The Friday Rewind: A Bad Week For Thailand, But AirAsia Gets Bullish
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
PodbeanAbout This Episode
17 Jul 2020 • 16m05sThis is the debut edition of The Friday Rewind!
Gary and Hannah deliver an express, 15-minute recap of 5 key talking points in South East Asian travel and tourism from the past 7 days.
Today’s topics under discussion are:
-
It’s not been a great week for Thailand
-
Not a good week either for Vietnam Airlines
-
AirAsia’s Tony Fernandes comes out fighting;
-
Job losses at 2 big travel brands - Skyscanner and Resorts World Sentosa
… and, finally, some uplifting news…
- Two new UNESCO Geoparks are announced in Vietnam and Indonesia and Kampot in Cambodia reports an arrivals boost
Resources
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-07/15/c_139214849.htm?
https://en.unesco.org/news/geopark-2020
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/743294/slow-growing-roots-of-recovery-in-nations-hospitality-industry/
Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed
Play
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.
Play
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.
