Global distribution systems gds and crs

Information and
Communication
Technologies
in

Tourism


Global Distribution Systems (GDS) and CRS



Computer Reservation Systems (CRSs)
Global Distribution Systems (GDSs)



CRS/GDS are product of the 1960ies
Main electronic interface in the travel and tourism
market





Shareholders have mainly been airlines, since
management
of
airline
seats
and
their
distribution constitute their origin

2

“switch” between suppliers and intermediaries on
one side and travel agents on the other side

ICT in Tourism

Aimed at organising airlines internally and provided tools
for improvement in productivity & efficiency
Acted as backbone of the digital airline
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E-Intermediaries

(Fuchs/Hưpken 2004; Fuchs et al. 2009)

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ICT in Tourism

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Dis-Intermediation
TrC > PrC
but also…

Re-Intermediation
TrC = PrC and Value Added


Computer Reservation Systems (CRSs)



CRSs assist tourism enterprises
 Handle their inventories profitably
 Facilitate the tourism product distribution
 Normally operated by airlines, hotels & tour operators
 Distribute products nationally or globally
 Use mainframes & extensive networks to support
remote terminals in travel agencies (nowadays also
internet and web applications)
 Advantages







Disadvantages







4

Support reservation/confirmation/purchase of a wide
range of tourism products

Reduce transaction costs

ICT in Tourism

High installation and usage costs
Lack of flexibility and user friendliness
Bias in favour of their suppliers
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Global Distribution Systems (GDSs)



GDSs


Horizontal and vertical integration of multiple CRSs



Emerged from CRSs as a one-stop customer service



Effectively became travel supermarkets, offering
information & reservation capabilities for all products



Control and distribute most airline seats



Emerged as a main technology supplier



4 major GDSs: Amadeus, Galileo, SABRE & Worldspan



5

ICT in Tourism

Result of a permanent concentration process

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GDS Architecture

(Werthner/Klein 1999)
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ICT in Tourism

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Global Distribution Systems (GDSs)

GDS functions


Reservation / booking – core-services









Reservation / booking – other services











Events
Package tours
Cruise

Complete handling of payment
Ticketing
Management functions

7

Flights
Accomodation
Car-rental

ICT in Tourism

Reporting
Accounting

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History of GDSs

(Kärcher 1997)

8

ICT in Tourism

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Market penetration of GDSs

(Werthner/Klein 1999)

9

ICT in Tourism

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GDSs – Global marketplaces



GDSs as global marketplaces



Example of global electronic marketplaces
Represent very influential part of the market






In 1992 these systems had over 98% of the
entire market
Dominant position in specific markets





10

Sabre Travel International employs 1.800 persons,
covers 45 Mn of prices, contains 650 airline
companies and performs 2.000 transactions per
second

E.g. Amadeus/START in Germany

Example that early adopters of information
technology can occupy a strategically dominant
position

ICT in Tourism

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History of Amadeus & Start
1971

1980
1987
1992
1994
1995
2002
2003
2004
2005

11

Deutsche Lufthansa, Deutsche Bahn, TUI, abr, DER and
Hapag-Lloyd establish Studiengesellschaft zur
Automatisierung für Reise und Touristik (Society for the
Automation of Travel and Tourism) – called Start for short
Start is ready for operation
Foundation of Amadeus by Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa
and Scandinavian Airlines (SAS)
Integration of Amadeus into the Start system
Implementation of the e-commerce sector
Take over of System One (USA)
Worldwide no. 1 GDS in travel agency bookings
Start becomes Amadeus Germany
Acquisition of OPODO online travel portal
Amadeus goes private: Leveraged Buy Out (€ 4.37
billion market valuation)

ICT in Tourism

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Amadeus Germany business fields



Services for travel agencies









Conventional travel distribution system
Integrated software solutions to support front, mid
and back office workflow processes
Booking engines for web-based travel distribution
www.de.amadeus.com - the B2B portal as an Internet
platform for products and services
Employee qualification using various training methods





12

e.g. Travel Expert Certificates - Amadeus Germany in
co-operation with IHK (Chamber of Commerce)
Frankfurt am Main

Wide array of services e.g. help desk, on-site system
consulting and customer support

ICT in Tourism

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Amadeus Germany business fields

Services for tour operators and service
providers








Services for corporate accounts




13

Comprehensive and neutral booking platforms
Booking engines for sale via Internet; customised
Internet presence
Individualised training media and on-line help
Products and consulting for online business travel
management
Development of global solutions for companies
operating internationally

