Ep 315: Australia Zones-in on ASEAN Tourists, Vietnam Loads Up WeChat & Brunei Wants to Join the "1 Million Tourists Club"

“With two-thirds of 2026 almost complete, tourism strategies, plans and developments are loaded with extra meaning. 2027 is looming up ahead… This week, Gary and Hannah journey across South East Asia and to Australia to ask and answer this week’s top tourism questions. We begin Down Under where Australia’s new 10-year tourism roadmap is simply world class. We discuss why. Next to Brunei, which is rolling out various tourism initiatives as it targets 1 million arrivals in 2027. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s national payment system is now connected to China’s WeChat Pay, enabling Chinese visitors to Vietnam and Vietnamese tourists in China to swipe and pay seamlessly. Plus, The Haze is back, blanketing parts of Malaysia and Singapore in a gloomy fug. It could get much worse yet… Meanwhile, Indonesia’s high-speed rail route continues to bleed mega-money, Malaysians are spending more on domestic tourism - and China issues a solemn warning that destinations across the region should take seriously.”