ASIA Travel Tips.com

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Bookings on the Abacus system for Pakistan for 2005 are set to more than triple those recorded in 2004. In the first half of 2005, Pakistan FIT bookings on the Abacus system increased 299% over the same period in 2004.

“This is a very exciting time for Pakistan’s travel industry,” said Kenneth Low, Vice President South Asia of Abacus International. “The combination of rising consumer incomes, travel liberalisation gathering pace and leisure travel becoming increasingly affordable, means that Pakistan is a market with incredible potential.”

The World Travel and Tourism Council expects travel and tourism demand in Pakistan to grow by 10% in 2005 and 6.5% per annum between 2006 and 2015.

In the past 12 months, an additional 500 travel agents in Pakistan have been added on to the Abacus network. Abacus offices have also been established in eight major cities in Pakistan, including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Kharian, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Multan, to serve these travel agents.

“Through the partnership with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), partner carriers, and south-west Asia and middle eastern carriers, the global distribution systems (GDS) bookable segments have more than doubled for free and independent travellers (FITs) and have added a new dimension in domestic bookings for Pakistan,” Mr Low said.

Abacus Pakistan will be working with Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Cathay Pacific (CX), Emirates (EK) and other major airlines of the region to launch e-ticketing in time for the Billing Settlement Plan (BSP) implementation in Pakistan. The BSP handles the processing of airline tickets, payments, and the disbursement of commissions to travel agencies, and is clearing the way for automated e-ticketing functionalities in line with International Air Transport Association’s (IATA’s) goal of converting all member airlines to e-ticketing by 2007.

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