Global computer networks in the hospitality industry. Application of Internet tools in the tourism industry

Over the past decades, nothing has contributed more to the successful development of the economies of countries around the world than various technological innovations. Technical progress makes it possible to create new and improve the work of existing enterprises in various areas.
Now it is difficult to imagine how hotels, sanatoriums, motels, travel agencies and other companies could function without computer support systems. These systems are now widespread and well coordinated. The high economic efficiency of using computer systems has prompted their owners to fight for influence in the market.

The purpose of this article is to consider the latest developments in this area, to clarify the features of the use of computer technologies in hospitality industry enterprises in Russia and abroad, as well as to identify problems in the operation of computer systems and the Internet, and to determine the prospects for the development of computer systems in the hotel business.

The process of computerization of the hospitality industry began later than in other areas of the economy. Many industries were computerized already in the 60s of the 20th century; the hotel industry did not use the possibilities of automation on a large scale until the early 70s of the 20th century. This relatively late start to computerization allowed hotels to obtain more advanced and convenient computer technology at lower costs1. Currently, in the hospitality industry, computer systems based on personal computers of the fourth and fifth generations are widely used, connected in networks and allowing, with a minimum of occupied space, to create powerful software support, which increases the efficiency of the management system, ensures the safety of guests, allows expanding the hotel’s customer base and solve a number of marketing problems.

One of the most important discoveries was the Internet. The Internet is a large and complex connection of computer networks that provides access to the world's information. There are also a number of Internet software applications. First of all, this is electronic mail (e-mail) and various search engines. Email is by far the most popular application around the world. Its advantage is not only in the speed of communication, but also in the fact that in addition to text, it is possible to send any graphic photo, animation application, which will reach the recipient instantly.
Computer systems for centralized management of a hotel complex allow you to coordinate the work of even a large hotel without much time and effort. Despite the large number of complex hotel automation systems, the basic principles of constructing such systems are quite similar: all systems are integrated software packages that automate the activities of the main hotel services: room management, administrative, commercial, engineering, catering services 2.
Today, there are several professional developments that deserve attention when choosing an automated control system.
Let's consider the main hotel computer systems used in the largest hotels in the world and Russia.
The most common universal product is the complex of the world's largest company, Micros - Fidelio, which has been specializing in the creation of management systems for hotels and restaurants for 20 years. Such a system is installed at the enterprises of more than 100 largest hotel chains (Sheraton, Hilton, Marriott, Kempinsky, Hyatt, etc.)3.

The Fidelio Front Office (FFO) system helps automate the main stages of hotel operations: from computerized room reservations, registration, accommodation and check-out of guests to room management, accounting and finance. The advantages of FFO include: ease of operation due to the fairly simple logic of system design and user-friendly interface, high level of security ensured by strict restrictions on user access, and configuration flexibility. FFO can be successfully used both in hotels belonging to hotel chains and in independent hotels and boarding houses with completely different operating technologies4.
Among computer technologies, computer reservation systems for hotel services have become widespread throughout the world.

For the first time, the concept of “Computer Reservation System” (CRS) appeared in Europe and the USA in the 60s of the twentieth century. In those years, civil aviation was at the stage of active development. The “telephone” technology for booking seats by travel agents and the “paper” technology for managing the occupancy of airline flights have ceased to cope with the growing passenger flow, which has led to the need to automate this type of activity5. The first CSBs were created by individual airlines and were intended solely to serve the needs of their own travel agents. After some time, this approach led to the fact that, on the one hand, several KSB terminals belonging to various airlines were installed in actively operating travel agencies and hotels, and, on the other hand, airlines had to spend more and more money on the technological development of KSB. The logical solution in this situation was to combine the efforts of airlines in the development and promotion of CSB on the market. The result of this integration was the emergence of four so-called global reservation systems (Global Distribution System - GDS). Currently, four main reservation systems are considered global: Amadeus, Galileo, Saber and Worldspan. Together, these systems number approximately 500 thousand terminals installed in hotels around the world, representing more than 90% of the market; it is no coincidence that they are called the “golden four”. The remaining few percent are made up of regional reservation systems and systems that are in the process of merging with one of the above. Each GDS, although global, has its own distribution area. For Amadeus and Galileo, this is, first of all, Europe, for Saber and Worldspan, it is America. Interestingly, the Galileo system is used in 116 countries around the world, by more than 45 thousand agencies, through which access to information about resources is possible. Based on the results of 2001, Galileo has the strongest positions in the UK, Italy, Greece, Benelux countries, Switzerland, and Portugal. In general, the share of this system in the European market is 29.8% (second place). Galileo achieved such results in three years of work on the world market.

For hotels included in hotel chains such as Inter-Continental, Radisson and others, work with GDS is carried out centrally and is an integral part of the marketing strategy of the hotel chain as a whole.
An independent hotel has several options for working with global reservation systems: install terminals of one or more reservation systems and start working independently; enter into an agreement with an intermediary company specializing in providing this type of service; enter into an agreement with a large tour operator that already has access to global booking systems.
The presentation of a hotel in any GDS must necessarily include the following items: general description, description of rooms, description of tariffs, prices, information on availability.

