Ep 201: Future South East Asia: The Top 8 New Airport, High-Speed Rail & Urban Development Projects, with James Clark

About This Episode

4 Mar 2024 • 33m20s

Wherever you travel in South East Asia, it’s impossible to miss that transport infrastructure is being built out on a vast scale. After the lull of the pandemic era, this will accelerate over the next decade and beyond. Airport capacities are being expanded, high-speed and urban railways constructed and even new cities built from scratch.

So how will this influence the future direction of travel and tourism in the region? This week, Gary is joined by James Clark, Founder of the Future South East Asia newsletter, to assess the current status of 8 potentially game-changing travel and transport projects throughout ASEAN. From new airport terminals in Bangkok and Phnom Penh to high-speed railways in Vietnam and Thailand, we also look at the new light railway connecting southern Malaysia and Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City’s debut metro line.

Plus, we stop off in Indonesia to assess the progress of its new capital city, Nusantara, and the long-touted Bali Railway - which aims to reduce traffic congestion in the south of the island and speed up journeys to/from the airport.

View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play
25 Jun 2026 • 22m48s

Ep 309: Vietnam's Great Airport Race, Cambodia Hedges its China Bets & Robotic Wellness Zen in Singapore

“Robotic lockers and ozone-based water filtration systems.” Gary and Hannah examine recent travel and tourism developments across ASEAN, featuring stops in Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia. Key topics include Brunei’s largest year-long tourism promotion planned for 2027 (previewed at Travel Meet Asia in Jakarta), mixed signals from airlines AirAsia and AirBornie regarding fares, Vietnam’s military involvement in ensuring Long Thanh International Airport opens before year’s end, Cambodia’s four-month visa-free policy for Chinese tourists, and Singapore’s new wellness megaproject that has begun construction.
Play
18 Jun 2026 • 37m08s

Ep 308: Live at the 2026 Travel + Leisure Luxury Summit Asia in Bangkok

This week’s special edition of the show was recorded live in front of a packed ballroom audience at the 2026 Travel + Leisure Luxury Summit Asia, at the Dusit Thani hotel in Bangkok. Gary and Hannah took to the stage for a three-part podcast. In part 1, we provide a short round-up of the travel and tourism year so far in South East Asia and beyond - and the outlook for the rest of 2026.