“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).