The South East Asia Travel Show

As South East Asian nations complete a second uninterrupted year of tourism since reopening, 2025 is viewed as a time to push on from recovery to growth. But staying in the here and now, Gary and Hannah travel around ASEAN to rewind the top talking points from October. Stopovers include Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos… plus India and wintertime China. En route, we reflect on the highlights from ITB Asia in Singapore, place the media hype about self-drive travel between Malaysia and Thailand in context, and discuss the priority issues on the desk of Indonesia's new tourism minister. We also assess the implications of a TV report in South Korea about alleged scam centres in Cambodia that is causing consternation for Korean visitors. Plus, Vietnamese travellers are booking trips to icy northern China, flying taxis are back in the news and we look back on one year of Whoosh, South East Asia's only high-speed railway which celebrated its birthday in Indonesia.

Asia is Back! After playing catch-up since 2022, Asia is once again central to conversations about the future of global tourism. We are in the middle of the Fall conference season, and Asian travel themes are taking centre stage. And the content and tone has changed notably since 2019. So, this week, Gary and Hannah - who are speaking at and attending various events across Asia and beyond - run down this season's Top 10 Travel & Tourism Conference Topics. In a packed show, we discuss the shifting influences of  Gen Zs, Indigenous Tourism, Blended Travel, Superapps, Overtourism, AI, Muslim Tourism, China & India and the dynamic definition of Experiences. 

China's October National Day public holiday is the third 'Golden Week' of the year. In 2024, it just wrapped up amid a global sense that Chinese outbound tourism is definitively back. Twenty-one months after China reopened for travel, destinations across South East Asia, Asia Pacific and worldwide enjoyed their most optimistic Golden Week since the corresponding period way back in 2019. To discuss the top takeaways, Gary is joined by Sienna Parulis-Cook, Director of Marketing & Communications for Dragon Trail international. In a broad-ranging discussion, we dissect various key issues, ranging from visa-free travel to events and festivals, and data from the top OTAs and niche booking platforms to the two most-visited destinations, Hong Kong and Macau. Intriguing Golden Week hotspots under discussion also include Georgia, Italy, Turkey, Japan and Malaysia, and we track the shifts in Chinese traveller sentiment from Dragon Trail's new survey. Plus, we chart the ongoing rise of red-hot travel and lifestyle app Xiaohongshu, and place our cards on the table about the Chinese travel trends to watch out for in 2025.

This week, China's October Golden Week kickstarts Q4 of 2024 and the path toward South East Asia completing a 5-year Covid cycle. So, it's the perfect time to assess the top 8 talking points from the 9th month of the year. We begin in Thailand with the issues around the proposed introduction of Electronic Travel Authorisation, while Royal Assent for the Marriage Equality Bill makes it the third Asian jurisdiction to legalise same-sex unions. Elsewhere, AirAsia grabbed headlines throughout September and Singapore scored another F1 win. Plus, a new VAT refund scheme for tourists in the Philippines and a possible hotel construction moratorium in Bali. And finally, a Singaporean university is attempting to balance the inconveniences and benefits of a surge in tourist visitors. 

"How do you know your tourism activity's overall impact is beneficial to a community if you aren't measuring it?" This week, Gary and Hannah discuss economic leakages and quantifying the impacts on local communities of tour operations with Ewan Cluckie, Founder of Thailand-based Tripseed. Socio-economic sustainability in tourism is an under-scrutinised topic, but Tripseed is confronting it head-on. The company recently published phase 1 of its deeply researched Economic Distribution Disclosure Initiative, a set of tools and metrics designed to "drive transparency and positive impact within the local economy”. Ewan discusses why economic leakage is "particularly pronounced" in Thailand, and research related to other ASEAN countries. So, what are these leakages, how do you measure and compare them - and where does the money go? And, how can leakages be assessed for suppliers further along the chain, whose data might be tricky to obtain? Ewan also provides a heads-up about the areas that this innovative tourism impact project in South East Asia will address next - and the interest it has garnered from university research institutes and large private sector organisations.

"The pieces of South East Asia's post-pandemic tourism jigsaw are still being put into place". Regional travel and tourism trends continue to be impacted by the Covid era, both from a supply and demand perspective. So, as we march full steam into the final third of 2024, what were the Top 8 talking points in August 2024? On our monthly roundup, we discuss the fallout from Malaysia Airlines' decision to cut almost one-fifth of its capacity, assess the airline volumes into the region from China and dive into the factors behind the latest round of quarterly airline earnings. We also discuss Thailand establishing 18 Dark Sky Reserves to attract stargazing tourists and Ho Chi Minh City's promotion of 8 soft powers in a play to be a "cultural industrial hub." Plus, which two countries in the region are celebrating the inscription of new UNESCO World Heritage Sites? And which ASEAN nation has achieved a 101% recovery of its visitor arrivals so far this year compared to 2019?

"The Muslim friendly tourism and hospitality eco-system will be the next big thing in global tourism." Muslim tourism is forecast to be valued at USD225 billion worldwide by 2030, with ASEAN and Asia Pacific at the centre of future growth. To discuss the challenges and opportunities up ahead for the travel industry, Gary and Hannah welcome Nizran Noordin, Director General of the Islamic Tourism Centre, which is based in Malaysia. We discuss the efforts being made to support and promote the Muslim visitor economy in South East Asian nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and the Philippines, plus regional markets like China, Russia, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Macau. We also address the challenges of developing standardised Muslim tourism branding, marketing and communications. Plus, Nizran outlines Malaysia's strategy to become a regional hub for Umrah pilgrims, and highlights some of the key themes at the upcoming 4th World Islamic Tourism Conference, which takes place in Kuala Lumpur in September. 

We are almost two-thirds through 2024. This year, more than ever, South East Asia's travel and tourism recovery and regrowth is being assessed through the lens of data and statistics. But quantifying every aspect of tourism obfuscates the dynamic political, economic, societal, technological and environmental factors behind those numbers. So, this week Gary and Hannah ask and answer 8 critical questions about the direction of regional travel in 2024, and beyond – without referencing data. Can we go an entire show without stating Thailand’s latest monthly arrivals or air passenger data at Changi? En route, we discuss political leadership changes in Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore, the ongoing LCC rebuild, the return of Chinese travellers at scale and disruption in the aircraft manufacturing sector. Plus, what's next for Asian currency values and the impact on travel, casino legalisation in Thailand, visa waivers, and m-pox planning across the region? And why have high-speed railway proposals become a governmental "must have" across ASEAN in 2024?