https://www.scmp.com/rss/267215/feed 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. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Mark Footer Mark Footer The Hong Kong International Literary Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year (March 1 to 8), marking a quarter of a century of bringing some of the most famous – and in some cases, most quirky – authors to the city. Among those with more than one story to tell have been: Bonnie Tsui: most recent book: On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters (2025) It was perhaps inevitable that Tsui would publish her 2020 book Why We Swim, which explores the global history and... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3344849/hkilfs-literary-legend-visits-through-years?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3344849/hkilfs-literary-legend-visits-through-years?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Feb 2026 07:16:56 +0000 Mark Footer Mark Footer The Year of the Fire Horse is associated with intense energy, bold movement and pioneering spirit, making it, perhaps, a fitting time for a transformative travel experience. And what better way to channel a steed’s spirit of adventure than through some of the world’s most memorable equestrian experiences, from the Sandalwood ponies of Sumba, Indonesia, to the thoroughbreds that “dare to confront fire” in Marrakech, Morocco. Mongolia and the Naadam Festival “A Mongol without a horse is like a... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3342612/world-seen-saddle-6-equestrian-adventures-mark-year-horse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3342612/world-seen-saddle-6-equestrian-adventures-mark-year-horse?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Feb 2026 03:00:10 +0000 Mark Footer Mark Footer Singapore Unlike many other places in Asia, Christmas Day is an official public holiday in the city state. Not that the festivities will be limited to December 25. Returning for a 42nd year is Christmas on a Great Street, the “great street” in question being Orchard Road. Highlights of the event, which runs until January 1, include a Christmas Village at the Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza that features a 14-metre-tall tree and nightly snowfall shows. Over at Gardens by the Bay, the second annual... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3336238/guide-christmas-celebrations-singapore-taiwan-and-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3336238/guide-christmas-celebrations-singapore-taiwan-and-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Dec 2025 03:00:29 +0000 Mark Footer Mark Footer Asked what he foresaw as the next significant travel trend, CNN International anchor Richard Quest, guest speaker at the TravMedia Summit in Singapore last month, identified shoulder-season adventures. It’s a trend being taken up especially fervently by Gen Z, who are choosing just-off-peak times to travel to make their money go further and avoid the worst of the tourist crowds. Recent reports including Airbnb’s “2025 Fall Travel Trends” point to the fact that those born between 1997 and 2012... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3334043/travel-gen-z-and-try-these-5-shoulder-season-destinations-seoul-santorini?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3334043/travel-gen-z-and-try-these-5-shoulder-season-destinations-seoul-santorini?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Nov 2025 07:00:09 +0000 Mark Footer Mark Footer The world’s largest indoor skiing facility may be only a snow­ball’s throw away from Hong Kong – Shenzhen’s Qianhai Huafa Snow World having opened in September – but we reckon the elements should play an integral part in any bona fide winter sports holiday. There’s a reason they call it “the great outdoors”, after all. Here are six destinations that embrace their surroundings yet still qualify as “up-and-coming”, and so may be worth considering for your next ski adventure. Cortina d’Ampezzo,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3331061/6-and-coming-ski-resorts-asia-europe-us-and-even-africa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3331061/6-and-coming-ski-resorts-asia-europe-us-and-even-africa?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Nov 2025 08:00:09 +0000 Mark Footer Mark Footer Collecting is almost an obsession for some. And for a few – or their champions – showing off those collections is also a must. Here are a few of the personal collections now on view for the world to see. UR-MU@Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Short for “Urban Museum”, UR-MU encompasses three properties, each housing the art collection of a prominent Malaysian, but the original, home to the most eclectic set of works, is UR-MU@Bukit Bintang. The paintings, sculptures and installations here... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3330613/8-intriguing-museums-built-obsessions-individual-collectors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3330613/8-intriguing-museums-built-obsessions-individual-collectors?