M.Comm. / South Africa has become an accepted tourist destination since the 1994 general elections and the successful presentation of the 1995 Rugby World Cup event. The increase in the number of overseas visitors is reflected in higher arrival figures at our airports. Overseas tourists initially booked into the higher star rated hotels, but this trend quickly changed when they indicated a preference for the smaller hotels and the more personalised guesthouses. The recent establishment of hotels of well known world brands such as Hilton, Hyatt and others saw an increase in supply. These hotels were established with their links to the global reservation networks through which their reservations are accepted. The South African lodging industry now has to cope with management of the changes in demand in the face of world-wide computerised distribution. The guesthouses, smaller hotels and resorts tend to still utilise the printed media, mail or telephone bookings to communicate with prospective tourists. Although information technology is improving and becoming more accessible, only a few of the bigger South African hotel groups have utilised it to improve productivity and efficiency and to manage demand. A number of central reservation systems are in operation elsewhere in the world which allow the participants to present their establishments through the global travel agent networks such as Galileo and Worldspan. Trends in distribution of the lodging industry make it imperative to participate in such a system or face isolation from the world of tourism. The aim of this study is to establish the need for an integrated computer-based central reservation system for the smaller lodging establishments in South Africa. Depth interviews were conducted with a selected number of experts in the industry and the most important results of this empirical research were: The South African government has effectively withdrawn from the development of the tourism industry. The South African banks should be approached to establish such a system since they have proven expertise and knowledge of the operations of similar systems and would be in a position to make adequate funds available to allow the system to succeed. The system should be established with the capacity to link into world-wide distribution systems such as Galileo. The travel agents should be the first group to have access to this system since they are accepted as the driving force when implementing new solutions in the industry. Access through the Internet could follow. The cost of making a reservation at a lodging establishment is for the account of the hotel or guesthouse. The cost of accepting reservations from overseas tourists must be negotiated to be within the affordable range of the smaller lodging establishments. The establishment
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:3356 |
| Date | 28 August 2012 |
| Creators | Pretorius, P. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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