Ep 35: Is it Vaccine or Bust for Tourism Reopening in South East Asia?

About This Episode

10 Sep 2020 • 36m00s

“This virus is just beating us all, isn’t it?” Gary and Hannah fend off feelings of despair on this week’s pod, and tackle different approaches for rebooting travel.

From Iceland to Bali, Phuket to Maldives, China to New Zealand, we assess what measures have been tried, which are being ruled out, and those that still hold out faint hopes for the near future.

En route, we seek to trademark the phrase “Vaccine Bubble,” and canvas ideas from travel industry figures in Asia and worldwide on taking those all-important next steps to revive tourism.

But with Asian leaders proceeding with extreme caution, and no-one wanting to be the first to fail, are some countries simply waiting it out in anticipation of a vaccine being available in early 2021?

View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play
22 Aug 2025 • 26m46s

Ep 266: More Indonesian Airports, Thai Crypto Tourists & Vietnam's Proposed Superapp: This Week in Review

Indonesia plans to expand its total of international airports by Presidential decree. Thailand fires the regional starting gun for crypto payments in tourism (when will other countries join the race?). Vietnam launches its own ‘Superapp’ to be rolled out over the next two years. It’s been a week of mega-announcements in South East Asia as concerns grow about slowing travel and tourism momentum and looming geo-economic disruptions. Join Gary and Hannah as they travel through ASEAN to discuss the top travel talking points of the past seven days.
Play
14 Aug 2025 • 33m26s

Ep 265: Rethinking Indonesia's Under-achieving Inbound Tourism Sector, with Nur Wulan T

“Indonesia has the potential to lead in eco-tourism, in cultural heritage and in Muslim-friendly tourism… but it tries to promote everything all at once, which dilutes the message.” Beautiful, vast and complex, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago nation, and home to the planet’s fourth-largest population. But tourism is heavily concentrated in Bali, which recorded 45% of inbound arrivals to Indonesia in 2024. Meanwhile, Indonesia lags behind Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam for visitor arrivals, attracting 13.