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Now everyone can be a tourism tiger
The ability for new technology to create hotel accommodation demand in emerging nations has shown up prominently in Central Asia and Myanmar, a report from Abacus International has found.
China and India continue to dominate the emerging travel market scene, but Abacus says countries like Kazakhstan and Myanmar are taking flight as a travel destination while embracing newer technologies to further increase accessibility to their travel content, either online or via mobile.
“New mobile tools such as apps are driving the future of every aspect of life, including travel,” said Robert Bailey, president and CEO of Abacus International.
Mobile users are utilising their devices an average of 94 minutes per days in apps and 72 minutes browsing the Web compared to 43 and 64 minutes per day respectively, 18 months ago, according to December 2011 figures from Flurry Analytics.
Business travellers now make up 21% of all tourist arrivals in Myanmar, and those numbers will soar as confidence in the destination grows alongside democratic change. Outbound traffic from Myanmar is also expected to grow sharply.
Central Asia, including Kazakhstan, is also growing strongly as an inbound and outbound market, spurred by efforts to create a Silk Road tourism experience also taking in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan through to Iran.
Abacus says many of those who are visiting these markets are business tourists, and the growth in business arrivals has led to a strong demand for hotels, as evidenced by ongoing construction projects by international hotel chains like JW Marriott, Kempinski and Carlson Rezidor.
Kazakhstan’s outbound tourism climbed more than 20% in 2011 as its population began to travel extensively to destinations including Europe, Middle East and south east Asia.
Ties with the Middle East are growing strongly. Kazakhstan’s national airline, Air Astana, recently signed a codeshare agreement with Etihad Airways while the leaders of the UAE and Kazakhstan have made visits to each other’s countries in the last six months.
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