Ep 212: 'Everyone Wants to Go to Japan': The Best Bits From The South East Asia Travel Show in April 2024

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1 May 2024 • 16m14s

From “Everyone wants to go to Japan” to “Thailand’s on the verge of over-tourism” to “Three towers with a surf board on top”. Welcome to our new monthly mini-roundup of the key moments from recent podcast discussions and interviews.

During April, Philip See, Group Chief Sustainability Officer & CEO of Loyalty and Travel Solutions of the Malaysia Aviation Group, discusses the sustainable aviation challenges and opportunities in South East Asia. Plus, we head to Japan to break down the astonishing surge of inbound travel from South East Asia to one of Asia Pacific’s hottest destinations.

We tackle the re-emergence (or otherwise) of Thailand’s THB300 tourism tax, and Hannah consults Google Maps to locate the under-development fourth tower of Singapore’s iconic Marina Bay Sands resort. All this and much more in our April rewind.

« Next Episode Ep 213: Visa Waivers, Extreme Weather, AI Tools & ‘All-Gender Weddings’: Revisiting the 2024 Travel Wishlist Previous Episode » Ep 211: The Return of Over-tourism, Chinese Tourists & Thailand’s Tourism Tax: April 2024 in Review

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Ep 266: More Indonesian Airports, Thai Crypto Tourists & Vietnam's Proposed Superapp: This Week in Review

Indonesia plans to expand its total of international airports by Presidential decree. Thailand fires the regional starting gun for crypto payments in tourism (when will other countries join the race?). Vietnam launches its own ‘Superapp’ to be rolled out over the next two years. It’s been a week of mega-announcements in South East Asia as concerns grow about slowing travel and tourism momentum and looming geo-economic disruptions. Join Gary and Hannah as they travel through ASEAN to discuss the top travel talking points of the past seven days.

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14 Aug 2025 • 33m26s

Ep 265: Rethinking Indonesia's Under-achieving Inbound Tourism Sector, with Nur Wulan T

“Indonesia has the potential to lead in eco-tourism, in cultural heritage and in Muslim-friendly tourism… but it tries to promote everything all at once, which dilutes the message.” Beautiful, vast and complex, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago nation, and home to the planet’s fourth-largest population. But tourism is heavily concentrated in Bali, which recorded 45% of inbound arrivals to Indonesia in 2024. Meanwhile, Indonesia lags behind Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam for visitor arrivals, attracting 13.

Ep 212: 'Everyone Wants to Go to Japan': The Best Bits From The South East Asia Travel Show in April 2024

About This Episode

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Ep 266: More Indonesian Airports, Thai Crypto Tourists & Vietnam's Proposed Superapp: This Week in Review

Ep 265: Rethinking Indonesia's Under-achieving Inbound Tourism Sector, with Nur Wulan T

Hannah Pearson

Gary Bowerman