The South East Asia Travel Show

Who listens to The South East Asia? Where? And Why? In the past 12 months, our weekly podcast was downloaded in 116 countries - the most in a calendar year since we launched in 2020. Listeners log on each week from Algeria to Fiji, Germany to Macau, Peru to Sweden, and Turkey to Vietnam. Our top 5 listener markets are the US, Australia, UK, Thailand and Singapore. In this short introduction, Gary...

It's a BIG week for tourism policy across Asia. On our fast-paced Start The Week show, Gary and Hannah stop over in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Japan. Elections in Thailand and Japan returned the two interim Prime Ministers with clear mandates. What will this mean for Thailand's attempts to stem its inbound decline? And will fiscal expansionism further weaken the Japan...

January disappeared in a flash - and what a crazy month it was worldwide. Here in South East Asia, an intriguing slate of talking points emerged to set up the 2026 travel year - and Lunar New Year is just around the corner. As we do every month, Gary and Hannah recap January’s top 8 takeaways from across ASEAN and beyond with stopovers in Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Thaila...

In the fourth edition of our Start The Week show; a fast-paced ride through the hottest travel topics in South East Asia and beyond, Gary and Hannah land in Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia Myanmar, Japan and China. En route, we deconstruct the key points of ASEAN's 2026-2030 Tourism Blueprint, look at why the IMF/World Bank annual summit is headed to Bangkok, and get ready to buy our Shang...

Welcome to the third edition of our Start The Week show; a fast-paced ride through the hottest 5 travel topics in South East Asia and beyond. This week, Gary and Hannah take a sharp intake of breath as Thailand raises an alert for the deadly Nipah Virus. We also discuss 13 intriguing new city pairs for Changi Airport (with China a key focus), and a new tourism tax in Raja Ampat. Plus, we look at h...

Welcome to the second edition of our new Start The Week show - a fast-paced summary of the hottest 5 travel topics in South East Asia and beyond. This week’s show has a strong Chinese influence – a theme we expect to intensify through 2026. Gary and Hannah summarise the outlook for Trip.com’s South East Asia expansion as it faces an antitrust investigation in China. In a week of tragic accidents i...

In 2025, The South East Asia Travel Show was downloaded in more countries than ever before. Listeners logged in across the globe, from Albania to Liberia and Micronesia to Venezuela. But which were our Top 20 listener markets in 2025? During the year, we produced 43 editions of the show, but which were the 5 most-downloaded shows? And which country is the subject of 2 of our Top 5 shows, and what...

Welcome to the debut edition of our new Start The Week show - a succinct 15-minute summary of the hottest 5 travel topics in South East Asia and beyond. Our first mini show takes Gary and Hannah from Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to China and Saudi Arabia. En route, we discuss a potential Disney theme park in eastern Thailand, Chinese cruise tourism, e-gate tech challenges b...

If 2025 heralded a new Age of Uncertainty across global political landscapes and economic sectors, what does 2026 hold in store for South East Asia and the broader Asia Pacific region? And how will the myriad risks and uncertainties that emerged last year influence travel and tourism patterns in 2026? Was 2025 the end of days for many post-pandemic travel 'trends'? And what vital lessons did 2025...

"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 play...

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 centre...

With one month remaining of 2025, airports are getting busy across South East Asia as the year-end travel season swings into gear. And November was another month filled with intriguing talking points to break down. We begin by discussing the long-term societal, political and travel impacts of heavy flooding in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. We take to the skies to addr...

Will Indonesia build a high-speed railway to Bali? Why Is 19 December a vital date in Vietnam? What is the 'Cosmic Turtle'? When will the first passengers touch down at Long Thanh Airport? And will Thailand's "Three Airports High-Speed Train" ever take to the tracks? This week, Gary welcomes back James Clark, Founder of the Future South East Asia newsletter, to discuss the politics, financing, con...

