“After a strong showing in 2010, Asia is on target to take its spot as the largest region in terms of air transport, travel destination, business travel, utilization of ancillary revenue models and mobile usage,” Abacus says.

Abacus says its bookings in 2010 set a record, rising 11% compared with 2009, and in the process exceeded the pre-recession heyday of 2007.

And the World Tourism Organization says international arrivals into Asia grew nearly 13% in 2010, Abacus says. International arrivals are expected to grow in 2011, albeit at a slower pace, 4% to 6%, Abacus says.

“Growth is the name of the game in travel at the moment and although 2011 may not hit milestone figures like we saw in 2010, it will certainly be a year of growth with the emergence of Asia as the leading travel region,” says Robert Bailey, Abacus president and CEO. “Led by a slowing China and a growing India, in what has been dubbed as slowing dragon and crouching tiger, Asia is well-equipped and set to take the leap forward in establishing its dominance in the travel industry.”

Airlines in Asia Pacific account for more than 30% of passenger traffic globally and some 40% of freight traffic, Abacus says.

“Asia Pacific is poised to overtake the U.S. and Europe as the world’s largest air transport market…” Abacus says.

Despite cultural differences with the U.S. and Europe, Asian carriers are focusing on ancillary services, with 24% of them ready to implement car, hotel and insurance products by the end of 2012, Abacus says.

“The Asian traveler is quite different from the Western traveler and this further differs per market,” Abacus says. “They are more discerning in that expectations are higher. Although Asian airlines may choose to charge for the ancillary services, passengers would expect the base fare to be lower. With differing needs and requirements, the airlines are taking an independent and cautious approach so to not alientate their loyal customers,” Abacus says.

And, with Asia’s status as the world’s largest mobile phone market, carriers in the region are establishing mobile websites and developing apps in a trend that is expected to ramp up exponentially.

“With its vast population and mobile usage, Asians will pave the way in determining the future face of travel through mobile, especially with the dominance of smartphones in the region, serving as a one-stop repository and access to all the touchpoints travelers need when on the go,” says Abacus.

Or so says Kathleen Tan, group head of commercial for leading low-cost airline in the region, AirAsia.

“There’s the empowerment to fly and there’s the empowerment to buy. Low cost airlines and the internet have changed buying behaviour in Asia. There’s more virtual planning – people can do a lot more search – and they book instantly.

For example, Tan says: “When we put Yangon on sale recently (the airline launched Kuala Lumpur-Yangon flights in July), we sold 50,000 seats.”

At the same time, there’s a generational shift happening with travellers in Asia.

“As they are empowered to fly and buy, they have also become more empowered as travellers and the smarter travellers now do not need tour guides or buy package tours – they search for information on the web, and they share information with each other on social networks.

“People are more experimental now and are seeking new kinds of travel experiences.”

This is why she believes vendors and operators have to change not only the way they market but also the way they serve these new travellers.

“I urge the industry not to always look to the West, the spending power is in Asia, and we have to change the way we engage with the new Asian customer.”

“Younger people are more savvy now, do you still sell them the same packages? Do you still take them to gems stores and get commissions? People know where they want to eat. They can find the best places to get a tattoo in Bali,” says Tan.

“For me, the romance in travel is in the exchange that’s happening between students and young people, something that’s been facilitated by low cost airlines. Mainland Chinese are now coming to Malaysia to study; before it was only Singapore, but the less wealthy Chinese are opting for Malaysia.

“We have Malaysians going abroad to study and search for jobs. There’s labour mobility, medical mobility. In Malaysia, nurses are hard to come by and so we have lots of nurses from south India working in the country. And Malaysians are going to India for beach surfing at half the price they’d pay in Bali.

“In Bandung, Indonesia, there are 20 universities – imagine the opportunities for youth travel from that market.”

As a marketer, Tan is proudest of the airline’s annual “one million free seats” promotion. Having run it for the last five to six years though, the customer is getting smarter at it.

“It’s become a game to some now. They know it’s hard to get, and so if they get it, they feel good and tell their friends about it.

“They have become marketers for us. There’s a Chinese customer who managed to book 30 free tickets and, apparently, he studied our route map and our website for a month and when the day came, he did it with such speed, got 30 and told all his friends about it.”

