Ep 76: Travel Reopening: Is it Only About Inbound Tourists?

Inbound vs Outbound vs Domestic. With Phuket and Bali focused on attracting international visitors, how will outbound and domestic travel be incorporated into tourism planning across South East Asia in future?

After 15 months of border closures and a reliance on domestic travel only, Gary and Hannah discuss how Thailand and Indonesia are leading the charge to reboot inbound tourism. Domestic travel, though, appears to have assumed less importance.

Meanwhile neither country is looking yet at attracting travellers from fellow ASEAN countries, as outbound travel remains static due to government restrictions.

What, for instance, will Bali’s plan to welcome back vaccinated and non-vaccinated foreign tourists mean for domestic travellers?

And which other countries might also look to bring back inbound travel to the region? Cambodia perhaps? Vietnam?

And who would be their target markets?

And what are the near-term prospects for intra-ASEAN travel, which accounted for around one-third of annual arrivals into there region in 2019?

Oh yes, and what about travel insurance premiums? And visas? And digital passports?

It’s a packed show!