Abacus India Taking On India With Zeal

Charmaine Fernz - Mumbai

Stuart Crighton	Vijay Kesavan

New strategies, management, logo, and industry perception… all this was Abacus India's mantra for 2003 and it certainly did work wonders not just for the brand but the company as a whole. As Vijay Kesavan, regional sales manager, Abacus India puts it, "The year 2003 was a turn around year for us. With a sharp focus on the Indian market, we witnessed a growth in the third quarter of 2003 after the revamp and tripled our budgets in India. The outcome - a jump in the market share from a mere 6.5 per cent to 11.8 per cent in December 2003."

With an effective revamp, Abacus India plans to keep the momentum high. Says Stuart Crighton, head - south and west Asia, Abacus International, "We have numerous strategic plans lined up for the year. To begin with, we will introduce e-ticketing in India in the second quarter of 2004. In 2003, we issued over one million e-tickets across Asia. The reason for launching the e-ticketing system now is because we wanted the market to be ready to adapt to this technological innovation. Plans are afoot to make our presence felt strongly in the northern region. The environment is certainly competitive but we want to clearly position ourselves from a CRS to a GDS company, thereby redefining our strategy. Besides, we have two clear objectives for 2004 - create the confidence in our customers and generate viable opportunities."

After having taken a tactful approach to the Indian market, Kesavan adds, we are proud of the fact that with our aggressive marketing approach to travel agents, big and small alike, we have won over the biggest consolidators to switch to our systems. We will continue to offer our clients unique products. For example, the Abacus Tracker is a transparent system where agents can log on anytime and check their record of the segments booked. We are also proud to say that no other GDS offers this service. In this regard, even Abacus International has introduced this product to other markets in Asia. Besides this, Abacus India is the only GDS that does not charge an airline for waitlist or HX sectors. These product enhancements only reflect our company's policy to encourage more transparency in this market. And to conclude on a positive note, Abacus India will launch Star Cruises exclusively in India by the end of March."