Sometimes, promotions can bomb. “Every route has different characteristics – Yangon is different from Taipei for instance. India is what I call a “marathon” market. The purchasing process is much longer, they discuss a lot before they buy. They also like to travel in groups, so they talk a lot among themselves first.

“With Taipei, it explodes but in India, it’s a slow burn – you can’t take your budget and spend it in one go.”

The travel agency channel is not something that excites Tan. “I refuse to pay commissions to travel agents in Singapore; I don’t want to get into legacy business. To service agents, you also need manpower.

“When we first entered China, we depended on travel agents but now our brand is more established, and people know how to book us online. We are also seeing more FIT travel from China.

“India is challenging – people are still reliant on travel agents – but I see a tipping point taking place this year as our brand gets more established.”

Consumers however need a physical presence from time to time to reassure them that the airline is actually run by people and not computers.

“We held an AirAsia travel fair in Jakarta recently and we had people coming up to us who thought we were run by computers, so you need to be present physically for people to feel your brand.

“We have a long way to go still in some markets,” says Tan.

Community marketing is a personal passion of Tan. She watches with interest how Zouk Club of Singapore has managed to stay relevant to its customers despite it being probably the oldest club in the city.

“They are constantly revamping to stay relevant and has held on to their customers,” she says.

Another company she watches is Apple – “they way it upsells and cross-sells”. She said, “They think out of the box and they keep everything within the community.”

One market that has surprised her is the luxury market and how people are still paying a lot of money for luxury products.

“LV has remained so relevant that a mother and her teenage daughter can carry the same brand. It’s an old brand but has engaged hot new designers like Marc Jacobs, brought out limited editions and clearly beaten the pirates.

“There’s a new generation of kids too who don’t buy pirated stuff and get a kick out of it.”

AirAsia recently released its second quarter results, ending June 30 2010, which showed a profit after tax of RM199 million.

Revenue rose 26% year-on-year from RM748 million to RM941 million. Passenger growth was 11%, rising to 3.9 million passengers. Load factor rose to 77% in 2Q2010 from 75% in 2Q2009.

From Kuala Lumpur to Taipei to Bangkok, a similar story seems to be unfolding – that a convergence of trends is moving more and more consumers online and onto mobile in this biggest, and fastest growing market in the world.

First, there’s the crisis that’s made 2009 The Year of the Deal in Asia, and many of these deals are being pushed online by suppliers.

Second, there’s been an almighty explosion in the growth of low cost carriers particularly in the South-east Asian region with ASEAN Open Skies coming into effect.

And what do LCCs do best? They push deals online.

Third, there’s the huge love affair Asians have with their gadgets and their penchant for texting, blogging and social networking.

Perhaps it’s the reserved nature of the Asian (and I use the term loosely because a Malaysian like me is as different from a Singaporean as a French man is from an English chap) but the anonymity of mobile texting and the internet has been the key that opened Pandora’s Box in the region.

Consider the population base of internet and mobile users. According to various sources of data, the Asia Pacific is home to 42% of all internet users and has 1.4 billion mobile phone subscribers.

China and India combined account for more than 900 million mobile phone subscribers, close to a quarter of global total users.

The Asia-Pacific region’s share of the worldwide mobile market is expected to surpass 50%, from the current 42%, within the next two years.

And what do they do with their mobiles phones? Well, mostly they text.

In Singapore, 1.2 billion text messages are sent by its residents a year. But the Filipinos are tops – they send 650 text messages per user per month, considered the highest in the world, which is why the Philippines is nicknamed ‘SMS capital of the world’. The country has more than 54 million cellphone subscribers.

Then there are those that cannot leave their home without it, and some cannot live without it.

A Synovate global survey showed three-quarters of the more than 8,000 respondents polled online in 11 places said they take their cellphones with them everywhere. And Singaporeans lead the pack here, along with Russians.

More than a third of respondents went as far as to say that they cannot live without their mobile phones, topped by Taiwanese followed by Singaporeans.

And they are changing social habits. The survey showed that nearly half of all respondents use text messages to flirt, a fifth set up first dates via SMS, and almost the same number use the same method to end a relationship — led by Filipinos and Malaysians.

Apparently, more than one in five Malaysians have broken up with someone, or have been jilted, via text messaging.

Personally, I haven’t had the pleasure of doing that myself but I can see how mobile phones can come in handy in such situations – you may move but you can’t hide.