5th Abacus International Conference held on Hainan Island a Success

China’s beautiful tropical paradise, Sanya, on Hainan Island was the setting for the 5th Abacus International Conference (AIC) from 7–10 September 2005. Some 500 of Abacus’ top travel agents and partners from around 20 Asia Pacific markets took part in what is one of Abacus’ biggest AIC conferences yet.

The AIC conference programme included a series of interactive plenary and workshop sessions as well as 14 booths exhibiting some of the latest in travel solutions technology, services and products.

“All of us at Abacus are extremely pleased with how the conference went,” said Don Birch, President and CEO of Abacus. “On behalf of the team, I’d like to thank all the delegates, sponsors and exhibitors whose participation helped to make it such a success. We were particularly excited to host the conference in Sanya, our first in the People’s Republic of China. Aside from being an idyllic setting it also helped to demonstrate first hand to the delegates that China is indeed the next biggest travel growth market.”

The theme of this year’s conference was “Moving Asia”, with the conference plenary and workshop sessions highlighting the recent changing patterns of travellers and how travel agents need to adapt their business models to keep up with the changing trends. 

Aside from the plenary and workshops coupled with networking opportunities, delegates were also pampered with several recreational activities such as sightseeing, shopping and golf.

The first AIC conference was held in Singapore 1995 as a trade event for Abacus-connected travel agents and partners. In 1997 the AIC was held in Bali Indonesia, with Hong Kong the host in 2000, followed by Bangkok Thailand in 2002.

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