Mercedes Hutton

Mercedes is an experienced lifestyle and travel journalist, who has written for various publications around the world. She joined the Post in 2018, where she covers travel and tourism in Asia in her weekly column, Destinations Known.

A boat delivers drinking water to Phi Phi Don Island, in Thailand, in 2016.

Opinion

Why tourists are to blame for Phi Phi Islands’ water shortage

12 Dec 2018 - 10:23am

Female travellers are leading the pack in overseas exploration, and the travel industry is starting to take stock.

Opinion

How women are changing the way Chinese tourists travel

5 Dec 2018 - 8:30am

Killing of US missionary John Allen Chau by Sentinelese exposes the main flaw of tribal tourism

Opinion

How killing of US missionary exposes the trouble with tribal tourism

28 Nov 2018 - 8:30am 1

Is a ‘five-star’ luxury hotel experience possible in China? Hidden camera footage suggests not

Opinion

When is a luxury hotel not a luxury hotel? When it is in China

21 Nov 2018 - 12:25pm 4

Chinese tourists at Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok, Thailand. Picture: Reuters

Opinion

Why Thailand understands the real value of Chinese tourists

14 Nov 2018 - 2:41pm 5

New Trump hotel in Bali draws attention to island’s impending water crisis, environmental impact of tourism industry

Opinion

Why Trump hotel could be just what Bali’s impending water crisis needs

7 Nov 2018 - 10:52am

Tourists Lee Furlong (in black) and Brittney Schneider (in white) stand in front of Tha Pae Gate, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on October 18. They face up to 10 years in prison on charges of spraying painting the ancient brick wall. Picture: AP

Opinion

What makes tourists behave so badly on holiday?

31 Oct 2018 - 10:02am 11

Gion, Kyoto's geisha district, is frequently inundated with tourists.

Opinion

‘Half-naked hikers, trespassing travellers’: overtourism in Kyoto

24 Oct 2018 - 10:04am 10

Officials have urged residents of the Vietnamese capital to stop eating dog meat because of public health, and image, risks

Opinion

Dog meat off the menu in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi

17 Oct 2018 - 8:32am 1

Mission possible? India plans to attract more tourists – by becoming the ‘second cheapest destination in the world’, after Vietnam

Opinion

From ‘cesspool’ to ‘war zone’: Boracay prepares for a soft opening

10 Oct 2018 - 10:35am

Thinking of helping out at an orphanage on your holiday? Think again. Volunteering holidays may be a popular travel trend, but who is it really helping?

Opinion

The voluntourism dilemma: does it do more harm than good?

3 Oct 2018 - 11:54am 5

A waterfront village in Thailand's easternmost Trat province, one of 55 “secondary destinations” the country’s tourism authority is promoting to relieve pressure on places such as Phuket and Bangkok. Picture: Shutterstock

Opinion

Forget Phuket, try Thailand’s tourist-free ‘secondary destinations’ instead

26 Sep 2018 - 8:31am 1

British leader said the city’s prosperity was the common goal of Peking and London in the countdown to the expiry of the UK’s lease on the colony

Short Reads

How Thatcher was tight-lipped about handover on 1982 Hong Kong visit

21 Sep 2018 - 7:03am 1

A sign of “global weirding”? Heng Fa Chuen, in Hong Kong, was battered by Typhoon Mangkhut, on September 15. Picture: Sam Tsang

Opinion

Typhoon Mangkhut, ‘global weirding’ and why you shouldn’t go on holiday, ever

19 Sep 2018 - 10:01am

Police officers at the scene of the explosion in Kowloon Tsai, in Hong Kong, in September 1965. Picture: SCMP

Short Reads

1965 Kowloon Tsai explosion: triple murder, death sentence for triad member

14 Sep 2018 - 7:16am

Swami Vivekananda Saraswati – real name Narcis Tarcau – has fled the country amid reports of abuse endured by former students and staff members at the world’s biggest tantric yoga school, Agama Yoga, on the island of Koh Phangan

