Singapore-based Abacus International finished a record year in 2007 on the back of a booming tourism industry in the region.

President & CEO Don Birch is leaving at a time when there are jitters going through the industry as to how bad the fallout from the US economic problems could be on Asian tourism.

Managing that will now be the responsibility of his successor, Robert Bailey, who will come onboard April 15.

Birch however remains confident that any fallout will be minimal. “There are too many other drivers happening in favour of growth in Asia and I believe it will only be a matter of how much are we going to grow versus a blip.”

He said bookings seen in the first two months of the year would seem to bear out the theory that Asia, cushioned by internal, regional factors, could be spared the worst of the US economic problems.

This year, Abacus is forecasting that Asia Pacific passenger numbers will increase by five to six percent. “… people around the world still have money and seem set on travelling in the coming year despite the belt-tightening that will be going on globally,” Birch said.

While he said there would undoubtedly be “volalitility” in the coming year, “in that volatility there will be opportunities”.

“Travel agents will need to work hard to capitalize on fast gains and continue to grow their business over the coming months. This means a move towards diversification of product offerings and strategies to deal with an increasingly fractured travel distribution sector.”

This, he said, is “the year of strategic thinking”.