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Oct 2025 14:00:13 +0000 Mark Footer Mark Footer Albergo diffuso, or “scattered hotel”, is a concept that originated in 1980s Italy, offering a different kind of sustainable hospitality experience. Instead of a single building, the hotel’s rooms and services are spread among a variety of buildings within a small, often ancient, village or part of a town. There is a central reception area, often with a restaurant or common spaces, and staff that provide typical hotel services. Guests are encouraged to live as temporary residents within the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3327009/innovative-albergo-diffuso-concept-entire-village-your-hotel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3327009/innovative-albergo-diffuso-concept-entire-village-your-hotel?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Sep 2025 10:15:08 +0000 Mark Footer Mark Footer Culinary tourism is a growing trend – Grand View Research estimated the market at US$11.5 billion in 2023 and projects it to reach a mouth-watering US$40 billion by 2030 – and hotels and resorts across Asia are increasingly seeking to claim a slice of that pie by hosting their own special gastronomic events. This autumn sees a number of events featuring star guest chefs being hosted across the region; here are some of the most interesting. Bangkok, Thailand (September 22-28) The Thai capital is... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3324179/gastronomic-events-visit-autumn-bangkok-da-nang-remote-indonesia-and-maldives?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3324179/gastronomic-events-visit-autumn-bangkok-da-nang-remote-indonesia-and-maldives?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Sep 2025 10:15:08 +0000 Mark Footer Mark Footer June 8 is World Oceans Day, an observance designed to raise awareness of the vital role our water bodies play in supporting life on Earth, through biodiversity and their ability to regulate the climate, and the urgent need to protect them. Today, a variety of events and exhibitions to highlight the cause are being staged around the world by governments, aquariums and schools, but spare a thought for Ross Edgley. The British ultra-endurance athlete entered the water on May 16 in an attempt to... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3313326/5-luxury-experiences-celebrate-world-oceans-day?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3313326/5-luxury-experiences-celebrate-world-oceans-day?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Jun 2025 00:30:08 +0000 It makes perfect sense: slap a visitors’ fee onto your overly popular country/city/attraction and not only are you likely to reduce tourist numbers to more manageable levels, but you will also ensure the experience is more pleasant for those who still come, while adding cash to the public coffers that could be earmarked for restoration and the upkeep of your golden-egg-laying goose. Park fees that run to hundreds of US dollars have long been charged to people wishing to climb Tanzania’s Mount... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3306417/new-tourist-fees-japans-mount-fuji-bali-thailand-and-elsewhere-plus-travel-tips?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3306417/new-tourist-fees-japans-mount-fuji-bali-thailand-and-elsewhere-plus-travel-tips?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Apr 2025 23:15:08 +0000 Heritage is defined as “valued objects and qualities such as historic buildings and cultural traditions that have been passed down from previous generations”. As such, it’s no surprise that some of the most popular city tours and work­shops aimed at inquisitive foreign visitors, in Asia as elsewhere, are those that focus on history and local traditions. 1. Manila, the Philippines A tour on a Bambike constructed by a Bambuilder and led by a “bambassador”; the Philippine bicycle maker and... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3298708/6-top-urban-heritage-tours-asia-samurai-training-kyoto-singapores-chinatown-and-shanghai-venice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3298708/6-top-urban-heritage-tours-asia-samurai-training-kyoto-singapores-chinatown-and-shanghai-venice?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:15:07 +0000 In wellness terms, Hoi An is shaping up to be the next Ubud, at least in the considered opinion of Michelle Ford, CEO and founder of Lumina Wellbeing, a company that offers spa and other management services to hotels. Ford lists a host of yoga and Pilates studios (with names such as Naia, Kamala and Thien An) that have set up shop in the Vietnamese tourist town, as well as healthy or vegan restaurants such as Nourish, Chickpea and Minh Hien. A centre offering treatments to “prolong youthfulness... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3294236/6-wellness-retreats-mind-body-and-soul-try-southeast-asia-2025?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3294236/6-wellness-retreats-mind-body-and-soul-try-southeast-asia-2025?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jan 2025 21:15:07 +0000 Cable cars are having a moment. And they are appealing not just to skiers and tourists. “The positive response to the second edition of Cable Car World at Messe Essen makes it clear that more and more local authorities see urban cable cars as a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to conventional infrastructure in local public transport,” reported Urban Transport Magazine, after the June trade fair in Germany. “Over 600 trade fair and congress participants from 21 countries […] came to... