BADER ZAINAL WRITES — Like many countries around the world, Japan has suffered significant negative impacts to its tourism industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, but signs of travel restrictions easing bring hope for recovery. The beauty and mystique of Japan have long enticed visitors from international locales, with tourism soaring…
Tag: Travel
CORONAVIRUS CHRONICLES: UPS AND DOWNS OF 2020, WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
SARAH SHARPE WRITES — How did we get here? It is September of 2020. I don’t think I’m alone when I say that this has been one of the most challenging years of my life. It feels as though everything has gone awry, and I know there is still more…
INDONESIA: Asia’s New Tech Hub?
MICHELLE VARINATA WRITES – Poverty and wealth; primitive and modern; religious and secular. Indonesia is Asia’s most enigmatic (and somewhat bi-polar) nation filled with socio-economic contradictions. Despite the disparity in wealth, the country has one thing that bonds everyone from all walks of life: technology. Recently, Indonesia has built a…
SINGAPORE: High Expectations and False Advertising Leave Tourists Unimpressed
As Singapore becomes a hot vacation spot, tourists’ expectations increase as they hear of its booming economy and luxury resorts. But can Singapore keep up with these higher demands? Vacationers weighed in, seeming unimpressed. Recently, the Institute of Service Excellence at Singapore Management University released the results of its tourism…
INDIA: China’s Passport to Trouble
China is at it again! Existing territorial conflict between New Delhi and Beijing over Arunchal Pradesh is no concern of the past. The controversial issue has been revived as China recently took matters into its own hands, launching new e-passports in which it showed the regions of Arunachal Pradesh and…
THAILAND: Offering the Tourist a Warm Techie Hug
The Thai National Science and Technology Development Agency’s (NSTDA) goals are to support research in science and technology and their applications in the Thai economy. To promote this goal, the NSTDA, in unison with Samart Corporation, launched the Samart Innovation Awards under the theme of Tourism Software Development. The so-called…
JAPAN: Trying to Get Those Outsiders to Understand
Language can represent a daunting obstacle to traveling abroad. Kyodo News, Japan’s leading nonprofit news agency, aims to diminish this barrier through the introduction of Japan Portal. According to The Japan Times, the nation’s leading English-language publication, the trilingual website was created to both convey pertinent Japanese issues to foreigners…