Ep 317: Vietnam's Golden Tourism Year Continues, Thailand Revises its Visa Rules for Travellers & AirAsia Tests New Routes into Europe

About This Episode

11 Sep 2026 β€’ 32m04s

So, we’re just three weeks away from that all important fourth quarter of the year - and it’s a hectic time across the travel landscape, with plenty of talking points to deconstruct. This week, Gary and Hannah discuss the air travel impacts of a major volcanic eruption (with a familiar name) in Indonesia and a State of Emergency in Malaysia caused by wild fire “haze”. Plus, we look at how Russian, Chinese and South Korean tourists are fuelling Vietnam’s dynamic inbound surge, while Cambodia counts the cost of a dismal year for international arrivals. New visa entry rules come into force next week in Thailand, and we have the latest updates. Plus, we check-out AirAsia’s first codeshare agreement with Turkiye’s Pegasus Airlines, which potentially offers South East Asian travellers cheaper air routes to Europe. We finish in Thailand, where a group of airlines is teaming up to enable passengers on domestic routes to check-in 10kgs of fresh fruit. Is fruit shopping tourism really a thing?

View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play
1 Oct 2026 β€’ 30m38s

Ep 321: Tracking the Take-off of AI, Intelligent & Automated Technologies at South East Asian Airports

Digital Twins. Automated Ground Operations. Predictive Sustainability. Humanoid Robots. E-Gates. Urban Air Transport. Inter-modality. South East Asia’s air landscape is changing before our eyes, as air travel volumes increase and passenger expectations are constantly upgrading. These factors broaden the range of operational challenges for major hub airports, fast-growing airports in tier-two and tier-three cities and the new mega-airports opening from Singapore to the Philippines and Australia to Vietnam. Can AI and intelligent technologies improve the management of busier skies and more crowded departures and arrivals lounges without the need to build bigger terminals?
Play
29 Sep 2026 β€’ 30m01s

Ep 320: Vietnam Leads on ASEAN Air Passenger Integration, Severe Weather Events Pummel Asia & Low-Key Chinese Golden Week Outlook

“If you go back three of four years, you’d have expected Singapore to take the lead on such a regionally important project - but now it’s Vietnam.” That seems significant. With three quarters of 2026 completed, pan-Asian air travel networks look rather different from the start of the year. The 9th month of the year, September, featured a raft of intriguing developments across South East Asia, plus China, Australia and Canada.