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
28 Feb 2025 • 30m50s

Ep 241: Indonesia's Tourism Budget Bust, Malaysia's New State Airline & the Philippines Goes Michelin: February 2025 in Review

Where did February go? Already, we are two months into 2025, and what a fascinating month it proved to be. Some compelling regional stories emerged. So, as we do every month, Gary and Hannah discuss the Top 8 tourism talking points from a hectic February. The journey takes us to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines, plus Hong Kong, China, Japan and India. En route we ask and answer the following questions:
Play
20 Feb 2025 • 32m36s

Ep 240: Is Vietnam On Track for a Record Tourism Year in 2025?, with Mike Tatarski, Vietnam Weekly

Vietnam has one of ASEAN’s most complex and compelling visitor economies, and has started 2025 at high-octane pace. It received more than 2 million visitors in January for the first time - and has set a goal of 23 million arrivals in 2025. That would smash the previous record of 18 million in 2019. Aligned with a vibrant domestic travel economy - Vietnam is one of the few countries with a population of over 100 million - the opportunities and challenges will multiply.