Ep 151: Good News for South East Asia as Japan, Taiwan & Hong Kong Reboot Travel
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Google
PodbeanAbout This Episode
29 Sep 2022 • 31m02sA big buzz in South East Asia as Japan prepares to reopen, and Hong Kong and Taiwan ease entry restrictions.
Hannah is back from Japan, where she observed the response to its decision to unlock the airport gates from 11 October while attending Tourism Expo Japan in Tokyo.
This week, Gary and Hannah discuss the potential inbound and outbound boost for South East Asia as North East Asia gradually returns to the travel fold. We’ve also got the latest travel news from South Korea, China and Macau.
We finish the show amid the tranquil Himalayan beauty of Bhutan, and discuss the broader implications of its new USD200 per night Sustainable Development Fee.
Will destinations in South East Asia introduce similar tourism pricing policies in future?
Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed
Play
10 Oct 2025 • 34m24s
Ep 271: Chinese Holidaymakers Jet Off, Multiple Muslim Tourism Initiatives & Fiscal Relief for Travel Workers: September + Golden Week in Review
After three weeks in Japan, Singapore and Italy, Gary and Hannah are back in KL to recap the top travel talking points from September and early October. China’s Mid-Autumn Golden Week has just wrapped up, so we assess the current state of play in a diversifying Chinese outbound market.
Elsewhere, we discuss a raft of new Muslim-friendly tourism initiatives being introduced across South East Asia, note a shift towards waterborne transport innovation and crunch the numbers of a tax relief scheme for travel industry workers in Indonesia.
Play
25 Sep 2025 • 32m29s
Ep 270: From Japan to South East Asia to South America: Confronting the Cumulative Challenges of Tourism, with Joao Romao
Economic and social processes shape tourism development, but - in turn - tourism reshapes economic spaces, and that is creating new challenges in South East Asia and beyond. This week, Gary welcomes Joao Romao, Associate Professor at Yasuda Women’s University in Japan, to discuss his new book, Economic Geography of Tourism. An economist, tourism strategy advisor and former travel documentary maker, Joao assesses contemporary tourism through a lens of shifting global economic, technological, societal, environmental and political challenges.
