Ep 18: Not Everything in Travel Relates to COVID-19!

About This Episode

8 May 2020 β€’ 27m36s

This week, Gary and Hannah discuss 8 travel and tourism developments in 2020 that flew under the COVID-19 radar.

South East Asia entered the pandemic as the world’s most dynamic tourism region. Although the entire infrastructure of travel has been shutdown by the pandemic, many intriguing developments still occurred.

Topics discussed range from proposed high-speed rail networks to UNESCO World Heritage applications, and unearthed ancient treasures to new airports and, perhaps an 11th member of ASEAN.

Sign up to receive the weekly mini briefing and monthly cheat sheets here.

View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play
16 Oct 2026 β€’ 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 β€’ 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.