"South East Asia is where the excitement is because it is a fast-growing tourism region for Australia." As we near the 5th anniversary of the WHO declaring a pandemic on 11 March 2020, it's a good time to discuss emerging developments in Australia's visitor economy. This week, Gary welcomes Garrett Tyler-Parker, Director of Analysis & Insights at Tourism Research Australia, part of the Australian Trade & Investment Commission (AusTrade). We discuss Australia's Thrive 2030 strategy, which is transitioning from 'recovery' to 'consolidation' phase, and the variable rates of inbound recovery from regional markets. We look at why Investment in travel infrastructure and services is growing at a rapid rate. Garrett explains the diverse factors influencing inbound arrivals from China, India and South East Asian markets. While visitors from Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia now exceed 2019 levels, Malaysia's post-Covid rebound has been slow. Plus, we look at evolving trends among holiday, VFR, education and blended travellers to Australia - and the current outbound hotspots for Australian tourists. And we discuss Tourism Research Australia's enlarging scope to closely monitor social, environmental and institutional variables, as well as economic metrics.