ABACUS International, the Asia-Pacific`s largest Global Distribution System, will take part in the annual Asean Tourism Forum (ATF) from 14 through 16 January 2001.
This year`s show is in Brunei and ABACUS will participate with its Brunei National Marketing Company.
At ATF 2001, ABACUS will showcase its staple AbacusWhiz PowerSuite, AbacusFOCUS, Abacus Agent Online, WEBlink@ABACUS and TravelReX. Visitors to the ABACUS booth 141 will also be among the first to preview the new Virtually There.
ABACUS President & CEO William Liu said: “2001 will be an eventful year for ABACUS as we have some exciting new products lined up for our travel agents. They will be getting sneak previews of Virtually There and the soon to be enhanced TravelRex as well as hands-on demos of our core workstation products.”
Virtually There is an online service that enables travel agents to give customers their own travel domain. Passengers can have free and secure access to their itineraries, destination and shopping information, maps, weather updates and more. With Virtually There, travellers can access their online graphical itineraries, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and from anywhere in the world.
TravelReX is one of ABACUS’ earlier e-commerce initiatives to e-enable subscribers. Currently undergoing a facelift, TravelReX will transform itself into a travel “hub” with real-time booking for air, hotels, tours, cars and other travel products. It will also have rich content to give travellers a more fruitful online shopping experience. Very soon, all ABACUS travel agents can also look forward to bringing their marketing expertise online to TravelReX and competing alongside virtual travel agencies.
Also on show at ATF is AbacusWhiz PowerSuite, the popular ABACUS workstation solution that automates the entire range of agency operations from bookings and ticketing to accounts reconciliation. It also helps to streamline the agency workflow with the auto transfer of PNR and ticket information from the host to the travel agency`s local database.
Information from the mid- to back-office can be instantaneously updated, boosting productivity and efficiency and cutting costly errors. Tedious back-office accounting functions such as journal posting and accounts reconciliation entries have been fully automated. The comprehensive operation and management analysis reports - such as booking trends and behaviour analysis - give travel agents an added competitive edge to help them in strategic decision-making.
AbacusFOCUS is the user-friendly report information system that gives travel agencies critical and comprehensive reports according to their specific needs so that they can access and analyze on-line booking data to better manage their business.
AbacusFOCUS is dynamic and allows selective grouping, sorting, retrieval and drilling down of information. It can even translate figures generated into charts and graphs for easy comparison and a professional presentation. Agents can use AbacusFOCUS to identify cost saving areas to streamline operations and ensure maximum efficiency, or negotiate for better rates with their travel suppliers.
Abacus Agent Online is the new low-cost online booking tool for travel agencies with fewer than five PCs or mobile agents working on remote access. One click is all it takes to gain access to core CRS functionalities, including air availability, fare queries, pricing and ticketing and invoice/itinerary printing.
Abacus Agent Online harnesses the power of the Internet and uses minimal set up and investment. It also has all the advantages of a user-friendly graphical interface. For travel agents on the move, the Internet’s easy availability means they can access Abacus Agent Online virtually anywhere any time.
WEBlink@ABACUS is a sophisticated web-based solution for travel agencies and travel suppliers who are plugged into e-commerce. Based on the private label concept, WEBlink@ABACUS allows travel suppliers to build websites with their own distinct identity while allowing consumers to check real-time flight availability, choose market fares and make online reservations with instant confirmation, all from the comfort of their home or workplace.
WEBlink@ABACUS essentially links the travel suppliers’ websites to the ABACUS host, and the connectivity is seamless and transparent to Internet users. Travel suppliers remain in full control of their websites, maintaining their own branding on the Internet. WEBlink@ABACUS offers four products and service levels to meet the unique needs of different travel suppliers: WEBlink.Basic, WEBlink.API,  WEBlink.Premium and WEBlink.HostDirect.
This is the sixth time that ABACUS is supporting ATF, having participated in past ATF shows in Surabaya, Kuala Lumpur, Cebu, Singapore and Bangkok.
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