The South East Asia Travel Show

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-up takes Gary and Hannah from Malaysia to Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and, inevitably given the global geo-economic situation, Washington DC. En route we discuss the potential implications of the Thailand-Cambodia War, the new US tariff rates and the Asian Development Bank's gloomy GDP forecasts for the region. Plus, we assess the latest visitor arrivals statistics - and Malaysia's controversial new accounting method - look at Singapore's tourism partnership with OpenAI, Hotel 101's lacklustre IPO in New York, and further delays for Thailand's casino resort legislation and tourism tax  And, we finish on a positive note with the newly inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Sites across South East Asia.

"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 dissect what Thai tourism is/isn’t doing to arrest slowing visitor arrivals. So what's the real story beneath the headlines and top-line statistics? This week, Gary and Hannah are joined by Phuket-based Bill Barnett, Managing Director of C9 Hotelworks and a renowned hospitality and real estate advisor and tourism expert to deconstruct Thailand's shifting travel landscape. We discuss the untapped potential of Thailand's unique geographies, the need for masterplanned investment in travel infrastructure and tourism services, and the quest to "get beyond the beach and shopping malls". Plus, is frequent re-forecasting of Chinese arrivals creating unnecessary negativity? How are an economic slowdown and high debt levels reshaping domestic tourism behaviours? How can Thailand leverage its strengths in wellness tourism ("everyone is trying to reinvent the spa")? Is hotel profitability set to slow, and what will be the impacts of new supply pipelines and "a price-driven recovery"? Looking forward, Bill discusses how his company supports the training of a next generation of hospitality leaders and the empowering of more women to succeed in tourism leadership roles. 
 

“You will see LCC fleet sizes increasing, and you’ll see them operating longer routes into East Asia, Central Asia and even into Eastern and Western Europe." More than 50% of available flight seats on any given day in South East Asia are provided by low-cost carriers (LCCs). Budget airlines have played a vital role in rebuilding regional air travel and tourism in ASEAN and Asia Pacific since the prolonged Covid border closures. Now, with ASEAN into its fourth year since reopening, LCCs are being emboldened to expand their route networks and stretch the geographic reach for passengers - with the help of advancements in aircraft technology and AI tools to improve operational efficiencies. This week, Gary is joined by Kuala Lumpur-based Shantanu Gangakedkhar, Senior Consultant, Aerospace & Defense, at Frost & Sullivan, to assess the outlook for low-cost air travel in South East Asia, North East Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and beyond. En route, we discuss a range of pertinent issues from pricing and fierce market competition to air traffic management and the LCC market potential of South East Asia's tier-2 and tier 3 cities. Plus, we address the exit of Jetstar Asia from Singapore, ongoing aircraft supply chain challenges, and the current and potential impacts for the airline industry of US tariffs.

What is the future of Digital Nomadism, Remote Work and Work from Anywhere? And should ASEAN destinations do more than issue Digital Nomad Visas to integrate remote workers into tourism economies? And who, actually, are digital nomads. Are they remote workers? Are they laptop backpackers? Is digital nomadism a lifestyle? Is it a tourism segment? What is borderless living? What are Micro-Societies? Why is global mobility developing as a hot topic? Are co-working and co-living compatible concepts for destination marketing? This week, Gary is joined by Milos Pelucha, Co-Founder of Destinova, and an advocate for remote work as a high-yield travel segment. Milos and Gary's conversation coincides with the climax of the 2025 Bansko Nomad Festival - the world's largest digital nomad gathering - in Bulgaria. We take a global journey through the critical issues of the remote working economy and the future of "borderless" tourism, from Armenia to China, Azores to Bhutan, Thailand to the French Alps, Morocco to Georgia and Vietnam to India. En route we breakdown the key components for destination marketers seeking to engage the fast-evolving 'work from anywhere' movement - which is becoming more organised and more dynamic.

It's been a pretty unsettling first half of 2025 on a geopolitical level, and the regional outcomes are creeping but still uncertain. Against this backdrop, South East Asian airports have remained busy - but structural and cyclical challenges for travel economies are emerging. So, what do the events of January-June tell us about the rest of 2025 and into 2026? This week, Gary and Hannah assess the 10 top takeaways in the year so far. The regional rewind looks at Singapore's capacity to do things differently, Thailand's China-shaped hole in its visitor arrivals, mixed outcomes in Malaysia, a domestic travel downturn in Indonesia and the undisputed ASEAN success story of Vietnam. Plus, we travel to China, the Middle East and Central Asia, look at shifting geographies for LCCs, regulatory scrutiny for OTAs and nominee travel businesses - and examine the outlook over the coming years of a much closer conjunction of the Lunar New Year and Eid-al-Fitr travel periods (especially in 2028).

"Despite referencing the word 'tourism' 26 times in its new Vision 2045 plan, ASEAN remains uncomfortable discussing a regional tourism visa. This largely reflects its institutional limitations rather than a lack of ambition." Over recent months, significant hype has surrounded the possibility of the 10 countries (soon 11) of South East Asia launching a shared visa for tourists. The context is that each country in the region wants to expand tourism to support economic development. Enabling visitors to travel "borderless" throughout the region would, in theory, unlock more tourism and more revenue generation. Meanwhile, China and countries in the Middle East and Central Asia are intent on drawing away tourists from South East Asian nations. This week, Gary deconstructs the 6 key issues around a potential ASEAN Tourism Visa: The Historic Context; The Post-Covid Imperative; The Schengen Model; ASEAN's 2045 Community Vision; South East Asia's Institutional Challenges and the Way Forward. So, what happens next?
This week's edition of the show was inspired by a new article Gary has written, Will an ASEAN tourism visa take off?, for the Asia Media Centre in New Zealand, which you can read here: https://www.asiamediacentre.org.nz/will-an-asean-tourism-visa-take-off

"I wish I had 640 days to do this trip, not 64." Bali-based Stuart McDonald, founder of Travelfish, is 34 days into an ambitious two-month overland trip across 18 countries from his Bali home to Leeds in the UK. So, why is he doing it? What has he experienced en route? And what have been the finest discoveries of the journey so far? This week, Gary catches up with Stuart in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, to track back across his train and-bus route so far, which has taken him from Bali to Jakarta, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Stuart describes the dramatic natural landscapes viewed from numerous train windows. He also tells compelling stories about his encounters with Chinese backpacking culture, entire mountains clad with solar panels, the lowering of a giant Lenin statue, an under-construction China-Central Asia railway, and the cultured urban delights of Almaty. We preview the anticipated highlights of the rest of the trip, including Tbilisi, Istanbul, Bucharest and Budapest, before a rapid dash to Paris to catch the Eurostar to London - and a connection to the journey's end: Leeds. A remarkable journey, which Stuart describes as "exhausting" and a "gruelling mission", but - overall - the "trip of a lifetime".

May was another hectic month of BIG travel, tourism and geopolitical talking points in South East Asia. This month’s roundup takes Gary and Hannah around ASEAN, from our home city of Kuala Lumpur to Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor Leste and Vietnam – plus China, India (sort of), Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan. En route, we discuss China's new ASEAN visa, Indonesia clings to its high-speed rail ambitions, and ASEAN accumulates an 11th member, and perhaps as a 12th in future. We feature a mini round-up of travel takeaways from the Philippines, including airport privatisation, a digital nomad visa and visa-free access for Indian travellers. Plus, Vietnam's "resort airline in the sky," AirAsia takes on Saudi Arabia and Vietjet lands in Kazakhstan. And, we finish with a regional concert tourism review and preview, featuring Lady Gaga in Singapore and Blackpink preparing to kill the love in four South East Asian capitals.