Ep 323: Singapore's Tourism Spending Slump, Scam Centres in Luxury Hotels & Resorts & Are Australians Starting to Adopt Vietjet?

As we march through Q4, upbeat news is in short supply across the region’s travel industry. This week’s round-up of South East Asia’s top talking points takes Gary and Hannah to Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Australia, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia. With markets abuzz about earnings season, Singapore reports downbeat spending and arrivals numbers, and the best-case scenario for the Philippines in 2026 is flat versus 2025. Meanwhile, regional governments issue travel safety warnings for Saudi Arabia and airlines cancel flights after the deadly attack on Riyadh airport. Plus, we discuss the new IMF/World Bank ‘Bangkok Blueprint’ to tackle cyber-fraud just as 5-star hotels and resorts in Vietnam and Cambodia are linked to financial scams. Why hasn’t the travel industry stepped up to the plate? Extending the gloom, Bali confronts fuel shortages, and the plantation burning-smoke haze that has smothered Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore since August is now impacting the Philippines, Timor Leste, parts of Australia and southern Thailand. On the upside, Russia grants visa-free access to Vietnamese travellers, Indonesia presents the ‘Camino de Flores’ spiritual route and the Australian media gets excited about a Vietjet route to Prague. We’re both heading to Singapore next week to speak and moderate at ITB Asia, but we’ll be back with a full report, and hopefully some more inspiring news, in two weeks’ time…