Ep 170: The Top 10 Travel & Tourism Talking Points in South East Asia in March 2023

Listen to this episode

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Google

Podbean

View All Episodes

About This Episode

22 Mar 2023 • 36m56s

With travel and tourism activity continuing to ramp up across South East Asia, Gary and Hannah tackle the top news stories and talking points in March. The journey takes us to Vietnam, Bali (Indonesia), Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Laos … and Switzerland!

En route, we discuss mobile rail ticketing in Laos, bad tourist behaviour shaming in Bali, free tourism experiences in Singapore and an interesting legal case in Malaysia addressing the constitutional right (or otherwise) to travel overseas.

Plus, we crunch the numbers of Vietnam’s latest visitor arrival forecasts and talk transport infrastructure investment in the Philippines.

And, we look back at last weekend’s MATTA Fair, Malaysia’s largest consumer travel show, and discuss South East Asian representation at ITB Berlin.

Resources

Ep 167: The Travel Fun is Back in the Philippines, with Feliz Axalan, Tradewings

OAG Southeast Aviation analysis

« Next Episode Ep 171: 10 Key Tourism Takeaways 12 Months Since South East Asia Reopened Previous Episode » Ep 168: Mini Update - China Restores Inbound Tourism & Expands Outbound Travel

View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play

13 Jun 2025 • 33m14s

Ep 257: Chinese Backpackers, Mountains Clad with Solar Panels, a Giant Lenin Statue & Delightful Almaty: An Epic Overland Journey from Bali to Britain, with Stuart McDonald

“I wish I had 640 days to do this trip, not 64.” Bali-based Stuart McDonald, founder of Travelfish, is 34 days into an ambitious two-month overland trip across 18 countries from his Bali home to Leeds in the UK. So, why is he doing it? What has he experienced en route? And what have been the finest discoveries of the journey so far? This week, Gary catches up with Stuart in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, to track back across his train and-bus route so far, which has taken him from Bali to Jakarta, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

Play

6 Jun 2025 • 40m55s

Ep 256: A 'Resort Airline', An OTA Law Suit, Time for Timor Leste & Blackpink Back in the Area: May 2025 in Review

May was another hectic month of BIG travel, tourism and geopolitical talking points in South East Asia. This month’s roundup takes Gary and Hannah around ASEAN, from our home city of Kuala Lumpur to Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor Leste and Vietnam – plus China, India (sort of), Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan. En route, we discuss China’s new ASEAN visa, Indonesia clings to its high-speed rail ambitions, and ASEAN accumulates an 11th member, and perhaps as a 12th in future.