With less than 50 days remaining of 2025, South East Asia is barrelling towards the end-of-year holiday travel season. And  there's plenty of news to talk about. This week, Gary and Hannah zoom through the region’s top travel happenings, with stopovers in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos, plus China and Bahrain. We begin with downbeat news about the Thailand-Cambodia peace process,...

After a quiet September, October travel activity was stimulated by various national holidays (including Golden Week in China, Chuseok in South Korea, Diwali/Deepavali in India, Malaysia & Singapore and Undas in the Philippines). These created air travel spikes that set the scene for the region's highly anticipated end-of-year peak season, with destinations making promotional plays to attract e...

After three weeks in Japan, Singapore and Italy, Gary and Hannah are back in KL to recap the top travel talking points from September and early October. China's Mid-Autumn Golden Week has just wrapped up, so we assess the current state of play in a diversifying Chinese outbound market. Elsewhere, we discuss a raft of new Muslim-friendly tourism initiatives being introduced across South East Asia,...

Economic and social processes shape tourism development, but - in turn - tourism reshapes economic spaces, and that is creating new challenges in South East Asia and beyond. This week, Gary welcomes Joao Romao, Associate Professor at Yasuda Women’s University in Japan, to discuss his new book, Economic Geography of Tourism. An economist, tourism strategy advisor and former travel documentary maker...

As we speed towards the 4th quarter of 2025, some economic metrics in South East Asia are trending towards nervousness. Air travel capacity is a primary case study, where the year-on-year data is mostly positive (look away now, Indonesia), but the ASEAN and APAC regions (overall) are still playing catching from 2019... all those pre-Covid years ago. Plus, on our weekly travel news roundup, Gary an...

September is historically a slow month for travel news in South East Asia. With the October Golden Week imminent, followed by the peak November-February tourism season, it's usually a period to reflect and prepare. Not this year. Political upheaval and economic instability in ASEAN's two largest economies, Indonesia and Thailand, are front-page news. Events in both nations have the potential to in...

Vietnam and South Korea have "visa-easing tricks up their sleeves" as China's October Golden Week nears. And, with two-thirds of 2025 completed, attentions are turning to the peak end-of-year travel season across Asia. That's the backdrop for a frenetic month of travel activity region-wide in August. For our regular monthly round-up, Gary and Hannah travel around ASEAN with stopovers in Thailand,...

Indonesia plans to expand its total of international airports by Presidential decree. Thailand fires the regional starting gun for crypto payments in tourism (when will other countries join the race?). Vietnam launches its own 'Superapp' to be rolled out over the next two years. It's been a week of mega-announcements in South East Asia as concerns grow about slowing travel and tourism momentum and...

“Indonesia has the potential to lead in eco-tourism, in cultural heritage and in Muslim-friendly tourism... but it tries to promote everything all at once, which dilutes the message.” Beautiful, vast and complex, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago nation, and home to the planet’s fourth-largest population. But tourism is heavily concentrated in Bali, which recorded 45% of inbound arrival...

Vietnam's inbound tourism boom in 2025 continues. Malaysia targets tourism to reach 16% of GDP. India and the Philippines talk "free visas". THAI Airways confirms its post-Covid comeback by returning to the stock market. Boracay "streamlines" its various entry fees" And Singapore celebrate its 60th birthday since independence. It’s been a pretty hectic news week across South East Asia. Join Gary a...

July was a challenging month for travel and tourism in South East Asia. A military conflict between Thailand and Cambodia shook the region. New 'reciprocal' US tariff rates will challenge bottom lines and business travel budgets for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, mixed results continue for visitor arrivals, consumer spending and travel sentiment. This month's Top 10 Travel Talking Points round...

"We're seeing a return to seasonality. Before the pandemic, when we had mass tourism, the low seasons were being filled out by China and other markets. But there are also global issues at play as well." It's been a turbulent year for Thailand, with slow economic growth, political stasis, an unresolved US tariff rate and a military conflict with Cambodia. Meanwhile, mountains of media stories disse...