Asia Pacific Travel Growth off to a Steady Start in 2006

The travel industry has had a steady take-off for 2006 throughout the Asia Pacific region, according to the latest travel figures released by Abacus International.

Total bookings on the Abacus system for January were 6% lower than the same period in 2005 while February 2006 rose by 13% over the same month in 2005 to around 4.19 million. January figures were down slightly at 3.5 million, reflecting the impact of Chinese New Year holidays in 2006 which were earlier than in 2005.

“Overall, this represents a solid start to 2006 – particularly when you’re measuring against the strong performance we saw last year,” said Don Birch, President and CEO of Abacus. “January’s figures are very much inline with our expectations as we have taken into consideration the lack of bookings from the first two days of Chinese New Year. February figures showed some of the strongest growth we’ve seen in the past six months. I remain optimistic that travel will be robust this year, with anticipated growth across the region in the region of 4-6% for the year.”

FIT bookings in February increased 25% over bookings made in the same period the previous year. FIT bookings in February 2006 were up 11% on 2004 and 39% higher than 2003.

Intra-Asia travel accounted for around 79% of all bookings made on the Abacus system in January and February. The increase in long-haul route travel in the first two months of the year can be attributed to the Chinese New Year travel specials and repeated promotions by full-service airlines to European and American destinations.

“As forecast at the beginning of the year, full service airlines have begun to look at new ways to encourage travel and provide good deals for their customers on both their long-haul and short-haul routes,” Mr Birch said. “And these incentives are paying off for some of the carriers, possibly easing the strain of higher fuel costs on the industry.”

“However, even with such sturdy growth figures for the start of a new year, we can’t sit back and just enjoy the ride,” Mr Birch said. “While we know that travel is now a staple and no longer a luxury, the entire industry must continue to work together to ensure that all aspects of travel ensure that Asia Pacific continues to be a destination of choice.”

E-ticketing

Electronic ticketing (e-tickets) continues to gain in popularity throughout Asia Pacific, with almost one in every three tickets issued on the Abacus system in January-February being paperless. Some 487,500 e-tickets were issued in February, which is an increase of around 75% compared against February 2004 e-ticket figures.

North Asia is leading the e-ticket adoption, with over 113,000 e-tickets sold in Taiwan in February this month, ahead of Hong Kong (90,000) and South Korea (88,000). In South Asia Singapore leads other markets with around 74,600 e-tickets sold, this number surpassed for the first time the amount of paper tickets issued for the month.

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