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3289311/6-asian-cable-car-rides-will-take-you-new-heights-japan-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3289311/6-asian-cable-car-rides-will-take-you-new-heights-japan-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Dec 2024 22:15:08 +0000 1. Palatial courtyard suites in Beijing Arguably the most significant hotel launch in China this year, the Mandarin Oriental Qianmen, Beijing, threw open its (many) doors on September 2. It’s been a long time coming – “Spacious and luxurious landscaped courtyard suites within the labyrinth of alleys and lanes in one of the city’s oldest quarters” were to be expected the following year, teased an announcement way back in September 2017 – but after its recent unveiling, the hotel and its 42... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3279271/3-destination-openings-your-winter-escape-beijings-new-mandarin-oriental-banyan-tree-kyoto?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3279271/3-destination-openings-your-winter-escape-beijings-new-mandarin-oriental-banyan-tree-kyoto?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Sep 2024 06:45:12 +0000 So, “coolcations” (for want of a less awful word) are a trend. Again. It is hardly surprising that holidaymakers are having second thoughts about beach breaks and crowded city tours as the mercury soars around the globe and the effects of climate breakdown become ever more acute. Extreme early summer heat and record temperatures are being endured across the northern hemisphere this month, following what was the warmest May on record globally, with an average surface air temperature 0.65 degrees... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3267256/cooler-holidays-trending-climate-changes-searing-effects-felt-europe-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3267256/cooler-holidays-trending-climate-changes-searing-effects-felt-europe-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Jun 2024 23:45:08 +0000 Like a huge game of whack-a-mole, local authorities around Japan’s Mount Fuji are trying to keep overzealous tourists under control as the visitors all attempt to shoot the same pictures of Fuji-san for their social-media feeds. Post-pandemic, tourists have rushed back to Japan – a beautiful country whose appeal is now turbocharged by a weak yen – and an overwhelming majority have converged on the usual hotspots, with smartphones raised. After photos began appearing online of Mount Fuji... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3266313/can-ai-save-japan-selfie-taking-hordes-can-travellers-avoid-worlds-worst-airport?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3266313/can-ai-save-japan-selfie-taking-hordes-can-travellers-avoid-worlds-worst-airport?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Jun 2024 23:45:08 +0000 Headlines published 30 years ago in the South China Morning Post heralded the tourism success story beginning to unfold in China’s smallest province: “Hainan to draw tourists with second airport”; “Top developers eye Sanya development projects”; “Banyan Tree set to thrive on Hainan”. Just six years after it had been detached from Guangdong, the 34,000 sq km (13,130 square mile) island province was being touted as China’s Hawaii or, as an article below another prophetic headline – “French holiday... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3265472/prostitutes-read-parachutes-rise-air-sports-shows-hainan-tourism-evolution?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3265472/prostitutes-read-parachutes-rise-air-sports-shows-hainan-tourism-evolution?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Jun 2024 23:45:08 +0000 The pre-monsoon climbing season in Nepal has come to a close for another year and once again it has been a deadly one. The spring 2024 death toll among those attempting to summit Everest stands, at the time of writing, at eight, with other fatalities elsewhere in the Nepali Himalayas. Mongolians Usukhjargal Tsedendamba, 53, and Prevsuren Lkhagvajav, 31, who died after summiting, were the first to perish, on May 13, and Indian Banshi Lal, 46, the latest. On May 21, Pastenji Sherpa, 23, and Briton... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3264532/another-deadly-everest-spring-climbing-season-why-are-so-many-so-eager-reach-summit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3264532/another-deadly-everest-spring-climbing-season-why-are-so-many-so-eager-reach-summit?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 May 2024 23:45:08 +0000 “The Russian annexation of Bali”, “Bali has been colonised by Russia”; certain sections of social media are abuzz following the arrival of a new place name on the map of Indonesia’s Island of the Gods. The kerfuffle began on May 8, when the Canggu Bali News Instagram account posted a map on which Canggu – a coastal village that is steadily being subsumed into Kuta, itself a part of the Denpasar Metropolitan Area – had been renamed New Moscow, in recognition of the fact it has seen an influx of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3262793/russian-annexation-bali-instagram-post-renaming-canggu-new-moscow-sets-social-media-abuzz?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3262793/russian-annexation-bali-instagram-post-renaming-canggu-new-moscow-sets-social-media-abuzz?