Intra-Asia Travel powers Travel Growth in Asia Pacific

Confidence in travel in Asia continues to be strong with almost 80% of the bookings recorded on the Abacus system for Intra-Asia travel in the month of May 2005, according to the latest figures from Abacus International.

Overall, travel remains robust with a 5% increase in total travel bookings (total bookings = FIT + DOM + Group) in May 2005 compared with the same month in 2004. 

FIT bookings made on the Abacus travel booking system in May also contributed strongly with an increase of 8% over May 2004.

“Intra-Asia travel remains resilient with travellers continuing to visit Asian destinations for both leisure and business travel. As of May, Intra-Asia travel accounted for 78.9% of Abacus bookings, outstripping all long-haul routes,” said Don Birch, President and CEO of Abacus International.

“Abacus identified this trend long ago and put in place strategies to ride this growth. I am pleased that the investments, both in terms of manpower and financial, have worked. In India, we have just ended our 9-city roadshows whereby we shared our solutions that will prepare the travel community to adapt to a new travel landscape,” added Mr Birch.

Besides India, which posted a 35% increase in FIT bookings in May compared to the same period last year, the younger markets such as Pakistan and Nepal posted a 377% and a 60% increase respectively.

Electronic ticketing also continued to grow in popularity as the number of e-tickets sold in May climbed to over 22.5% of total tickets issued on the Abacus system. These figures represent a 71% jump in the number of e-tickets sold on the Abacus system in May just one year ago.

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