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

Listen to this episode

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Podbean

View All Episodes

About This Episode

10 Oct 2025 • 34m24s

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.

Plus, Thailand’s THB300 Tourism Tax is being resuscitated (again), and the nation’s tourism authority is turning to the diplomatic community as travel influencers. Plus, we delve deeper into AirAsia’s potential purchase of COMAC planes, and take a quick layover in Brunei to reflect on the region’s smallest visitor economy.

« Next Episode Ep 272: Scam Centre Tourism Impacts, SAF Mandates, Q4 Travel Promotions & Timor Leste Joins ASEAN: October 2025 in Review Previous Episode » Ep 270: From Japan to South East Asia to South America: Confronting the Cumulative Challenges of Tourism, with Joao Romao

View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play

4 May 2026 • 18m00s

Ep 302: Thailand's Newest Tourism Tax, 2 ASEAN Airlines in Global Flight Cuts Top 10 & Baby Shark in Singapore: Start the Week with The South East Asia Travel Show

Why is Thailand considering a second tourism tax? Could the Philippines rescind its decision to scrap an outbound air travel fee? Which ASEAN airlines are cutting the most flights from May-July? And is India’s outbound growth story hitting an energy-crunch roadblock? Those are four of the key questions Gary and Hannah ask and answer on our Start the Week show. To kickstart the May holiday week, we head to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Myanmar via India and South Korea to tackle the 6 top regional talking points.

Play

27 Apr 2026 • 15m31s

Ep 300: Thailand & Cambodia Pursue Peace, Myanmar Nears ASEAN Return & Embodied AI Tourism in Malaysia: Start the Week in The South East Asia - Part 1

Is a rapprochement between Thailand and Cambodia getting closer? Could Myanmar soon return to ASEAN? And how will embodied AI transform the tourism landscape in South East Asia? Those are three of the top questions Gary and Hannah ask and answer in Part 1 of our two-part Start the Week show. To kickstart the lead-up to the May holiday period, we head to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and China to tackle the talking points that matter.

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

About This Episode

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Ep 302: Thailand's Newest Tourism Tax, 2 ASEAN Airlines in Global Flight Cuts Top 10 & Baby Shark in Singapore: Start the Week with The South East Asia Travel Show

Ep 300: Thailand & Cambodia Pursue Peace, Myanmar Nears ASEAN Return & Embodied AI Tourism in Malaysia: Start the Week in The South East Asia - Part 1

Hannah Pearson

Gary Bowerman