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Asian tourism to see sustained growth in H2 despite security concerns - Abacus

Analysis

Singapore (XFNews-ASIA) - Airline passenger numbers in the Asia-Pacific region will continue to grow in the second half this year despite higher oil prices and security concerns following the foiled terror plot in the UK last week, reservations company Abacus International said.

"By and large, travellers are very resilient and my guess is two weeks from now things will return to normal," Abacus CEO Don Birch said at a media briefing.

"My forecast is people on discretionary travel may pull back but from our experience, the impact will be relatively limited," Birch said.

He said robust economies will continue to fuel demand for business and leisure travel, although stricter restrictions on carry-on luggage could be a concern for business travellers going forward.

Preliminary figures on the Abacus system show that travel bookings in Asia in the first half grew 5 pct year-on-year and Birch expects the growth rate to be sustained in the second half.

Last year, Abacus recorded more than 54.3 mln travel reservations on its system.

"(The) Asia-Pacific is the most profitable region for the global airline industry with IATA (International Air Transport Association) projecting 2006 net profit of 1.7 bln usd (for the region) against a backdrop of an overall global airline industry loss of 3 bln usd for the year," he added.

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