Asian tourist bookings up despite tsunami

“After a stellar performance last year, this is a good, solid start to 2005,” Abacus President and Chief Executive Don Birch said in a statement.

Travel bookings in Indochina and Central Asia, which comprise Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, were up 12 per cent in January.

In South Asia, which includes India, Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Sri Lanka, bookings rose 7 per cent in January from a year ago.

“Overall, our regional performance in January was excellent,” Birch said.

He credited the strong showing in January to North Asia, which saw bookings increase 24 per cent on the year. North Asia, which groups China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan are expected to be the main growth drivers in 2005.

“Taiwan and Hong Kong are traditionally strong markets but China is also coming up fast. We expect China to drive Asia Pacific travel and tourism in 2005 with travel growth of between 15 and 20 per cent.” —AFP