Any reservation system has several modes called access types, two of which are fundamentally different: type “A” and type “B”. With type “A” access, the booking confirmation is returned automatically within 7 seconds, which allows the travel agent to fully service the client in one visit to the office. With type “B” access, the confirmation is returned to the agent manually by the provider or hotel staff within 24 hours, which leads to a repeat visit by the client to the travel agency.

It is important to take into account the rate plan and rate when booking a hotel. A tariff plan is a set of rules for purchasing hotel services, refusing them, and the requirements and restrictions arising in connection with this, and the tariff is the price per room per day. Advance booking is possible with a credit card number as a guarantee. If a previously made reservation is canceled less than 24 hours before arrival, or if the client does not show up, a fine equal to the cost of accommodation for the first day will be charged. By analogy with air travel in hotels, there is a full rate, called the Rack Rate, or otherwise the “standard rate,” and a system of special rates (weekend rate, group rate, etc.). Rack Rate has the least restrictions on use. It is at this rate that individual clients who contact the hotel directly will be served. Accommodation prices at the standard rate are the highest7. Special rates are more attractive to customers due to the lower prices they set for accommodation, however, there are restrictions on their use. For example, to apply a weekend rate, you must check in on Friday or Saturday and check out no later than Monday. The number of special rates applied by the hotel is unlimited. The most commonly used tariffs in KSB (in addition to the standard) are: corporate tariff, weekend tariff, tariff for the elderly, tariff for military personnel, tariff for travel agents.

There are several options for specifying availability information. For each specific date, when selling rooms of a certain type at a certain rate, the following may be announced: free sale (Free Sale), limited free sale (Allocation), sale on request (On Request) or stop sale (Stop Sale).

The undoubted leader in the field of computer backup is the Internet. That is why hotels create their own Internet servers, through which they access information and reservations in GDS.

The possibilities of the Internet for hotels are not limited to working with GDS. The main advantages for the hotel are wide audience coverage (more than 100 million people in the world) and low overhead costs compared to GDS. Consequently, the Internet is a real competitor to the KSB, since work via the Internet can be done on any servers, any number of times, by any individual seeking to save on a hotel, while only professionals work with GDS. And the advantage of GDS is that any hotel, having uploaded information about itself, can be sure that every travel agent will see this information, and to place data about a hotel on the Internet requires painstaking work to enter it into various search engines, directories and catalogs.
There is another equally successful program - Horse-21. The exotic name of the system is explained simply - it is an abbreviation for the name Hotel Reservation Service. Horse-21 is owned by the Dutch company Hors BV and has been operating in Europe since 2000. Its database contains information on more than 240 thousand hotels. Among reservation systems, this system has five main advantages: real online (confirmation of reservation within a few seconds); centralized system for receiving commissions; unique hotel database; it is possible to work without a subscription fee, segment standards, deposits; ease of use: no training, special software or equipment required.

The procedure for working in the Horse-21 system is extremely simple: step 1 – setting the criteria according to the scheme: country – city – preferred price – travel date; step 2 – select a hotel from the proposed list, sorted by ascending price; for each hotel you can see a text description and several photographs; Step 3 – booking, specify tourists’ details and debit card numbers. The system also allows you to maintain booking statistics and control payments.
In addition to computer booking systems for services, programs for managing various hotel services are widely used in the hotel business.
The Lodging Touch system was created by the American company MAI Hospitality, which is one of the leaders in developing programs for the hospitality industry. It is an integrated software package that automates various hotel departments: receptionist, restaurant service, sales department, banquet organization. Lodging Touch can be connected to such peripheral systems as accounting programs, hotel profit optimization systems, pay television, telephone systems, room access control, etc.

The Lodging Touch - Receptionist program performs the functions of booking rooms, checking in and checking out guests, charging payments and the night audit procedure. Here you can view a report on the condition of the hotel and obtain various background information (guest cards, passport details).
Some other software modules of the system include a tariff control unit, a room management unit (for creating a schedule for cleaning rooms and the work of maids). It is worth noting that the Lodging Touch system contains a software block for working with travel agencies, which allows you to process applications from agencies, calculate commissions, determine discounts and special offers, and view statistics.

Nimeta system. This is a relatively new product designed for small and medium-sized hotels. The operation of the Nimeta system provides the opportunity to rent and use the control system via Internet technologies. This technology lies in the fact that data about the hotel and, in fact, the hotel management system program itself are located outside the hotel on a specially designated server. Such a server is located in the equipped service center of the Internet provider. Thus, to connect and use the Nimeta system, you just need to have a computer and Internet access.

In our country, the introduction of computer hotel management systems (Property Management System/PMS) based on Western technologies began with the advent of high-class hotels, many of which operate in accordance with corporate rules dictating “devotion” to a particular system.
Today, hospitality enterprises in Russia use several programs for hotel enterprises: Fidelio, the “golden four” systems GDS, SAHARA, Lodging Touch, Horse 21, which are also typical for global hotels, as well as Hotel – 2000, Sinimex – Hotel, Ei – hotel, Ining - Hotel, Edelweiss, characteristic only for Russia. Let's look at these programs in more detail.