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 May 2024 23:45:18 +0000 Come on, everybody; do please keep up. A variety of publications have, in the past few months, latched onto the idea of “destination dupes”, declaring that the swapping in of a similar destination or attraction for one that is suffering from overtourism is the “latest travel trend”. “Destination Dupes Are the Travel Trend You Need to Know For 2024” – lectures a headline in Elle magazine. “The travel trend for 2024: Destination Dupes” – The Hindu. “These 9 destination dupes feel like the real... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3261884/why-destination-dupes-travel-trend-getting-silly-swap-new-york-seoul-barcelona-panama-come?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3261884/why-destination-dupes-travel-trend-getting-silly-swap-new-york-seoul-barcelona-panama-come?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 May 2024 23:45:18 +0000 “Cash is king” in China, according to a recent headline in The Guardian newspaper. Oh no it isn’t, says everyone who has been there in the past few years. If you don’t have a WeChat Pay or Alipay app on your phone, you are unlikely to get very far in today’s People’s Republic. To be fair to the British newspaper, the full headline is “Cash is king – for now: China signals it will slow transition to cashless society”, and the article below it outlines how rare cash now is, at least in the big... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3261066/china-sends-message-it-wants-foreign-visitors-spend-money-whether-they-pay-cash-or-through-mobile?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3261066/china-sends-message-it-wants-foreign-visitors-spend-money-whether-they-pay-cash-or-through-mobile?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 May 2024 23:45:15 +0000 “16 hour unmanned queues that are more like mosh pits, the airport is understaffed. People passing out, fighting. No hotel stay as the airport is fully booked, food coupons don’t work. Slept on floor for 48 hours.” Even three days after the April 16 deluge that drenched Dubai, its airport was not, judging by social media accounts such as that above, a pleasant place to be for the thousands still trapped within. South China Morning Post culture editor Kevin Kwong was one of those caught up in the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3260225/after-floods-cause-dubai-flights-chaos-expect-travel-insurance-cost-more-and-cover-less?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3260225/after-floods-cause-dubai-flights-chaos-expect-travel-insurance-cost-more-and-cover-less?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Apr 2024 23:45:13 +0000 Ever wondered what the rest of St Paul’s – the surviving facade of which is Macau’s most famous landmark – would have looked like? It just so happens there’s a model, of sorts, in Coimbra, a city in central Portugal. “The Church of St Paul, in Macau, was built to be a copy of the New Cathedral of Coimbra,” city culture official Sofia Serra explained to the newspaper Publico in 2013, upon the launch of a Chinese version of Coimbra’s tourism website. Academic papers published in a 2020 book –... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3259898/how-ruined-st-pauls-macau-might-have-looked-coimbras-new-cathedral-and-other-delights-portuguese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3259898/how-ruined-st-pauls-macau-might-have-looked-coimbras-new-cathedral-and-other-delights-portuguese?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Apr 2024 08:15:10 +0000 We humans don’t care much about individual animals, do we! Few of us give a second thought to the plight of creatures other than our own pets. Most nations have animal-protection laws, of course, but if they had any real bite, countless billions of wretched creatures would not have to suffer the horrors of factory farming – nor would 5.5 billion or so wild animals be kept in cruel farmed conditions for the benefit of the tourism, fashion and other industries, as highlighted recently by the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3258590/why-proposed-irrawaddy-dolphin-festival-cambodian-commune-too-late-local-population-has-been-wiped?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3258590/why-proposed-irrawaddy-dolphin-festival-cambodian-commune-too-late-local-population-has-been-wiped?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Apr 2024 03:45:11 +0000 How far is too far? That is the question that will be increasingly asked by prospective visitors to the Antipodes. Even now, “Australia is losing its appeal as a destination for international business events […] because of the carbon that’s emitted flying there,” reported Bloomberg recently. And some tourists will no doubt feel the same about trekking to the Land Down Under, as well as, by extension, The Land of the Long White Cloud (New Zealand, if you were wondering). “Many businesses don’t... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3256955/will-carbon-cost-flights-australasia-put-long-haul-tourists-great-barrier-reef-bleaching-turn-too?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3256955/will-carbon-cost-flights-australasia-put-long-haul-tourists-great-barrier-reef-bleaching-turn-too?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Mar 2024 23:45:15 +0000 Google tells us that there are more than 4,400 four- and five-star hotels in the world. Given that the majority are clustered in the most visited cities and not every­one with US$250 or more to spend on nightly accommodation is especially brand loyal, it’s easy to see why owners look for ways to make individual properties stand out from the crowd. And there’s only so much appeal in tours that put the “authenticity” into the city. Hence, the rise and rise of the hotel art collection. Luxury... