“Almaty city has wide, tree-lined streets with a back-drop of snow-capped mountains, which gives an impression of growing prosperity,” says the president and CEO of Abacus International.

It’s obviously a prosperity that the Singapore-based GDS wants to tap into as it attempts to spread its influence into new emerging markets across Asia Pacific. Just last week, it announced it had signed an agreement allowing it to become a competitive booking source for Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s national carrier.

Adds Bailey, “There is a sense of East meets West, with a very interesting mix of people walking the streets. Architecturally the city is not that striking, with only a few tall buildings but this is primarily due to the risk of earthquakes. There are also plenty of reminders of the past ties with the former USSR.”

As the seventh largest country in the world and blessed with rich natural resources, such as oil and mineral as well as farmland, mountains and lakes, Bailey believes there is certainly significant potential for development as a tourist destination and as a source of outbound travellers.

According to Euromonitor International, there were 5,278,600 outbound travellers from Kazakhstan in 2009 – almost double the number in 2005 – with around 66% travelling by air, 23% by land, 11% by rail and two percent by sea.
The leisure segment holds the lion’s share with 84% of the market; business travellers hold the remainder of the category.

Mobile phone penetration is also very high, says Bailey. According to Euromonitor International, 81.4% of Kazakhstanian households owned a mobile phone in 2009 and this is forecast to grow to 91.9% by 2020.

Only 6.2% of Kazakhstanian households had access to the internet in 2009, with even less (2.8%) of these households accessing broadband service. However Euromonitor International forecasts that In 10 years, almost a quarter of households are expected to have broadband internet access.

Says Bailey, “Abacus sees Kazakhstan as a very important market given its rapid growth and development into the travel hub of Central Asia. We are confident that with our experience and commitment to this region, together with this strategic relationship, we foresee Abacus to be a strong partner for Air Astana with the view of increasing Air Astana distribution via Abacus by at least 20% in coming few months.”

The new agreement with Air Astana will give Abacus-connected travel agents complete access to the airline’s full flight information and fares as part of its Competitive Booking Source (CBS) programme, without being subject to the Commission Booking Deductible (CBD) that will accompany non-qualified GDS bookings beyond January 1, 2011.

At the official signing ceremony (picture) in Kazakhstan, Bailey (right) said the company was proud to be the first GDS to qualify for Air Astana’s CBS programme.

“Kazakhstan is a very important market for Abacus and recognition by its national carrier solidifies our position as a travel leader in Asia. To encourage the market to promote travel with Air Astana, we will be launching a series of attractive promotional campaigns where Abacus-connected travel agencies will be rewarded for bookings made,” he said. 

Peter Foster, president and CEO of Air Astana, said “By signing this agreement Abacus has become the first GDS to qualify in our CBS programme launched on July 01st 2010. By qualifying and becoming an Air Astana CBS, Abacus ensures that travel agents using their product will not be subject to a CBD as of January 01st, 2011. The fact that Abacus has been the GDS to finalize discussions ahead of other candidates is appreciated by Air Astana.”

Partnerships, such as the one with Air Astana, have also assisted Kazakhstan’s travel industry to grow and booking made through GDS are increasing at 24% year-on-year. Specifically, Air Astana is growing 16% of bookings via the GDS channel.

Featured image credit (Almaty View of the city): Ockra/iStock