Asia-Pacific travel growth set for 9 % growth

ASIA-Pacific travel is continuing its steady growth pattern, according to the latest booking figures issued today by the region’s leading travel facilitator Abacus International.

Total bookings on the Abacus system increased by 1 per cent in October compared with the same period in 2004, to nearly 4 million. Intra-Asia travel continued to form the bulk of the bookings made at more than 80 per cent.

Said Abacus President and CEO Don Birch, “2005 is set to end on a very positive note for international travel, with the World Tourism Organisation forecasting a global growth rate of 5 to 6 per cent for the year.

This, coming off the back of a record 2004 which saw a 10.7 per cent growth rate over the previous year, is excellent news for the industry.

“Asia-Pacific travel, in particular, is set to surpass the industry average, and is headed for a record growth of 9 per cent this year as we gear up for the usual year-end peak holiday travel season.

Already, hotels on the Andaman coast in Thailand are booked to near capacity for the rest of the high season, and Indian hotels are averaging a 90 per cent occupancy rate until march 2006, as holidaymakers start to firm up their travel plans.”

As with previous months, the Asia to Middle East travel route proved to be the strongest performer, with October’s figures showing a 100 per cent increase in bookings over the corresponding period in 2004. Strong economic and financial ties between the two regions and a desire to explore new trade and investment opportunities in the Middle East are fuelling the travel growth.

Electronic ticketing is gaining in popularity in Asia with the number of e-tickets issued for the month of October increasing by 55 per cent over the same period last year.

In Singapore, nearly one in two tickets (47.1 per cent) issued to date are electronic tickets, with the Philippines and Thailand recording the highest growth rates at 524 per cent and 231 per cent respectively. Some 3.88 million e-tickets have been issued to date this year, an increase of 79 per cent over the same period last year.

While international travel should have been badly affected by these threats, latest figures from the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) show a 5.9 per cent growth in international tourist arrivals for the first seven months of the year as compared with the corresponding period in 2004.

In fact, the WTO expects the year to end with an increase of 5 to 6 per cent, saying that this is “exceptional” given that peaceful 2004 was a record year for the industry, and that the estimate exceeds the forecast long-term average growth of 4 per cent.