Ep 112: The SEA Travel News Show: South East Asia Retreats From Travel (Again!)

This was the week that Omicron caused the return of flight bans, quarantines and an overall retreat from travel across South East Asia. It now appears that Singapore has recorded the region’s first cases.

On today’s show, we’ve got the latest updates from the Philippines and Indonesia, as they turn away from travel reopenings. More optimistically, the first US-Vietnam direct commercial flights by a Vietnamese carrier landed this week.

The pandemic has disrupted every aspect of travel and tourism over nearly two years, including the work of NGOs. Gary chats with Ho Chi Minh City-based Sophie Hartman, Regional Coordinator for the Association of Southeast Asian Social Enterprises for Training in Hospitality & Catering. Asset H&C brings together vocational training centres in four ASEAN countries to help vulnerable young people learn new skills in sustainable hospitality and tourism - and has just published a responsible travel guide in local languages for its training schools.

To finish, we’ve got clips from this week’s The South East Asia Travel Show, in which Gary and Hannah tackle the emerging issues as countries across South East Asia and worldwide erect new travel barriers.

The following podcast was mentioned in the show:

• **Omicron Strikes Fear into South East Asia **

Click to find out more about the work of Asset H&C, and read details about its new Eco Travel Guide for hospitality training schools. Sophie and her team also publish regular updates on the Facebook page.