitions aligned with their national conditions. Moreover, such cooperation often combines financial investment, technology transfer and capacity-building, empowering Global South countries to strengthen their own development capabilities. This is especially important for countries seeking to avoid dependency and build long-term resilience.

In a world where climate action requires inclusiveness, such cooperation should be viewed as part of the solution. It supports a more balanced global energy transition and gives developing countries greater agency in shaping their green future.

GT: Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization emphasizes that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,” advocating a dialectical unity between high-quality development and high-level environmental protection. In your opinion, how does this concept differ from the models advocated by developed countries? Is it more aligned with the current stage of development and the practical needs of Global South countries?

Awan: This concept captures a core innovation of China’s development philosophy: Ecological protection is not a burden on growth, but a foundation for quality growth. Unlike traditional models where developed economies industrialized first and addressed environmental costs later, China is integrating green development into modernization itself, offering a path that avoids the old “pollute first, clean up later” approach.

It reflects a dialectical understanding that economic progress and environmental protection can reinforce each other. Green industries, clean energy, ecological restoration and innovation are treated as engines of development, not constraints upon it. For Global South countries, this approach has strong practical appeal. It recognizes their realities and seeks balance rather than unrealistic trade-offs, transforming ecological protection from a cost into a source of growth, innovation and social wellbeing.

It also distinguishes itself by its holistic approach, connecting climate action with poverty reduction, energy security, technological innovation and global governance. This integrated vision resonates strongly with Global South countries, where environmental issues are often inseparable from development challenges.

This is why many Global South countries find the Chinese approach relatable. It aligns with their development stage and practical needs, presenting an alternative development paradigm: greener, more balanced and better suited to the developing world. At a moment when the world needs confidence and direction, its value of providing guidance for global ecological civilization is increasingly evident.

GT: In what ways could cooperation between China and other Global South countries in ecological protection and green development contribute to building a fair and reasonable global environmental governance system?

Awan: Cooperation between China and Global South countries is already making global environmental governance fairer, more balanced and more effective.

First, it brings greater equity to climate governance. Many developing countries have long sought a stronger voice in shaping environmental rules. China’s cooperation supports more inclusive participation and strengthens the representation of the Global South. Second, it promotes the principle of shared but differentiated responsibilities in practical ways – recognizing that climate action must consider historical responsibility, development needs and fairness. Third, through green technology cooperation, capacity building and sustainable investment, China and its partners are moving environmental governance from debate to implementation.

More importantly, it helps reform global governance structures to be more development-oriented and less dominated by unilateral agendas, which is key for creating a system that is environmentally effective and politically just. The South-South cooperation led by China contributes to a more democratic, reasonable and human-centered global environmental governance system – benefiting not only developing countries but the future of global sustainability itself.

The article first appeared in the Global Times.

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SOURCE Global Times

HANGZHOU, China, May 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Manycore Tech today announced the open-source release of Aholo Viewer, a 3D Gaussian viewer that allows users to seamlessly explore massive 3D environments directly from a web browser. Fully compatible with smartphones, PCs, and VR devices, the viewer requires no client installation and can smoothly render city-scale 3D scenes with over 1 billion Gaussian splats — an area roughly equivalent to the entirety of Hangzhou’s West Lake.

Building the Infrastructure for Mass Adoption of the 3D Internet

“For more than 30 years, the internet has been largely confined to 2D formats such as text, images, and video,” said Huang Xiaohuang, co-founder and chairman of Manycore Tech. “A room is reduced to a handful of photos, a product becomes a flat image. Rich physical-world information has continuously been compressed into lower-dimensional representations. By open-sourcing core 3D infrastructure like Aholo Viewer, we aim to accelerate the arrival of the 3D internet era.”

Aholo Viewer employs a streamable Level-of-Detail (LoD) architecture, enabling 3D content to be transmitted across devices as smoothly as video streaming. Users can instantly access and interact with billion-splat 3D scenes directly from a browser, regardless of hardware platform.

Industry observers note that the number of Gaussian splats a browser can handle, along with rendering speed, is a key indicator of its practicality. Fei-Fei Li’s open-source Spark 2.0 engine can stream over 100 million Gaussian splats on consumer-grade devices. Aholo Viewer, by contrast, supports up to 1 billion splats — a tenfold increase — while delivering meaningful improvements in rendering speed, fluidity, and memory efficiency.

High-performance 3D browsers are expected to become the primary gateway for mainstream users to consume 3D content. In practical terms, exploring immersive 3D environments may eventually feel as effortless as scrolling through short-form videos today — a single link, and users can “step into” any real or virtual world.

From “Viewable” to “Usable”: Expanding the Role of Spatial Intelligence

For Manycore Tech, enabling 3D content to be viewed is only the first step. Equally important is making it usable. Alongside the open-source release of Aholo Viewer, the company is also opening APIs for its Aholo Spatial Intelligence Platform — including spatial reconstruction, cloud rendering, and AI-powered 3D model generation — to tackle the bottlenecks in producing, circulating, and deploying 3D content.

With these capabilities, 3D scenes can evolve from passive viewing experiences into editable, programmable digital assets that integrate directly into business workflows. Tourism operators could rapidly reconstruct entire scenic destinations, filmmakers could generate virtual production environments, and game developers could design interactive experiences inside faithfully reconstructed real-world spaces.

By combining open-source visualization infrastructure with open APIs for spatial computing, Manycore Tech is systematically building the foundational infrastructure for the emerging 3D internet ecosystem — staying true to its role as a core infrastructure provider for the spatial intelligence industry.

The Long-Term Value of the 3D Internet: Fueling AI’s Understanding of the Physical World

The significance of the 3D internet extends far beyond the evolution of online content from 2D to 3D. Its deeper importance lies in addressing one of artificial intelligence’s most fundamental limitations: the inability to form a complete spatial understanding of the physical world.

Historically, the internet has been dominated by 1D and 2D data, forcing AI systems to learn primarily from flat representations. This helps explain why today’s AI models can generate sophisticated written content yet still struggle with spatial reasoning, distorted visual outputs, and basic real-world physical tasks.

As core 3D internet infrastructure such as Manycore Tech’s Aholo Viewer becomes more widely adopted, long-standing barriers to the distribution and accessibility of 3D content could be substantially reduced. If creating and consuming 3D content becomes as effortless as sharing short videos today, vast amounts of real-world spatial data may emerge at scale — providing critical training data for embodied AI systems, including robotics and other intelligent agents designed to operate in physical environments.

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SOURCE Manycore Tech Inc.