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Abacus TravelSecurity addresses key need for Asia's corporate travel managers

EAW Staff - Mumbai

Abacus International, Asia's leading travel facilitator announced today that it has launched its new Abacus TravelSecurity, progressively making it available across their network of over 15,000 Abacus - connected travel agency locations from now to the first quarter of 2008.

Brett Henry, vice president of Agency Marketing, Abacus International, says the new suite provides an affordable solution to enable corporate travel managers and agencies to quickly locate travellers worldwide, as well as providing insight through historical and advanced-booking reports.

"International surveys and our own discussions with Corporate Travel Managers have pointed to the impact of travel disruptions caused by security events, natural disasters and extreme weather as one of the key concerns of corporate travel managers who cite the need to manage the impacts of these events as quickly and as efficiently as possible," Henry said.

To address this key industry concern in the corporate marketplace, Abacus has launched Abacus TravelSecurity an easy-to-use, web-based application that provides secure access to relevant travel data and detailed reports which help corporate travel agents and travel managers quickly take action in case of an event anywhere in the world.

"We live in a world that increasingly requires companies to immediately locate their employees in times of unexpected events - whether they are security events or natural disruptions," said Albert Hong, vice president, solutions of Abacus International. "Abacus TravelSecurity is available at all times via secured access. Users can drill down from a world map to a list of travellers with detail, or use specific criteria to target the search," he adds.

The detailed report includes traveller contact information and complete Abacus reservation data. Users can also access a traveller's itinerary for more detail using an easy link to Abacus VirtuallyThere, while a 'Flight Threshold Report' notifies companies when the number of travellers booked on one flight exceeds the company's travel policy. Abacus-connected corporate travel agents have welcomed the launch of the new Abacus TravelSecurity.

"The intuitive tools it provides will be invaluable if there is any repeat of the major disruptions caused by events such as those that have occurred in Asia over the past couple of years, whether it is real or thwarted attacks and the impact these have on the travel sector," said Anthony Akili, president and CEO of PT Smailing Tour.

"When something unfortunate or disconcerting happens, the first thing everyone wants to know is - where are our people? As a leading travel management company it is very valuable for us to be able to answer that at the press of a few keys using the powerful search tool, and literally clicking on the map," said Akili.

Once activated, the Abacus TravelSecurity, immediately provides access to detailed air, car and hotel data for nearly a year of pre-trip information and three years of post-trip data for reservations made through Abacus. The Abacus TravelSecurity benefits both companies and the agencies that serve them:

• Security: In the event of any world event or natural disaster, it provides the ability to quickly locate employees all around the world.
• Complete data: Historical and pre-trip data is stored for all reservations made in Abacus, both ticketed and unticketed. No additional effort is required to capture and store data.
• Customer confidence: Offering peace-of-mind for a company to quickly locate their travellers. It also enables agents to expertly manage corporate clients with relevant and timely data.

"The launch of the Abacus TravelSecurity is more evidence of Abacus' commitment to end-to-end corporate solutions to help agencies expertly manage corporate client's travel programs," Henry said.