Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, has added 5,000 more hotel properties to its distribution system since the last update in October last year, providing travel agents with access to 75,000 properties.

Asia Pacific is following the global trend with steady growth in the number of hotels available for booking through Amadeus. This growth is spurred by a boom in tourism in the region, with Pacific Asia Travel Association estimating revenue of US$110 billion by 2009.

Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director for the Bird Group & Managing Director for Amadeus in the Indian Sub-continent said: “As the number of Indians travelling abroad increases it becomes more important for travel agents to be able to easily and seamlessly plan all aspects of their customers journey. By providing an easier alternative for travel agents to book hotels, car-hire and insurance through an integrated system Amadeus helps provide a one-stop shop for customers. And through agreements with thousands of hotels worldwide Amadeus makes it possible for travel agents to get easier access to a wide offering of properties and rates.”

According to reports Amadeus is also working on a number of other initiatives to boost the use of its distribution system for booking hotels. Amadeus recently launched a pilot of its Worldwide Commission Manager. This system tracks all the commissions that are due by participating hotels to travel agents. By providing this information on single-view screens, it allows travel agencies to more efficiently collect their commission, therefore encouraging them to make more bookings with participating hotel chains.