Opinion

Thai ‘sex cult’ yoga retreat exposes dark side of wellness tourism

12 Sep 2018 - 5:56pm 5

Kwai Chung Container Port, in 1972. Pictures: SCMP

Short Reads

When Hong Kong almost missed the container ship revolution

7 Sep 2018 - 7:16am 1

If you are one of 97 per cent of Hongkongers who are glued to their screens when travelling, maybe it is time for a ‘real’ holiday

Opinion

Hong Kong holidaymakers, it is time to put the phone down

7 Sep 2018 - 5:40pm 1

A Balinese woman in traditional dress walks past foreign tourists sunbathing on Kuta Beach on the Indonesian island of Bali in 1996 when mass tourism was in full swing. Picture: Reuters

Opinion

Are Chinese tourists ‘cheapening’ Bali’s image?

11 Sep 2018 - 5:22pm 23

South China Morning Post archives reveal that Mao’s mausoleum, in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, was built at lightning speed with the help of more than 50,000 workers and was inaugurated on September 9, 1977, the first anniversary of his death

Post Magazine

If Chairman Mao’s wish was to be cremated, why was he embalmed instead?

24 Aug 2018 - 7:00am 1

With LGBT+ travel reported to be US$200 billion annually, LGBT-friendly policies make business sense - ahead of the curve, unsurprisingly, is Thailand

Opinion

The pink dollar: LGBT tourists need a better welcome in Asia

22 Aug 2018 - 11:02am 7

Pipes thought to transfer sewage to the sea on Boracay Island, in the Philippines, before the popular tourist destination was closed to tourists for six months. Picture: Kyodo

Opinion

Manila says Boracay sewage clean-up is ‘almost there’. Is it?

15 Aug 2018 - 9:46am 1

The landmark late-Victorian General Post Office, built in 1911, was vacated in 1976 as it could no longer meet Hong Kong’s growing postal needs.

Short Reads

When landmark Victorian Post Office made way for a modern building

10 Aug 2018 - 7:19am

Tragedy and natural disaster have wreaked havoc across the region, and the tourism industry has not escaped lightly

Opinion

Cruel summer: 2018 has not been kind to Asian tourist destinations

8 Aug 2018 - 10:22am

US airlines’ recent concessions to Beijing’s demands on Taiwan suggest that China’s tourism industry has significant clout on the international stage

Opinion

Are tourists China’s most valuable economic weapon in US trade war?

4 Aug 2018 - 4:23pm 12

Women outside a go-go bar in Pattaya. Picture: Reuters

Opinion

Pattaya reinvented? Thailand’s ‘sex capital’ tries to clean up its act

25 Jul 2018 - 8:03am

Grantham Hospital, in Aberdeen, where Hong Kong’s first hole-in-heart operation was performed. Pictures: SCMP

Short Reads

Hong Kong’s first hole-in-heart surgery ‘years behind China’

27 Jul 2018 - 12:52pm

Vietnam's biggest metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City, hopes to triple Chinese tourist arrivals in the next two years.

Opinion

Despite recent hostility, Vietnam wants more Chinese tourists

18 Jul 2018 - 8:45am 2

Tourists crowd Maya Bay in Thailand ahead of its closure due to overtourism on June 1.

Opinion

Is the media to blame for overtourism? Or the travellers?

11 Jul 2018 - 2:04pm

Chinese tourists near the Harbour Bridge in Sydney. Picture: Reuters

Opinion

Sustainable tourism: is it possible with 1.6 billion tourists by 2020?

