politics in Asia

We are well aware of, and closely monitoring, the political situation in Sri Lanka since removal of the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe by Presidential Sirisena on Friday and his subsequent…

We’ve been asked by many of our clients about the current situation in Myanmar with the Rohingya people in Rakhine State. They want to know whether it is safe to…

Thinking of heading overseas this summer? You’re not alone. Despite the weakened pound, finder.com/uk has forecast that Brits will be taking more than 15 million trips abroad this summer alone. The travel bug might not be diminished in travellers, but there are still concerns over what Brexit has done to the value of the pound. And these aren’t invalid concerns – on average, the pound has fallen by 11.95% across 44 of the 48 countries that Brits travel to, which means you’re likely to be paying a little extra when transferring your pounds over to a foreign currency.

I recently was asked to speak at Tourism Concern AGM on the subject of Myanmar (Burma) and in particular our responsible travel policy there – which included avoiding hotels owned by…

A new day and a new start for Sri Lanka. Former President Rajapakse has conceded defeat in the Presidential election held yesterday and his rival and long time colleague, Maithri…

Having lived in Bangkok on and off for the past 7 years, I’ve thought quite a bit about the current constitutional crisis within Thailand. I’m not really qualified to offer…

President Mohamed Nasheed resigned today in the face of mounting protests from opposition groups following the arrest and detention of a senior judge.  HE has been succeeded by Waheed Hassan…

The Maldives Government banned spa’s this week and then following a volley of abuse from the tourist industry promptly un-banned them again.

We reproduce here a letter which was published in the Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) concerning some of the challenges the government and tourism industry faces as it evolves in the…

So, after one of the most dangerous, unpredictable and upsetting weeks in the city’s recent history, Bangkok is picking up the pieces and returning to normal. Despite the fact that…

They say trouble comes in threes and if that is true then we are at Experience Travel can look forward to a restful summer. We’ve had the volcanic ash, the…

We’ve had 2 directors and a staff member in Sri Lanka for the bulk of this month – looking at product, talking to suppliers and generally making a’ nuisence of…

In a hilarious (if you don’t work in the travel industry that is!) and spectacular u-turn the Government of Sri Lanka has intervened and cancelled the new marketing campaign devised…

Concern has been expressed throughout Sri Lanka at the government’s decision to re-activate the 1973 Press Council Law which gives the authorities wide ranging power to charge, fine and detain…

A few years ago I was asked by a certain well known ‘responsible’ travel company to provide suggestions for ‘responsible’ product in the Maldives that we could market through their site. It was totally impossible.