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3256065/5-star-hotels-best-art-collections-dali-botero-and-murakami-thrown-price-nights-stay-or-african?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3256065/5-star-hotels-best-art-collections-dali-botero-and-murakami-thrown-price-nights-stay-or-african?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Mar 2024 23:45:10 +0000 There are few things more appreciated by a stranger in a strange land than a warm welcome. And it’s unlikely you’ll get one from all quarters in Kyoto, Venice, Amsterdam, Seville (where the mayor is planning to introduce a fee to enter the iconic but worn out Plaza de España, the latest in a series of tourism-dampening measures across Europe) or other cities struggling with overtourism. National capitals can appear coldly indifferent to the visiting tourist, too, so we were interested to see a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3254517/bookingcom-has-named-worlds-10-most-welcoming-cities-places-it-says-are-iconic-stunning-enchanting?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3254517/bookingcom-has-named-worlds-10-most-welcoming-cities-places-it-says-are-iconic-stunning-enchanting?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Mar 2024 23:45:08 +0000 “War, huh, yeah, what is it good for …” asked Edwin Starr in 1970, as fighting raged in Vietnam. The answer, according to the chart-topping song, is “absolutely nothing” – but that’s not completely true. War is great for those who don’t have to fight it but do benefit from owning shares in weapons manufacturers. And in the case of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, in particular, it’s good for the tourism industries in countries such as Thailand and North Korea. Russian airlines are banned from most... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3252676/thailand-woos-russian-tourists-longer-stays-phuket-locals-witness-their-island-turning-something?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3252676/thailand-woos-russian-tourists-longer-stays-phuket-locals-witness-their-island-turning-something?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 21 Feb 2024 23:45:12 +0000 Have any readers stayed at the Hotel Ease · Tsuen Wan, in Hong Kong’s New Territories? Or even heard of it? It ain’t The Pen, the MO or the Regent, but in March 2019, this 160-room “high-rise lodging with a funky eatery” (as the internet refers to it) on Chun Pin Street, Kwai Chung, became the first hotel in Asia to get B Corp certification. “To get what?” you may well ask. Visit the Hotel Ease website, and you have to dig deep to find any mention of the certification … there it is on the Awards... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3251958/what-b-corp-and-why-arent-hotels-rushing-show-they-walk-sustainability-talk-there-are-only-3?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3251958/what-b-corp-and-why-arent-hotels-rushing-show-they-walk-sustainability-talk-there-are-only-3?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Feb 2024 23:45:10 +0000 If we had a dollar for every domestic trip taken in mainland China during the Lunar New Year holiday period, we’d have a tidy 9 billion bucks. The Great Human Migration is under way, as families reunite to welcome in the Year of the Dragon. “A record high 9 billion trips are expected to be made within China during the annual 40-day chun yun travel period, the Ministry of Transport said […] with family reunions, sightseeing and leisure activities on the agenda,” reports the South China Morning... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3250427/china-expects-9-billion-domestic-trips-over-lunar-new-year-holiday-indonesia-could-use-some-those?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3250427/china-expects-9-billion-domestic-trips-over-lunar-new-year-holiday-indonesia-could-use-some-those?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:45:17 +0000 Which is the world’s longest escalator? The one in Hong Kong that takes commuters from Central up to Mid-Levels is often given as the answer, but that’s not really true, since those 800 metres (2,625 feet) of covered moving walkway are in fact split into several sections. The Guinness World Records says: “The world’s longest escalator system is Hong Kong’s Central Hillside Escalator Link.” That leaves the field open to a trio of joint winners of the genuinely longest (single) escalator title –... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3249710/where-asias-longest-escalator-and-will-malaysia-challenge-title-new-walkway-its-batu-caves-packed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3249710/where-asias-longest-escalator-and-will-malaysia-challenge-title-new-walkway-its-batu-caves-packed?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Jan 2024 23:45:13 +0000 The Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui must be making a killing. Try booking a room at the luxury hotel for February or March, and you’ll be bang out of luck. The booking page for those months has been completely blocked off. And we don’t imagine it’s for a revamp. Like a game of global Cluedo, first it was Armond, with a knife, in Maui. Then it was Tanya, with a lung full of water, in Sicily. This time around, we don’t yet know the victim, but it’s looking likely that the scene of the crime in the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3248787/four-seasons-koh-samui-next-murder-mayhem-and-more-tourists-if-hbo-picks-thai-island-hotel-white?