ROLE OF COMPUTER IN RESERVATIONS in Tourism

ROLE OF COMPUTER IN RESERVATIONS

(a) Computer in Airlines
(b) Computer in Cargo
(c) Computers in Hotels
(d) Computers in Railways
(e) Computers in Travel Agencies

(a) Computers in Airlines:

The sudden growth about thirty years ago in the global travel meant a huge pressure on the existing handling of air traffic, especially, the passenger traffic for the airlines. It was then that a need was felt to computerize passenger reservation systems in major airlines. Growth patterns in passenger traffic had begun to indicate that handling reservations manually could not be sustained long without affecting the efficiency in the customer service. It was in the early 1960s, that IBM took the initiative and developed a computerized reservation system known as Programmed Airlines Reservation System, PARS. The system was not developed for or with any one airline. It was designed as an allpurpose software package that would fit the requirements of any domestic airline. The system was designed around IBM’s new hardware range system 360, which was later to revolutionize the entire computer industry.

It became obvious that the system was too costly for smaller international airlines. These airlines developed their own IBM oriented reservation systems in the early 1970s. The system developed was known as PARC (C for compact). This system was followed by a system known as Univac Standard Airline System, USAS. With the passing of the years, more and more systems developed, incorporating more functions to enable the airlines to have more transactions and instructions. The popularity of any system to a large extent also depends on its coverage and online reservation network. The number of terminals, which a system has, is also an important consideration. The more terminals a system has, the larger will be the online reservation network. The number of reservation transactions carried out by a system in a given time is yet another important aspect to be considered by an airline before using a system. To sum up, the following main aspects are important to make a system perfect and universally acceptable:

• Number of reservation transaction to be handled
• Data links with other airlines
• Information processing capacity
• Data volume capacity

Recently a major advance has been made, in the airline reservation systems in West Germany. A computer system capable of carrying out as many as 1000 reservation transactions every second, involving data links with 28 airlines, a host of car hire agencies and hotels and about 20000 travel agencies in Europe alone has been set up at Eroding in the southern part of Germany. The system known as ‘Amadeus’, has been developed jointly at a cost of DM 350 million by four airlines, Air France, Iberia, SAS and
Lufthansa.

(b) Computer in Cargo
Most of the airlines are now using computers for cargo handling operations as well. The handling of cargo shipments on ground is a costly affair and the cost has been increasing over the years. Almost 50 per cent of the handling of cargo shipment reflects the cost of manual information processing. Freight rate increases have not kept pace with cost increases, so airlines had either to accept reduced margins or take steps to reduce overheads. Computerization of cargo has helped reduce costs as this speeds up the handling of information related to consignments and also reduces the time the cargo spends on the ground. The pioneer in cargo computerization was Alitalia, whose PO 4-cargo system was adopted and modified by many major airlines, such as Swissair, TWA and British Airways. Univac’s USA has a fully developed cargo module. Almost all major airlines in the world have now adopted one or the other system of cargo computerization. To sum up, computerization in airlines has the following major advantages:

• High profile applications like reservations
• Applications of departure, control and cargo
• Forecasting and planning
• Engineering management
• Revenue accounting
• Fare construction and fare quotations
• Ticket printing
• Crew scheduling
• Crew management
• Yield optimization

In addition to the above, airlines derive several other advantages from the use of computers. Each airline is developing its own system to suit its requirements. In addition to the airlines, the computer industry itself has also benefited a lot with the introduction of computerization in airlines.

(c) Computers in Hotels
Computers in the hotel industry started being used as far back as in the late 1960s; it was only in the 1970s that the technological advances in the computer technology made possible the right combination of compactness and versatility for different sizes of hotels. The lower cost encouraged many individual hotels to install the system. Today  computers are installed in large numbers and are widely accepted in the hotel industry. One of the most important factors for its large-scale acceptance in the industry has been its reliability. The computer system has been found to be very reliable in the dissemination of the right kind of information at the push of a button. Hotel industry today is a major market for the computer manufacturers and the software vendors. It has been increasingly realized that the hotel computer systems achieve better internal and external control and through the use of analysis methods, provide the opportunity to improve the overall profitability of the unit. Like in the airlines, the computes offer substantial advantages for reservation systems in terms of speed and accuracy.

(d) Computers in Railways
Railway systems in Europe and some other countries are now using computers  extensively. In countries like France, Germany and Belgium, to name a few, computers have been in use for over a decade. The most important use of computers in Railways, however, is in the area of ticket reservation. The information regarding availability of seats is now available instantly in various networks. In addition to the use of computers by railway retail agents, travel agents and tour operators, these are also being used directly by the railway systems. Railway systems use the computers for route planning, engineering, accounting, inventory planning and control, purchase and a host of other functions. The most remarkable use of computer in railways has, however, been made by France. The metro system in Paris is one of the best in the world. France has been making great advances in the reservations, hotel accommodation, amendments and cancellations, processing of documents such tickets, processing, account and management information, etc. just at the push of a button and this has proved to be a boom to the travel industry. India has also started using CRS in Railways.

(f) Computers in Travel Agencies
A Computer Reservation System is very useful for the travel agency business. In addition to data processing, computers are getting popular to handle business functions, reservations and ticketing. The system which is used is called Agency Automation System (AAS). An AAS that communicates directly with a Computer Reservation System is called as an integrated system. When two hardware devices communicate directly, they are said to be interfacing. All interfaced systems are menu-driven. To activate a function, the user selects from a list, or menu displayed on the screen. The procedure also prevents the system from being accessed by unauthorized users. Regular customers of the Travel agency have account numbers that identify the name address, telephone numbers and other information about the company or passenger. When the account number is entered in the “Customer field”, the address is automatically entered in the “sold field”. The Agent next types his/her agent number in the “Agent field”. A ticket code devised by the Agency to identify different customer groups can also be entered. Similarly, Air segment, Car segment and Hotel segment can be entered by the customer, for various services provided by the respective service providers. It will not be wrong to say, after this discussion, that with the press of buttons on a computer, any kind of reservation is possible these days with Tour operators, Travel Agents, Airlines, Ships, Cars etc.