Ep 163: Sustainable Travel Tracking in Vietnam & AI in Tourism, with Stuart McDonald, Travelfish

About This Episode

9 Feb 2023 • 32m29s

“It just doesn’t feel like a living Vietnamese town.” Environmental impact, carbon emissions and artificial intelligence (AI) are three of the hottest topics in tourism. Today Gary & Hannah welcome back Bali-based Stuart McDonald, Founder of Travelfish, to take on these vital talking points.

Stuart recently travelled through Vietnam, where he tracked his carbon footprint using the Capture and Pathnet Zero apps. He discusses his findings and observations while travelling from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi by train.

Stuart also discusses the contrasting challenges (and current outcomes) for tourism in Hoi An and Hue. Taking a tangential turn, we chat about AI chatbots in tourism, and the building of AI-generated content into travel products and information services.

Rounding out the discussion, we address a phantom train in Cambodia (which tops the search rankings) and diving in Raja Ampat in Indonesia.

View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play
11 Sep 2026 • 32m04s

Ep 317: Vietnam's Golden Tourism Year Continues, Thailand Revises its Visa Rules for Travellers & AirAsia Tests New Routes into Europe

So, we’re just three weeks away from that all important fourth quarter of the year - and it’s a hectic time across the travel landscape, with plenty of talking points to deconstruct. This week, Gary and Hannah discuss the air travel impacts of a major volcanic eruption (with a familiar name) in Indonesia and a State of Emergency in Malaysia caused by wild fire “haze”. Plus, we look at how Russian, Chinese and South Korean tourists are fuelling Vietnam’s dynamic inbound surge, while Cambodia counts the cost of a dismal year for international arrivals.
Play
21 Aug 2026 • 35m46s

Ep 316: Thailand's Tourism Tax is Back, Vietnam Targets 50 Million Visitors & Russia Entices South East Asian Tourists

“Tourists are now viewed as a source of taxation revenue. It’s increasingly hard to raise taxes on your own citizens, but if you have 30+ million tourists each year, that’s a lot of potential tax you can raise.” This week, Gary and Hannah discuss the multiple challenges Thailand faces in increasing its proposed tourism tax, from THB300 to THB450 - and collecting it. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s stellar tourism run continues with a raft of upcoming initiatives and an eye-watering new inbound tourism target.