Ep 193: Reflections on a Hectic Year of Travel in South East Asia and Beyond, with Vincent Vichit-Vadakan

About This Episode

30 Nov 2023 • 35m42s

Just back from Jakarta and Hanoi, respectively, Gary and Hannah can confirm that South East Asian airports are getting busier as the end-of-year travel season nears.

So, it’s the perfect time to revisit some key tourism themes in 2023 with Bangkok-based travel journalist Vincent Vichit-Vadakan. Vincent was last on the show in April 2022, when the regional outlook was very different.

This year, he has travelled on assignment to over 25 destinations including Singapore and Vietnam on various occasions, plus China, Nepal and Maldives. We discuss the current tourism landscape in Thailand, and the explosive international growth of a Bangkok-based hotel brand. We tackle infrastructure challenges for tourism in Vietnam, talk sustainable hotel development in Singapore, discover outdoor experiences along the Tea Horse Trail in China’s Yunnan Province and explore Kyoto as tourism returns to Japan.

Plus, which airports in South East Asia are operating more effectively than others? And why is Soft Power set to be a tourism battleground in 2024?

View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play
5 Dec 2025 • 39m50s

Ep 276: Visa-easing Tricks, Tariff Turmoil, Vietnam's Breakout Year & What Happened to the ASEAN Tourism Visa?: 2025 in Review

So, another year is almost over - but what did we learn in 2025, South East Asia’s third full year of travel since the Covid pandemic? This week, Gary and Hannah delve through the archives to take stock of an eventful 12 months for travel and tourism in South East Asia and the broader Asia Pacific region. We journey from the regional turmoil of Trump’s tariffs to the tourism impacts of scam centres, and from Singapore setting the standard on SAF to Timor Leste becoming ASEAN’s 11th member.
Play
28 Nov 2025 • 32m08s

Ep 275: Indonesia's Biometric Airport Corridor, Hotel Taxes in Malaysia & What Happens Next Between China & Japan?: November 2025 in Review

With one month remaining of 2025, airports are getting busy across South East Asia as the year-end travel season swings into gear. And November was another month filled with intriguing talking points to break down. We begin by discussing the long-term societal, political and travel impacts of heavy flooding in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. We take to the skies to address whether AirAsia might enter Vietnam via a stake share in Vietravel Airlines, and ponder the science fiction elements of new Biometric Corridors to verify traveller identities in Indonesia.