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3248787/four-seasons-koh-samui-next-murder-mayhem-and-more-tourists-if-hbo-picks-thai-island-hotel-white?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Jan 2024 23:45:10 +0000 Two thousand and twenty three. It wasn’t the finest of years, really, was it. As the planet sizzled, the Big Oil-co-opted Cop28 failed to deliver the radical solutions we so desperately need; life in the world’s various conflict/extermination zones got much, much bloodier; and if the anticipated post-Covid euphoria materialised anywhere, we must have missed it. Still, living is all about hanging on to the positives, and one of those – at least according to Singapore-based travel services... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3247140/tripcoms-2023-hong-kong-travel-trends-where-people-went-number-flights-they-took-and-more-and-how?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3247140/tripcoms-2023-hong-kong-travel-trends-where-people-went-number-flights-they-took-and-more-and-how?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Jan 2024 23:46:14 +0000 In the race for full sustainability, Singapore’s Tortoise Island has beaten many a hare. “Kusu Island, home to the popular Da Bo Gong Temple and three Malay keramat [shrines], is now completely self-reliant in using solar power to produce its own water and electricity, setting a precedent for other southern islands like Pulau Hantu,” reports The Straits Times. The newspaper’s reporter was taken on a recce this month and discovered that, “The island’s solar photovoltaic and desalination systems... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3245018/singapores-tortoise-island-becomes-fully-sustainable-using-solar-power-showing-its-no-slowcoach-now?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3245018/singapores-tortoise-island-becomes-fully-sustainable-using-solar-power-showing-its-no-slowcoach-now?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Dec 2023 03:48:47 +0000 Christmas is approaching and new years – both calendar and lunar – are not far behind, but in Thailand, the talk is all about April’s Songkran, the “water splashing festival”, which faces a radical overhaul. A time for personal spring cleaning, making merit and keeping cool amid the rising heat, the name Songkran comes from the Sanskrit word sankranti, roughly “astrological transition”. In readiness, Thais across the country deep-clean their homes – where specially prepared family meals will be... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3244372/month-long-songkran-water-festival-thailand-u1-billion-gain-economy-extending-festivities?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3244372/month-long-songkran-water-festival-thailand-u1-billion-gain-economy-extending-festivities?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Dec 2023 23:45:13 +0000 Was Taylor Swift’s recent experience in Brazil a canary-in-the-coal-mine moment for the travel and tourism industry? The American singer has become something of a mobile tourist attraction, with Swifties – as her fans are known – swooping in their thousands from places where she isn’t performing to places where she is. And, “When Taylor Swift comes to town, Swifties go on a spending spree,” as The Wall Street Journal puts it. “It’s simple Taylornomics.” Or Swiftonomics, as other publications dub... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3243240/taylor-swift-needs-speak-out-climate-breakdown-fans-drive-concert-tourism-so-why-isnt-she?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3243240/taylor-swift-needs-speak-out-climate-breakdown-fans-drive-concert-tourism-so-why-isnt-she?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Nov 2023 23:45:16 +0000 Not now, bedbugs! Paris, London, Seoul, Singapore – city after city is apparently falling to an army of the fiendish insects, the bugs parachuting in on the clothes and luggage of global travellers. The French capital was the first to sound the alarm. “Paris is battling a major bedbug infestation, with reports of the bloodsucking pests being spotted in […] cinemas, on trains, and at Charles-de-Gaulle Airport,” reported Business Insider at the end of September. “French authorities are under... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3241626/do-we-really-need-panic-about-bedbug-pandemic-course-not?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3241626/do-we-really-need-panic-about-bedbug-pandemic-course-not?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Nov 2023 23:45:19 +0000 Minds out of the gutter, please, because the suggestively titled “Welcome to My Dong” series of videos is to be found on YouTube, not Pornhub, and the exhibitionist responsible, Bart van Genugten, reveals only enough of himself to present an exhaustive look at Seoul. The Dutchman has set out to explore and document all 467 neighbourhoods – known as dong – of the South Korean capital, and has given himself four to six years to do so, he has told The Korea Times. The videos and shorts he produces... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3239967/not-your-usual-seoul-travel-guide-youtube-videos-made-dutchman-bored-korea-aim-document-all-citys?