The Travel Industry Podcast for ASEAN and Asia Pacific...

Casino Tourism. Concert & Event Tourism. Medical Tourism. The Night Economy. Live-streaming. Public-Private Tourism Partnerships. Many of the hot topics related to Macau’s diversification of its tourism economy and inbound market mix bear similarities to countries in South East Asia. There are two key differences, however. Macau is the world city most reliant on tourism income as a proportion of GDP due to casino tourism, and it famously outstripped Las Vegas for gaming revenue in 2006.

What connects CNN, Coldplay, Bollywood, The White Lotus, Bluey, Minecraft and K-dramas? All are linked to the burgeoning trend of representing tourism destinations in TV series, movies, videos, documentaries and computer games. This week, Gary and Hannah assess the top 8 TV and Movie Tourism talking points in ASEAN, Asia Pacific and beyond. The global journey takes us from Jakarta, Koh Samui and Singapore to Seoul, Jeju Island and Okinawa - and beyond to the UK, New Zealand and Australia.

“ASEAN, being the fifth largest economy in the world, is deeply concerned over the recent introduction of unilateral tariffs by the US, including the tariffs announced on 2 April and subsequently the suspension on 9 April… [These] will impact economic security and stability, affect livelihoods of millions of people in the region, and hinder economic progress in ASEAN, particularly less developed economies.” It’s unusual for ASEAN to word its statements so strongly.

What will the new round of US protectionist trade tariffs mean for the economies of ASEAN and Asia Pacific? Over the past seven days, we’e seen stock markets crash, currencies come under pressure and governments entering into panic mode. The long-term shockwaves for the global and regional economies are uncertain, and the fallout for the travel industry is still speculative. In the first of a two-part podcast, Gary navigates through the headline news of the past week, addresses the rationale for the exceptionally high tariff rates slapped on several ASEAN economies, and the reasons that governments are not retaliating.