Ep 164: South East Asia’s Top 10 New Airport, High-Speed Rail & Transport Projects, with James Clark, Future South East Asia

Listen to this episode

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Google

Podbean

View All Episodes

About This Episode

15 Feb 2023 • 32.00s

“A groundbreaking moment in the history of rail travel in South East Asia.” Wherever you travel in South East Asia, it’s hard to miss the transport infrastructure being built out on a vast scale – often with financing and technology from China. This will be a feature through the 2020s and beyond - albeit with countries like Japan, South Korea and maybe India joining in.

This week, Gary is joined by James Clark, Producer of the Future Southeast Asia newsletter, to discuss the region’s Top 10 airport, high-speed rail and other travel and transport infrastructure projects. These range from new airport terminals in Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia to South East Asia’s first high-speed railway due to open later this year, and another scheduled for 2026.

Plus we discuss a metro system in Vietnam, a railway upgrade connecting Bangkok and Thailand’s southern beaches - and the potential issues for passengers ahead of the cross-border opening of the China-Laos railway.

« Next Episode Ep 165: The China v India Inbound Battle Heats Up in South East Asia Previous Episode » Ep 163: Sustainable Travel Tracking in Vietnam & AI in Tourism, with Stuart McDonald, Travelfish

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.

Ep 164: South East Asia’s Top 10 New Airport, High-Speed Rail & Transport Projects, with James Clark, Future South East Asia

About This Episode

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

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

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

Hannah Pearson

Gary Bowerman