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3239967/not-your-usual-seoul-travel-guide-youtube-videos-made-dutchman-bored-korea-aim-document-all-citys?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2023 23:45:13 +0000 Last week, a contemporary tourism morality tale played out in three parts over a single day. The first act was published by Reuters. Under the headline, “Japan international visitors reach 96 per cent of pre-Covid level in September”, the newswire reported that “Japan welcomed more than 2 million international visitors for a fourth consecutive month in September […] marking a near full recovery to pre-pandemic levels. “The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure was 2.18 million last... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3239100/japan-receives-rude-reminder-overtourism-evils-international-tourist-numbers-near-pre-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3239100/japan-receives-rude-reminder-overtourism-evils-international-tourist-numbers-near-pre-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Oct 2023 23:45:18 +0000 What the hell has happened to Halloween? Apart from it becoming every self-respecting copywriter’s worst nightmare, of course! The commercialisation of Halloween has been a long and ever more heavily marketed process. The first mention in the pages of the South China Morning Post was on November 1, 1927: “Last night the Scots of the Colony celebrated Hallowe’en, at least those who are members of the Volunteers did, and they observed it right royally. “The celebration […] took the form of a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3238451/hallo-hong-kong-halloween-campaign-what-point-tourist-boards-tacky-2023-campaign-does-not-enhance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3238451/hallo-hong-kong-halloween-campaign-what-point-tourist-boards-tacky-2023-campaign-does-not-enhance?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Oct 2023 09:45:07 +0000 In September 1830, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, designed and built by George Stephenson, launched the first intercity service in the world. It was financially successful, too, and was used as a model for railway construction across Britain. Almost two centuries later, Stephenson and other British train pioneers and inventors – the likes of Richard Trevithick, Matthew Murray and William Hedley – must be turning in their graves, seeing the inability of the current British government to... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3237578/china-japan-and-now-indonesia-lead-charge-high-speed-rail-while-uk-where-worlds-first-intercity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3237578/china-japan-and-now-indonesia-lead-charge-high-speed-rail-while-uk-where-worlds-first-intercity?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Oct 2023 23:45:07 +0000 Is it just us, or does the post-pandemic world feel like a different place to the pre-pandemic world? Perhaps nowhere more so than in mainland China, where the anticipated return to tourism business as usual has simply not materialised. Immigration data shows that mainland China’s tourism sector saw a 70 per cent drop in international travellers in the first half of this year compared with pre-Covid levels, from close to 31 million who entered and exited the country in the same period in 2019 to... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3236766/why-are-tourists-not-returning-mainland-china-experts-cite-host-reasons-its-anyones-guess-when?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3236766/why-are-tourists-not-returning-mainland-china-experts-cite-host-reasons-its-anyones-guess-when?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Oct 2023 23:45:08 +0000 Depending on your reason for visiting the Netherlands’ biggest city, the Kras, as some apparently call the Anantara Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, is perhaps the best-located hotel in all of Amsterdam. With the simple address of Dam 9, the grande dame stands on one side of Dam Square, which is about as central as you can get in this heaving metropolis. Who was Krasnapolsky? Adolph Wilhelm Krasnapolsky came from a family of Polish tailors and, in the 1860s, purchased his favourite coffee house, a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3235271/anantara-grand-hotel-krasnapolsky-may-be-amsterdams-best-located-hotel-whats-asian-resort-brand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3235271/anantara-grand-hotel-krasnapolsky-may-be-amsterdams-best-located-hotel-whats-asian-resort-brand?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Sep 2023 11:15:10 +0000 What does tritium taste like, we wonder? A bit like chicken? The governments of Hong Kong and mainland China may be shunning Japanese seafood, in response to the release of waste water into the ocean from the wrecked Fukushima No 1 nuclear power plant, but their subjects are continuing to wolf down sushi and sashimi on their visits to the Land of the Rising Sun – or so says The Japan Times. Following the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the Tokyo Electric Power Company... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3233612/are-chinese-tourists-japan-toeing-party-line-over-eating-seafood-after-fukushima-waste-water-release?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3233612/are-chinese-tourists-japan-toeing-party-line-over-eating-seafood-after-fukushima-waste-water-release?