If you listen to one travel podcast this week, this is it.
Gary interviews revered Bali-based publisher and inveterate traveller Stuart McDonald, co-founder of Travelfish, who is on electrifying form.
The diverse discussion veers from COVID-19 and health tracking for air passengers to over-development in SEA and a vicarious daily service for couch travellers.
We also touch on small communities in South East Asia being hit by travel lockdowns, and indelible memories of the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. Compelling stuff.
01:11 How travel became part of Stuartâs life
02:46 Experiencing the Boxing Day Tsunamiâs after-effects whilst they were on holiday in Sri Lanka
03:50 Stuartâs original aspirations for Travelfish when it launched, from being simply a collection of favourite places in Thailand
âThen we realised that perhaps it [Travelfish] could be something more than a hobby.â
05:00 The rollercoaster of Travelfish: from the age of paper guidebooks to the online world of Tripadvisor and low cost carriers opening up the region
âWhen we first started, the idea of being in Kuala Lumpur and going to Phnom Penh for the weekend was like, forget it!â
06:22 Why Travelfish covers the more obscure, off-the-beaten-track places that few people were writing about in any depth - and how that had to expand to cover the more well-visited places too
âThe website is a reflection of how I like to travel.â
âLast year I went through KLIA2 37 times last year: which I donât recommend!â
08:49 Stuartâs take on his upfront honesty, freebies and the travel media
âI do speak my mind, and I think that travel media has often been hobbled by the travel PR.â
09:40 The Travelfish readers are much older than Stuartâs originally expected 35-45 years old, with the average age at 65
âThere is a subset of readers who prefer the travel guide style, which is close to what we do […] They donât want bite size content, they want more of an authoritative guidebook-style product.â
11:52 What surprised Stuart in his recent readership survey results
12:17 The decision to suspend updating coverage of Myanmar due to its human rights violations and the controversy that caused amongst his readership
13:54 Couchfish: their new product for the lockdown
âIt was borne out of my frustration, really.â
âI figured there had to be a bunch of people who were stuck at home on the couch, and wanted to travel but couldnât.â
âI wasnât sure if there would be a lot of pushback about trying to make money out of a crisis, but I put it out and my emails just exploded.â
18:00 How Couchfish (and Travelfish) gives a place for locally-run businesses to shine and for travellers to give back
âOur focus has always been on family-run, locally-run, sustainably-run businesses that donât get featured in the travel media.â
âThe mom and pop businesses are getting totally hammered.â
19:44 Stuartâs pessimistic view about where travel was headed before COVID-19 hit
âBefore the virus was here, I was fairly pessimistic about where travel was going. I was finding that more and more. I hate to be that guy […] but more and more I was going to destinations and thinking âGood god, I never want to come back here againâ.â
âWay too many people going into too restrictive a number of destinations.â
21:33 The future of small businesses post-pandemic: forget about the damage to the Marriotts of the world, itâs the local people who are hurting.
âWhen people talk about âOh yeah, itâll be back to business as usual,â itâs like, âNo way!â.”
âOnce places close, like in Bali […] if you lose your job, youâre not going to stay there, youâre going to go home. When that place reopens, if it ever does, theyâre going to have to rehire staff, people are going to have to move back⌠that kind of restarting infrastructure just doesnât happen overnight.â
âI think weâre looking at at least 2 to 2.5 years from today before any kind of substantial recreational tourism restarts.â
25:45 Travelling (or not) responsibly during a pandemic
âYou have to assume that you already have it. So how do you behave to make sure you donât spread it? Thatâs the mindset that needs to inform all travel.â
âIf youâre willing to travel without knowing whether youâre going to be making people ill or not, then thatâs the epitome of irresponsible travel.â
27:32 How people will respond when they get let out of lockdown
âPeople are still figuring it out. Itâs a very steep learning curveâ
28:13 Stuartâs plans for travel - a trip for the big 5-0 in July?