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

About This Episode

30 Jul 2021 • 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
21 Aug 2026 • 35m46s

Ep 316: Thailand's Tourism Tax is Back, Vietnam Targets 50 Million Visitors & Russia Entices South East Asian Tourists

“Tourists are now viewed as a source of taxation revenue. It’s increasingly hard to raise taxes on your own citizens, but if you have 30+ million tourists each year, that’s a lot of potential tax you can raise.” This week, Gary and Hannah discuss the multiple challenges Thailand faces in increasing its proposed tourism tax, from THB300 to THB450 - and collecting it. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s stellar tourism run continues with a raft of upcoming initiatives and an eye-watering new inbound tourism target.
Play
14 Aug 2026 • 27m26s

Ep 315: Australia Zones-in on ASEAN Tourists, Vietnam Loads Up WeChat & Brunei Wants to Join the "1 Million Tourists Club"

“With two-thirds of 2026 almost complete, tourism strategies, plans and developments are loaded with extra meaning. 2027 is looming up ahead… This week, Gary and Hannah journey across South East Asia and to Australia to ask and answer this week’s top tourism questions. We begin Down Under where Australia’s new 10-year tourism roadmap is simply world class. We discuss why. Next to Brunei, which is rolling out various tourism initiatives as it targets 1 million arrivals in 2027.