4 Jul 2018 - 10:07am

A low-season trek in the Annapurna region presents encounters with few fellow hikers but plenty of Himalayan fauna, including rather too many leeches

Travel

Nepal in low season: occasional peak sightings, many leeches

29 Jun 2018 - 10:46am

A woman from Beijing receives the Gardasil 9 HPV vaccine at a hospital in Hainan province on May 30, becoming the first person to obtain the injection in mainland China. Picture: Reuters

Opinion

Medical tourism brings Asia big bucks despite hiccups in Hong Kong

28 Jun 2018 - 2:31pm

A photo of Chinese tourists wearing T-shirts bearing Beijing’s controversial “nine-dash line” at Vietnam’s Cam Ranh International Airport in May went viral, sparking anger and calls for a China-specific code of conduct. Picture: Twitter / Nga Pham

Opinion

Do Chinese tourists need a ‘code of conduct’? Vietnam thinks so

20 Jun 2018 - 10:17am 13

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un at the Capella Singapore on Sentosa Island. Picture: AFP

Opinion

Kim, Trump and tourists – Singapore cashes in on historic summit

13 Jun 2018 - 7:47am

Queues at Phuket International Airport are often excruciating.

Opinion

Fighting fire with fire: Thailand combats overtourism with more tourists

6 Jun 2018 - 10:16am

Elephants perform in a show at Bali Elephant Camp, one of the tourist attractions found to offer inadequate care to the animals in its charge by charity World Animal Protection.

Opinion

From Bali to Lombok, Indonesia’s appalling record of animal cruelty

29 May 2018 - 8:15pm 1

Mainland Chinese tourists in the Golden Bauhinia Square, in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Picture: AFP

Opinion

A few badly-behaved tourists aside, Chinese visitors are reshaping economies

24 May 2018 - 5:04pm 10

Much like the stereotypical millennial, Kim Jong-un has recently seen an increase in work-related travel, giving him ample opportunity to indulge in ‘bleisure’. Picture: EPA

Opinion

‘Bleisure’ is not millennial, it’s a bad name for business and leisure

16 May 2018 - 10:15am

Tourists on a busy street in Asakusa, Tokyo, contributing to what Japan is calling its “tourism pollution”. Picture: Kyodo

Opinion

Is wooing Chinese a good idea if Japanese see tourists as ‘pollution’?

10 May 2018 - 1:35pm 1

The South China Morning Post headline on May 11, 1927. Picture: SCMP

Short Reads

How 1927 Hong Kong steamer tragedy claimed more than 100 lives

4 May 2018 - 7:01am

In pursuit of the perfect picture to post, a tourist blocks the glass-bottomed Coiling Dragon Cliff skywalk in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan province, China. Picture: EPA

Opinion

How social media is ruining your holiday, especially in Asia

2 May 2018 - 5:12am 3

Locals and tourists in front of bronze statues of former North Korean leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il at the Grand Monument on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Opinion

How safe is North Korea – and is it an ethical tourist destination?

25 Apr 2018 - 2:01pm 1

A holiday in Hong Kong ended in tragedy when 15 people – servicemen, their family members and aircrew – were killed after the Douglas DC-3 they were flying in crashed into Mount Parker

Short Reads

When a US Air Force plane crashed in Hong Kong in 1961

20 Apr 2018 - 7:19am 1

Plus, Singapore outranks Hong Kong – and the rest of the world – in terms of passport power, and Bali undergoes a makeover ahead of annual IMF meeting

Opinion

How Chinese tourists and mobile payments are changing the way we travel

20 Apr 2018 - 9:44am 2

A double-decker bus in Tsim Sha Tsui in the 1950s. Picture: courtesy of KMB

Short Reads

Why Hong Kong’s first double-decker buses arrived 12 years late

17 Apr 2018 - 4:14pm

Also, some ill-considered advice from Thai authorities ahead of this week’s Songkran celebrations

Opinion

Why is tourism so bad for Southeast Asia’s beaches?

11 Apr 2018 - 9:47am

Plus, Airbnb China will soon be sharing guest and host details with authorities and Maya Bay, of The Beach fame, set to close

Opinion

Is Bangkok becoming the next Singapore or Tokyo?

4 Apr 2018 - 10:49am 7