Thomas Latt
Thursday 05th June 2014
Travel turmoil: It's human, and it's nature
Travel technology company Abacus has revealed the root
causes of travel disruption across the Asia Pacific region and around
the world.
As expected, natural disasters were the scourge of stress-free
travel, but man-made political and security related events accounted for
four in every ten alerts, and were often linked to each other.
The figures were collated from broadcasts of the Abacus TripAlert
service, which advises travel management companies of incidents that
threaten their travellers' schedules and safety.
Along with its partner in early detection AidCom, Abacus analysed
more than 5,000 early warning alerts broadcast over the course of 2013.
Out of a total of 1,451 alerts broadcast by AidCom last year, 25%
were considered 'severe' and led to defensive measures that played havoc
with travellers' plans.
Road, airport and border closures, and localised political activity,
including riots, curfews and looting, were among the man-made incidents
that frequently triggered alerts, often related to traffic disruption.
On a regional front, both Oceania and Southeast Asia took a battering last year with 275 and 219 'nature' alerts, respectively.
"Essentially, Abacus TripAlert gives our agents a window to act,
before their travellers' options narrow," said Robert Bailey, president
and CEO of Abacus.
~ an asian tour operator aato ~