The Friday Rewind 7: High-Speed Trains, More Bubbles & 'Jurassic Park' Dragons

About This Episode

30 Oct 2020 • 20m00s

In episode 7 of The Friday Rewind, Gary and Hannah zip through this week’s 5 top talking points in South East Asian travel and tourism - in less than 20 minutes. China features prominently this week, with the topics under discussion being:

  1. Thailand Teams With China for a High-Speed Rail Take Off
  2. Cambodia Wants a China Travel Bubble, or Does It?
  3. Laos Plans Fast Track Travel for China & Vietnam
  4. ‘Jurassic Park’ Dragons Are Endangered in Indonesia
  5. Malaysia’s Tourism Challenges Keep Multiplying
View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play
8 Dec 2025 • 34m57s

Ep 277: The Geopolitics of Travel & Tourism in ASEAN, Asia Pacific & Beyond in the Era of AI

“I was at a tourism conference in Hangzhou in 2018, where Chinese companies showed how they were using AI to personalise travel for users. That’s nearly eight years ago.” In 2025, AI became a strategic commercial tool in all sectors, including travel and tourism. But it isn’t widely understood just how effectively embedded AI already is in China’s tourism sector, and how far ahead its leading players are to much of the world.
Play
5 Dec 2025 • 39m50s

Ep 276: Visa-easing Tricks, Tariff Turmoil, Vietnam's Breakout Year & What Happened to the ASEAN Tourism Visa?: 2025 in Review

So, another year is almost over - but what did we learn in 2025, South East Asia’s third full year of travel since the Covid pandemic? This week, Gary and Hannah delve through the archives to take stock of an eventful 12 months for travel and tourism in South East Asia and the broader Asia Pacific region. We journey from the regional turmoil of Trump’s tariffs to the tourism impacts of scam centres, and from Singapore setting the standard on SAF to Timor Leste becoming ASEAN’s 11th member.