Low-cost carrier AirAsia Indonesia is set to open a new international route connecting Denpasar (Bali) with Da Nang (Vietnam) from March 20, marking the airline’s seventh international service from the resort island of Bali.

The Malaysian passport has climbed one place to rank 9th in the latest index by London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners, offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 180 destinations worldwide.

Scoot, a low-cost subsidiary of national carrier Singapore Airlines, ranked third in a ranking of the world’s safest low-cost airlines for 2026 by AirlineRatings.com, the world’s only airline safety and product rating website.

Vietnam’s passport has climbed up four places from last month to 86th in the Henley Passport Index’s 2026 ranking, offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 49 out of 227 destinations.

The Halia Restaurant at the Singapore Botanic Gardens will close in mid-March after 25 years of operation, adding to a growing list of food and beverage outlets that have shut down in the city-state in recent years.

Malaysia expects to attract 4.6 million Indonesia tourists this year as part of the Visit Malaysia Year 2026 campaign after recording positive results last year.

A street vendor in Hanoi’s Old Quarter has been questioned by the police for allegedly charging two foreign tourists nearly four times the normal price of a conical hat.

High in the border mountains in Nghe An Province, a primary school becomes a springtime destination with cherry blossoms that color the area in pink.

With 32.9 million international arrivals in 2025, Thailand ranked as Southeast Asia’s second most visited country after Malaysia, marking the second consecutive year the kingdom has relinquished its regional tourism crown.

A tourism association has proposed that Phu Quoc authorities establish a tourist police force, build more public toilets, and provide free public water taps and phone charging stations to accommodate the island’s recent travel boom.