ICT in Tourism

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Amadeus booking process

Amadeus booking process support
Consulting

Beratung
Sales

Information search

Option

Vacancy inquiry

Booking

Booking
confirmation online

Additional Application
services
transfers
VERS/VERJ

Payment
Beratung
process

Online direct debit collection
by the tour operator

Printing of remittance
slips

TV
CC

Documents

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ICT in Tourism

Travel confirmation
also via email, fax

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Travel documents

INFX


Amadeus system as an integrator

Rail
39

Deutsche Bahn

Public Transport
68

Rail + bus providers
4

Airlines
488

Front/mid
office
products
Amadeus Vista
Internet products
Travel Agents

Tour operators
190

Company
Travel Units

Hotels
Hotels
239 chains
59.000 hotels
Cars
42 providers in

31.000 locations
Rail
2 providers
Cruise
7 providers

Suppliers

15

ICT in Tourism

Amadeus

Business
Travel

Amadeus
Germany

Advance
Ticket Sales
Private
customers

Insurances/
Credit cards
5 / 5 providers

Consumers

Ferries
33

Computer
centers

Event providers
180

Travel
Agencies

Corporates
Business
Travel
Management

Customers

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Amadeus technology

PC

PC

Datex-P

T-Online
Service
provider

Data centre

Service
provider
Firewall 1

Firewall 2

central node

central node

Service
provider

Service
provider

PC Amadeus Exclusive Leased

Connection (Exclusive Link)

ICT in Tourism

PC

Customer
networks

SITA
SITA

16

PC

Firewall 3
central node

T-Systems net

PC

Amadeus VPN Premium
Connection (Premium Link)

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Internet

PC

Internet

PC

Amadeus
Web Basic

Amadeus
Internet
Standard
Connection
(Eco Link
DSL)

PC Amadeus VPN Standard

Connection (Eco Link DSL VPN)


Travel agency hardware



Hardware components in travel agency






Amadeus PCs
Multi card board distributed by Amadeus
Document printer
System printer
Hardware extension/add-on products





17

POS terminal

Standard PC
Optional full service
Automatic software update

ICT in Tourism

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Facts & figures

18




45.131

PCs - in Germany: 40.137

3.3 million

transactions/year




627

transactions/second
(maximum value 2005)




106 million

bookings




116 million

tickets

ICT in Tourism

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Market trends

Tourism: concentration and internationalisation of key accounts

Service
provider
Tour
operator

Direct sales

Amadeus
Germany

Direct booking/fulfillment

FulTravel
fillagency
ment

Tight competition

Corporate
customers
Private
customers

Traditional sales channel
New sales channel

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ICT in Tourism

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Amadeus Leisure Travel Solution



Leisure travel distribution in travel
agencies











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Only 2-4% of overall sales process spent on
determination of customer demand
Current USP of travel agent: knowledge of
booking process
No process integration of determination of
customer demand, search for offers and booking

No simultaneous access to systems of different
suppliers
No support of yield management
Insufficient management information about
overall sales process

ICT in Tourism

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LTS objective






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Optimising the leisure travel sales process
in travel agencies


Better support of determination of customer
demand



Integration of determination of customer
demand, search for offers and booking into
one system



Support of travel agency in optimising sales
process and maximising revenue

Support of complete sales process in an
integrated environment
ICT in Tourism

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LTS objective

Sales Process
Sales Control
FrontFront-OfficeOffice-Workflow
YieldYield-Management

MidMid-Office
Management Information

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ICT in Tourism

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LTS components

LTS
Functions
Leisure
Travel
Workflow

Leisure
Travel
Control

Leisure
Travel
Reports

Leisure Travel Engine
Leisure Travel Database
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ICT in Tourism

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Leisure
Travel
Interfaces


Leisure Travel Database

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Comprehensive database for all Amadeus leisure
travel applications
Definition of a standard DB schema for tourism
services
 Abstraction of catalogue views to a pure tourism
services oriented view
 Mapping of proprietary attributes to the Amadeus
standard
Flexible import process
 Import catalogue data (offline data)
 Online data delivery from suppliers
Content
 Tourism services: hotel, accommodation, flight, ...
 Additional information: region, climate, immigration
instructions, health rules, ...

ICT in Tourism

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Leisure Travel Engine



Business logic for automating availability
check and booking process




Encapsulation of supplier-specific
processes and details of supplier systems


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No need for suppliers to adhere to a standard




Value-added services by aggregating basic
services




Externalisation of business rules


Business logic defined as business rules (and not
as part of the software)



Maintenance of rules by domain experts

ICT in Tourism

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