Tourism Information Technology

Chapter 3By Pauline Sheldon

IT Applications to Travel Intermediaries

• Travel Intermediaries: travel agents, tour operators, tour wholesalers and specialty channellers.

• IT is used to process information on:– Destinations, schedules, fares, rates and

availabilities• IT is critical to increase the efficiency,

productivity and market reach of travel intermediaries

Travel Agents and GDS

• GDS employed in the mid 1970s.• Prior to that, use of phone and telex for

reservation or OAG (Official Airline Guide) for scheduling and fare information

• GDS allows travel agents to get real-time bookings.

GDS

• Major GDS: Sabre, Galileo/Apollo, Worldspan, Amadeus/SystemOne.

• These GDS systems give the travel agents global access to travel suppliers from any one of these terminals.

• In total, GDS terminals are installed in 125 countries with 98,000 locations representing nearly 250,000 terminals.

GDS in different countries

• In north America: Sabre, Apollo/Galileo and Worldspan

• In Europe: Amadeus and Galileo• In Asia: Abacus• In Australia and New Zealand, all four major

GDS are available.• In other less developed countries, Sabre is

commonly the dominant GDS.

GDS choice

• Factors to consider:– Easy access– Updated information– Flexible contract– Low prices– Good customer service support– Direct links to travel suppliers

GDS functionality

• Air features:– Flight information– Passenger information– Document Printing

• Non-air features:– Booking car rentals, hotels, cruises, rail and tour packages– Ordering foreign currency or theater/event tickets– Checking weather worldwide– Accessing department of State Travel Advisories– Accessing destination information– Accessing international border controls: information on visas,

passports, health, customs, depart taxes, currency control.

GDS Hardware

• Originally dumb terminals leased from GDS vendors.

• Later after 1992, travel agents can choose their own hardware.

• Today, most of the terminals are intelligent, meaning, capable of other applications than booking.

Travel Agent Back Office Systems• Commission tracking:• ARC reporting: (Airline Reporting Corporation). To calculate and print ARC

reports (such as the ticket summary and the weekly report) and refund notices.• Check writing: to print checks for trade refunds and expenses.• Accounts receivable: to tr4ack corporate and leisure accounts• Account payable: to track payments due to suppliers (non-ARC)• General Ledger: to generate financial reports per location, or consolidated

reports for multi-branch agencies• Report writer: to generate operation, management and marketing reports. • Rebate analysis• Database marketing• Mailing• Much of the information required for back office reports is located in the PNRs (

Passenger Name Records) in the host GDS and must be downloaded for analysis.

Meeting and Convention Planners (MCPs)

• Meeting and convention organizers typically do not use travel agents; they use MCPs instead

• Special software packages are created for this purpose:– Site selection– Housing tracking– Function room scheduling– Floor plan design– Meeting registration– Time/cost management– Special event management

Corporate Travel Planners

• The most important software for these planners is one that enables them to monitor reservations and ensure compliance with standards required by the corporation.

• For example, travel policy software: use of preferred vendors, use of a predetermined contract rate, the class of service booked and upgrade policies

• Other functions might include tracking frequent traveler miles that are required to return to the corporation rather than kept for personal use.

• Another software is fare auditing program.