Eid Travel Trends, Thailand Merges Tourism & Culture & Vientiane’s Electric Pole Superstar: Start the Week with The South East Asia Travel Show

Our fast-paced Monday morning Start The Week show is back. This week, Gary and Hannah stop over in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines in search of the answers to South East Asia's big travel questions. We look at the Eid holiday trends across the region and even into China, and assess an intriguing new flight service connecting Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Czech Republic. Plus, we deconstruct the reasons why Thailand's government wants to merge the Ministries of Tourism and Culture, and summarise the findings of a new report about the challenges of tourism infrastructure development in the Philippines. Plus, why hasn't the Philippines' President named a successor to the departed Secretary of Tourism? And why has an electricity pole in the Laotian capital Vientiane become a viral hit on social media?