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Mark Footer
Mark Footer
Hong Kong
@9815_mark
Editor, Travel 
Mark Footer joined the Post in 1999, having been the magazine and book buyer for Tower Records in Hong Kong. He started on the business desk before moving, in 2006, to Post Magazine, of which he was editor until 2019. He took on a secondary role as travel editor in 2009.

Companies wary of blowing carbon targets if they send delegates down under, passengers paying for sustainable airline fuel, a lack of which could further reduce capacity – Antipodeans should be worried.

Luxury hotels vie to stand out from the pack through their art collections and programmes. Experts rate properties in Beijing, Hong Kong and Japan, but seem to agree two hotels are a cut above the rest.

The 10 most welcoming cities on Earth, according to Booking.com, include places from India to France, most of which you, like Destinations Known, have probably never been to.

Russian tourists are looking increasingly eastward and Thailand is excitedly wooing them, but with so many heading to Phuket, locals are not best pleased with the island’s transformation.

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B Corp Certification signals companies that ‘walk the sustainability talk’ and Hong Kong has 25 of them – but only one hotel. Why aren’t more falling over themselves to get the big ‘B’?

Lunar New Year in China means getting together with family, and with 9 billion domestic trips expected, it seems everyone in the nation will be on the go during the holiday.

No, it’s not in Hong Kong – Asia’s longest escalator is in mainland China, but a new effort planned for Malaysia’s Batu Caves, packed with people this week for the Thaipusam festival, might come close.

It’s a badly kept secret that HBO’s hit whodunit series The White Lotus is heading to Thailand’s Koh Samui for season 3, which means murder, mayhem and, for the island’s Four Seasons, more visitors probably.

Where did Hongkongers visit in 2023? How many flights did they take? What were the most popular local attractions? Trip.com reveals its figures, noting a ‘significant revival’ of Hong Kong tourism.

Singapore’s Kusu (Tortoise) Island is now completely self-reliant in using solar power to produce its water and electricity, a report says, joining an all-too-small list of fully sustainable islands.

Thailand’s Songkran festival involves drenching others with buckets of water and water guns, and is a big tourist draw. A proposal to extend the three-day event to a month is getting a mixed reception.

Taylor Swift, Blackpink, Beyoncé and other performers whose fans drive concert tourism have the power to wake up millions of people to the risks of climate breakdown and need to be more vocal about it.

First Paris, then Seoul and now Hong Kong, reports of bedbug infestations in hotels and on public transport are spreading across the globe – but we suspect the media might just be overreacting.

Dutchman Bart van Genugten aims to explore and video all of Seoul’s 467 neighbourhoods in a YouTube travel guide to the South Korean capital that goes beyond the typical tourist material.

The fact that anyone believes the tourist board’s 2023 Hallo Hong Kong Halloween campaign enhances the city’s reputation as a holiday hotspot sends shivers down our spine.

The first intercity trains ran in 1830 in the UK, but today Asia is showing the world how to build and run high-speed railways while Britain has called a halt to a major project.

Experts cite a range of reasons as to why an anticipated return of international tourists to the mainland has not materialised, but the timing of a resumption of ‘normality’ seems increasingly unknowable

As construction of Vietnam’s Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City metros continues, by Chinese and Japanese companies respectively, safety concerns have fuelled old stereotypes for the former, but at least it is running.

In Indonesia, a Bali-based NGO has joined The Ocean Cleanup in tackling the ‘tsunamis of trash’ washing down rivers and onto beaches, and is helping villages shut down illegal rubbish dumps.

News reports of weather records being set and broken regularly this summer, the hottest on record, underscore the need for immediate and drastic action to combat the effects of climate breakdown.

Climbers who can’t book mountain huts hurry to the top of Japan’s most sacred peak overnight, sparking safety fears. It’s an example of the scramble for tourist accommodation in Japan amid a post-Covid rebound.

Matty Healy’s LGBTQ-related rant in Malaysia begs the question: when tourists from liberal societies are invited to visit less tolerant countries, shouldn’t a lack of respect be expected?

The Tasman, in the heart of Hobart, the capital of Tasmania in Australia, is a luxurious mix of old and new that offers easy access to art and boat tours offering the freshest seafood.

Thai island Koh Samui is facing a severe shortage of fresh water, which has been blamed on increased demand and ‘rapid development’. But the problem has been around since the mid-1990s.

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Not one experience in Asia made the latest Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards top 15 in the family-friendly category, despite eight of the top 25 ‘Overall experiences’ being in the continent.

Some Western media reports suggest holidaymakers visit Taiwan now before war breaks out, painting a picture of an island under threat. It’s a view which has received much derision on social media.

Potheads flocked to Thailand after it decriminalised marijuana for medicinal use, but these visitors’ enthusiasm contrasts with negative views in China of the drug’s widespread sale for recreational use.

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Asia travelTourism