Indeed, Robert Bailey, president and CEO of Abacus International, said just as tablet devices are revolutionizing the way we work, they could also transform the way travel agents do business.

“Mobile will help them make the generation leap,” he said.

Asked by WIT if every travel agency boss should arm their frontliners with a tablet like the iPad, Bailey replied, “Why not? Imagine being able to take your office to your client, it changes the entire experience and delivers a concierge experience to your customer.”

Danny Kondic, vice president of channel management, said, “For traditional brick and mortar agents, this tool could revolutionise the way travel is sold.

“Imagine, if some visionary person could take this and transform the way a travel agency is run – get away from the counters. So far from being the death knell, this technology could completely innovate the way travel is sold.”

The two executives were speaking at an Abacus media lunch to share the results of the latest Abacus’ Asia Travel Insights Survey 2011 which shows how mobile technology has contributed to Asia’s strong rise in the global travel landscape.

While market growth, previously anticipated at 4-8%, has been revised to 2-4% due to the global financial climate and natural disasters such as the tsunami in Japan, Bailey said “Asian travel industry growth and confidence remain high as it proves its resilience in mitigating any outstanding factors”.

The survey, conducted at a pre-European economic crisis period, found that 75% of those surveyed anticipate their business will experience growth of greater than 10% in the next 12 months, with 25.8% of respondents seeing a growth of greater than 20%.

Mobile technology was the most heavily highlighted area from the survey. Travel players indicated mobile transactions, social media, mobile apps and mobile-specific websites as the key areas of investment for 2012.

In a region that holds 56% of worldwide mobile users, Asia Pacific has proven to be a heavy hitter in mobile uptake. Over 2.1 billion people will use a mobile phone at least monthly this year, representing over half the population of the entire region, and growth will be steady, with penetration reaching 72.6% by 2015, reaching a mobile population of nearly 2.9 billion in Asia Pacific.

Almost all the respondents in the survey had invested in some mobile technology over the past year, and plan to continue to in 2012 and Brett Henry, VP Marketing, VP India, Abacus International, predicted that the mobile device will play an even greater role for travel transactions in the coming year.

By 2015, global shoppers will spend about $119 billion on goods and services bought via mobile phones.3 The number of mobile bookings in the travel space has also accelerated from $20 million in 2008 to over $200 million in 2010 – 8% of mobile users are expected to book travel from their smartphones by 20124.

In terms of transactions, 69 percent of Asian consumers prefer using their mobile device for most payments. Chinese consumers were most favourable (76%), followed by India, (75%), South Korea (56%) and Japan (47%).

“Mobile devices are indispensable and are essential for anyone in Asia. It provides an easy channel whereby travel providers can make bookings, provide on-demand service, manage loyalty programmes and conduct transactions for revenue generation,” said Henry.

Mobile technology has really helped to make travel businesses more cost-efficient, and to revolutionise the end traveller experience.”