Ep 72: 6 Reasons Why Travel Remains on Hold in South East Asia

When is travel going to restart? And is South East Asia actually going backwards?

While Bali and Phuket seem steadfast in their desire to reopen their borders to vaccinated visitors in July, much of the region continues to struggle to contain resurgent waves of COVID-19.

Travel at the moment, in some countries, appears a lower priority than it did two or three months ago. Against this backdrop, governments know that competition to attract travellers will intensify in the near future and no country wants to get left behind.

So, this week, Gary and Hannah discuss 6 key reasons for the slow national and regional progress in rebooting travel and tourism. En route, we ask and answer the following questions:

Will Singapore’s recent tribulations have knock-on effects in the region?

Is this the end of the line for Travel Bubbles?

What is being done to speed up vaccine programmes?

Is travel for the foreseeable future only likely in decentralised destinations, like islands?

And which countries might reach a 70% vaccination threshold in 2021?