Ep 245: Russian Tourists, Chinese Planes & Singapore's Forensic Concert Tourism Planning: March 2025 in Review

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27 Mar 2025 • 33m24s

“Should South East Asian nations be worried by moves in South Korea and Türkiye to attract more Chinese and Russian tourists?” March proved to be the most fascinating month so far in 2025 for travel and tourism talking points in South East Asia. For our regular monthly rewind, Gary and Hannah travel through Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos and The Philippines, plus China, South Korea and, rare for us, Turkiye.

En route, we discuss the possibility of Chinese COMAC planes flying in Vietnam and Laos, Thailand cutting its visa-free stay from 60 to 30 days and new flight connections to Cambodia ahead of the nation’s new airport opening in July. Plus, we look at the forensic tourism planning behind Singapore securing Lady Gaga’s Asia-exclusive concerts in May, and assess the impact of Indonesia’s currency slump on domestic, inbound and outbound travel.

And we pack in casino tourism, cruise travel and a touted new airline in ASEAN’s largest air market.

« Next Episode Ep 246: Indonesia's Inbound, Outbound & Domestic Travel Outlook, with Pauline Suharno, ASTINDO Previous Episode » Ep 244: Taking South East Asia's 'Less Bad Travel' Pulse, with Stuart McDonald, Travelfish

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30 Oct 2025 • 26m28s

Ep 272: Scam Centre Tourism Impacts, SAF Mandates, Q4 Travel Promotions & Timor Leste Joins ASEAN: October 2025 in Review

After a quiet September, October travel activity was stimulated by various national holidays (including Golden Week in China, Chuseok in South Korea, Diwali/Deepavali in India, Malaysia & Singapore and Undas in the Philippines). These created air travel spikes that set the scene for the region’s highly anticipated end-of-year peak season, with destinations making promotional plays to attract each other’s holidaymakers. We begin by looking at the accession of Timor Leste to ASEAN and the prospects of a peace settlement between Thailand and Cambodia.

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10 Oct 2025 • 34m24s

Ep 271: Chinese Holidaymakers Jet Off, Multiple Muslim Tourism Initiatives & Fiscal Relief for Travel Workers: September + Golden Week in Review

After three weeks in Japan, Singapore and Italy, Gary and Hannah are back in KL to recap the top travel talking points from September and early October. China’s Mid-Autumn Golden Week has just wrapped up, so we assess the current state of play in a diversifying Chinese outbound market. Elsewhere, we discuss a raft of new Muslim-friendly tourism initiatives being introduced across South East Asia, note a shift towards waterborne transport innovation and crunch the numbers of a tax relief scheme for travel industry workers in Indonesia.

Ep 245: Russian Tourists, Chinese Planes & Singapore's Forensic Concert Tourism Planning: March 2025 in Review

About This Episode

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Ep 272: Scam Centre Tourism Impacts, SAF Mandates, Q4 Travel Promotions & Timor Leste Joins ASEAN: October 2025 in Review

Ep 271: Chinese Holidaymakers Jet Off, Multiple Muslim Tourism Initiatives & Fiscal Relief for Travel Workers: September + Golden Week in Review

Hannah Pearson

Gary Bowerman