Ep 60: ASEAN Tourism: Where Do We Stand Now, and How Might Countries Reopen?

In 2025, The South East Asia Travel Show was downloaded in more countries than ever before. Listeners logged in across the globe, from Albania to Liberia and Micronesia to Venezuela. But which were our Top 20 listener markets in 2025? During the year, we produced 43 editions of the show, but which were the 5 most-downloaded shows? And which country is the subject of 2 of our Top 5 shows, and what does that tell us about the direction of travel through 2025 and into 2026?

Welcome to the debut edition of our new Start The Week show - a succinct 15-minute summary of the hottest 5 travel topics in South East Asia and beyond. Our first mini show takes Gary and Hannah from Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to China and Saudi Arabia. En route, we discuss a potential Disney theme park in eastern Thailand, Chinese cruise tourism, e-gate tech challenges between Singapore and Malaysia, cross-border EV charging packages, and the logistics of developing a Hajj village for almost a quarter of a million Indonesian pilgrims.