Singapore, 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 per cent lower than same period in 2005 while February 2006 rose by 13 per cent 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 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 per cent for the year,” said Don Birch.

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

Intra-Asia travel accounted for around 79 per cent 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 the America’s 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.”

Mr Birch said Abacus’ focus continues to be on better understanding our customers’ needs and delivering the best travel content, cost-effective travel solutions, operational efficiency and marketing support to assist the travel industry make the most of the travel opportunities ahead.

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 per cent 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.