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Sep 2023 23:53:12 +0000 There has been a development in the Chinese vs Japanese, Hanoi vs Ho Chi Minh City Battle of the Metros in Vietnam. In July 2017, the South China Morning Post ran an article under the headline “Vietnam’s Tale of Two Metros …” that explained, “For the first time in their histories, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are both in the middle of desperately needed major metro-system projects that aim to transform their cities. “Both are facing delays, but a series of high-profile accidents has already cast a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3233061/vietnams-battle-metros-chinese-led-hanoi-project-delivers-operational-line-japans-ho-chi-minh-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3233061/vietnams-battle-metros-chinese-led-hanoi-project-delivers-operational-line-japans-ho-chi-minh-city?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Sep 2023 06:15:17 +0000 Boyan Slat is something of a hero as far as Destinations Known is concerned. The 29-year-old Dutch founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup – a non-profit organisation that develops technologies to rid oceans and waterways of plastic – has put his machines to work in Malaysia, Vietnam, Jamaica and the United States, as well as over the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but the river clean-ups began in Indonesia, on April 1, 2019, when the company’s Interceptor 001 began sieving rubbish out of the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3231354/tsunamis-trash-bali-based-river-warriors-clearing-indonesias-beaches-and-waterways-waste-and-helping?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3231354/tsunamis-trash-bali-based-river-warriors-clearing-indonesias-beaches-and-waterways-waste-and-helping?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Aug 2023 03:38:39 +0000 Mainstream media are often accused of two key failings when it comes to covering climate breakdown and the threats it poses. Even though most climate-related disasters are well covered – “extreme weather events across the globe this month have already featured on more than 114 front pages in at least 84 newspapers, published across 32 countries,” Carbon Brief reported on July 25 – rarely is it explained clearly enough that those disasters have been exacerbated, in some cases caused, by the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3230496/global-warming-becomes-global-boiling-world-headlines-underline-reality-climate-breakdown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3230496/global-warming-becomes-global-boiling-world-headlines-underline-reality-climate-breakdown?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Aug 2023 23:45:17 +0000 As far as the post-Covid rebound of tourism in Japan goes, there’s good news and there’s bad news. Although Hongkongers’ favourite country – more than 45 per cent of their searches for flights in July and August have been for those to cities in Japan, according to online agency Expedia – saw overall visitor numbers recover to more than 60 per cent of pre-pandemic levels in the first half of 2023, there simply aren’t enough workers to give all those returning sightseers a proper welcome. “Many... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3229744/bullet-climbing-crisis-cards-mount-fuji-japan-struggling-accommodate-all-tourists-flocking-country?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3229744/bullet-climbing-crisis-cards-mount-fuji-japan-struggling-accommodate-all-tourists-flocking-country?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 Aug 2023 03:45:09 +0000 Promotional tourism videos don’t come with small print. Matty Healy, the singer of British band The 1975, made an interesting comment at the beginning of the rant that, together with an onstage kiss, led to him and his band being “banned from Kuala Lumpur”, the shutdown of the three-day Good Vibes Festival and an investigation into its organisers by the Malaysian authorities. “I made a mistake. When we were booking shows I wasn’t looking into it. I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3228998/1975-singer-matty-healys-malaysia-rant-exposes-dilemma-should-tourists-liberal-societies-invited?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3228998/1975-singer-matty-healys-malaysia-rant-exposes-dilemma-should-tourists-liberal-societies-invited?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Jul 2023 09:56:09 +0000 The Tasman is Hobart, Tasmania’s newest hotel – and a member of Marriott’s The Luxury Collection. Tell me more The Tasman is a 152-room property of three parts – a building constructed in 1841 as a hospital (although it served that purpose only until 1860), a 1937 art deco building and the newly constructed Pavilion wing. The result is a mishmash of styles with rooms featuring original windows and artwork, and restored fireplaces – as well as hallways that rise or drop a step for no apparent... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3228284/tasmanias-newest-luxury-hotel-tasman-mishmash-styles-19th-century-contemporary-easy-access-art-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3228284/tasmanias-newest-luxury-hotel-tasman-mishmash-styles-19th-century-contemporary-easy-access-art-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Jul 2023 03:49:09 +0000