Ep 146: The Top 10 South East Asian Travel & Tourism Stories This Week (#2)

About This Episode

18 Aug 2022 • 30m41s

“We are in a real period of flux, globally and regionally right now.” On this week’s show, Gary and Hannah sift through the 10 top travel and tourism stories in South East Asia over the past 7 days as regional and global economic factors take hold.

The journey takes us to Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam & the Philippines, plus New Zealand and India. En route, we discuss tourism entry fees, fly-cruise travel, new flight routes, overland travel and NTO slogans.

Plus, our regular “Quality Tourism” update discusses some disparaging comments about backpackers by New Zealand’s Tourism Minister - and a vociferous pushback from the nation’s travel industry.

View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play
16 Oct 2026 • 26m01s

Ep 323: Singapore's Tourism Spending Slump, Scam Centres in Luxury Hotels & Resorts & Are Australians Starting to Adopt Vietjet?

As we march through Q4, upbeat news is in short supply across the region’s travel industry. This week’s round-up of South East Asia’s top talking points takes Gary and Hannah to Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Australia, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia. With markets abuzz about earnings season, Singapore reports downbeat spending and arrivals numbers, and the best-case scenario for the Philippines in 2026 is flat versus 2025. Meanwhile, regional governments issue travel safety warnings for Saudi Arabia and airlines cancel flights after the deadly attack on Riyadh airport.
Play
9 Oct 2026 • 23m31s

Ep 322: Phu Quoc Fuels Vietnam's Tourism Rocket Ship, Thailand Moves Closer to Taxing Tourists & Russia's Rising Influence on South East Asian Tourism Planning

“Vietnam is riding a tourism rocket ship, and is on a totally different trajectory to the rest of South East Asia.” As we accelerate through October, this was another week packed with hot travel and tourism topics to discuss. To kickstart the weekend, Gary and Hannah journey across ASEAN and beyond with stopovers in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Laos, Russia and India. We assess Phu Quoc’s dramatic tourism surge to already surpass its 2026 visitor target.