Inspired by China’s e-commerce trends, invested by Chinese mega players, such as Alibaba and JD.com, and driven by increasing smartphone usage and consumer affluence, online shopping is expanding fast across South East Asia. Fierce competition for sales is overlaid by unique conditions in each country. Brands are adapting their business models to compete in fragmenting [...]
As vacation demand gathers pace across Asia, overtourism is concerning policy makers from Beijing to Luang Prabang. In this updated article from 2016, our Check-in Asia Hotels & Travel team examines a white-hot travel issue. What do the Three Gorges Dam on China’s Yangtze River, Italy’s scenic Cinque Terre villages and the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru share [...]
Pakistan lays claim to being one of the few untapped tourism destinations on earth. Multiple challenges, though, have prevented it from optimising its dramatic landscapes and diverse history, cultures and cuisines. In the 1980s, Pakistan was one of the world’s top emerging destinations. It has since fallen off the travel map. Persistent terrorism, poor infrastructure, [...]
Since 2010, when Scribes established its South East Asian base in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, we have been analysing developments across the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Infrastructure, transport and digitisation are the key components of South East Asia's new economic direction, while the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was established at [...]
