Ep 86: July in Review: Delta Variant Spreads Across ASEAN & Asia Pacific

About This Episode

30 Jul 2021 β€’ 30m00s

July 2021 saw the Delta variant spread at an accelerated speed through the region. It now dominates every aspect of economics, social and health policy and daily discourse.

On the monthly review show, Gary and Hannah unravel this month’s worrying statistics from across South East Asia, plus China, Japan and South Korea.

We also analyse what the worsening COVID-19 situation combined with variable speeds of vaccine rollout will mean for proposed tourism reopenings in Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

And what about Singapore, where the government has signalled that quarantine-free travel could commence for vaccinated travellers from September… Where will Singaporeans be able to go, and who will be able to visit the city state?

Finally, we look at how the pandemic is dislocating entire parts of the travel industry chain, with deepening impacts for other sectors of the economy, ranging from catering to coffee to meat and livestock.

View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play
1 Oct 2026 β€’ 30m38s

Ep 321: Tracking the Take-off of AI, Intelligent & Automated Technologies at South East Asian Airports

Digital Twins. Automated Ground Operations. Predictive Sustainability. Humanoid Robots. E-Gates. Urban Air Transport. Inter-modality. South East Asia’s air landscape is changing before our eyes, as air travel volumes increase and passenger expectations are constantly upgrading. These factors broaden the range of operational challenges for major hub airports, fast-growing airports in tier-two and tier-three cities and the new mega-airports opening from Singapore to the Philippines and Australia to Vietnam. Can AI and intelligent technologies improve the management of busier skies and more crowded departures and arrivals lounges without the need to build bigger terminals?
Play
29 Sep 2026 β€’ 30m01s

Ep 320: Vietnam Leads on ASEAN Air Passenger Integration, Severe Weather Events Pummel Asia & Low-Key Chinese Golden Week Outlook

“If you go back three of four years, you’d have expected Singapore to take the lead on such a regionally important project - but now it’s Vietnam.” That seems significant. With three quarters of 2026 completed, pan-Asian air travel networks look rather different from the start of the year. The 9th month of the year, September, featured a raft of intriguing developments across South East Asia, plus China, Australia and Canada.