The most common service system in our country is the Fidelio system; it is completely Russified and adapted for the Russian market. As a rule, it is installed by hotels together with the popular Micros cash settlement system. Additionally, a program for automating financial and economic activities, a program for organizing the sales and marketing department, and a program for the chief engineer can be installed. All programs operate as a single integrated system in the DOS operating environment.

The exclusive distributor of Micros - Fidelio on the Russian market for 12 years is the company HRS (Hotel & Restaurant System). HRS performs turnkey installation of software and hardware, conducts personnel training, and provides user support.
In Russia, the FFO management system is being successfully implemented in hotels included in Western chains: Marriot (Moscow), Radisson SAS Lazurnaya Hotel and Radisson SAS Lazurnaya Peak Hotel (Sochi), Sheraton Palace (Moscow), Ararat Park Hyatt (Moscow), and in independent hotels: Aerostar (Moscow), Atrium Palace Hotel (Ekaterinburg), Ararat Nord (St. Petersburg), Chukotka (Anadyr), Versailles (Vladivostok) ), "Park Hotel" (Anapa) and many others.
As for GDS, they are quite widely used in the Russian market. This class includes the hotel reservation system "Alean" (Alean.ru) and the SAHARA system.

The Alean company was created in 1999 on the basis of the tour operator RVB (Russian Military Brotherhood) specifically to introduce a global system of booking and sales of tours to the domestic market. The company's own programmers were involved in the design of the system complex. However, the product acquired its optimal marketing appearance only with the involvement of specialists familiar not only with information technology, but also with the specifics of the tourism market. Buyers here can be both travel agencies and individual clients. The system received this opportunity due to its complete orientation towards Internet technologies. For individual clients, placing and paying for an order currently takes place off-line (at the company’s office or at the place of arrival on vacation).

In relation to Russia, the SAHARA reservation system should also be mentioned. For Russian hotels receiving Western tourists, representation in all systems included in the “golden four” is now a necessity, and not just a tribute to fashion. For hotels focusing on domestic tourism, representation in the SAHARA system is more preferable. Russian hotels should enter systems that are alternative to global ones, systems that exist on the Internet. The main disadvantage of the SAHARA system is that it is not suitable for integration with the Internet and the creation of its own Internet servers through which access to information is provided.
The Galileo system from the GDS family ranks 2nd in the Russian market of computer technologies in the hotel business. But this result was achieved in just 4 years of work. “We understand that we are second, but this is an honorable place,” says the head of the representative office in Russia, Sarah Crow8. The development of this system is happening very rapidly, making the work of domestic hotels faster and more productive.
Libra International has been operating on the Russian market since 1998. Thanks to her activities, the following systems appeared in Russia: Lodging Touch, Open Spa, and a complex of epitome Enterprise software products.

Unlike other similar systems, Lodging Touch operates in the Windows NT operating environment, which significantly expands its activities and also makes it easy for even an inexperienced user to master working with it. It is noteworthy that the Lodging Touch system is compatible with Russian accounting programs, for example, with the Parus system. Today, this system is the most modern software tool for complex automation of the hotel business. Among the company's 4,500 clients are such Russian hotels as Renaissance, Aerostar, Metropol, Mezhdunarodnaya, Eridan, and Soyuz.
The Open Spa spa management system is installed in many spa complexes in Central Europe. In Russia, the first organization to choose Open Spa was the Blue Wave sanatorium in Gelendzhik

The epitome Enterprise software package was developed by HIS Corporation (USA), one of the world leaders in the field of information technology for the hospitality industry. HIS information solutions support the operation of many world-famous hotels and hotel chains. The company's clients include over 4,000 hotels of various levels in 83 countries. In Russia, systems of the epitome Enterprise family are installed in approximately 50 hotels. Among the users of the system are both small hotels (Savvoy and Katerina in Moscow, Vlad Inn in Vladivostok) and large complexes (Moscow Cosmos and Izmailovo, Radisson SAS Lazurnaya Park Hotel in Sochi). They optimize the hotel management system, business communications system, and business analytics.
According to company experts, this is facilitated by 5 fundamental principles: stability, functionality, ease of use, minimal requirements for maintenance and information processing.

Among the Russian developments, the software of the Interotel company stands out (its products appeared on the market in the mid-90s of the twentieth century and to this day operate in several dozen Russian hotels, including the Rossiya Hotel) and the Hotel-2000 system complex ", developed by Intursoft and used in approximately 10 Russian hotels, including: "Akademicheskaya", "Uzkoe" (Moscow), "Brest Palace Hotel" (Veliky Novgorod), "Sakhalin-Sapporo" (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), boarding house "Ural" (Anapa).

The Hotel-2000 system automates basic hotel services. It implements a flexible system of payments to guests, provides control over the work of cashiers, manages the number of rooms, ensuring control over the work of maids. The system has a built-in powerful analytical apparatus that allows, through a query system, to generate more than 100 different statistical, operational, audit and financial reports for hotel managers. “Hotel-2000” also makes it possible to manage the process of enabling and disabling telephone numbers and transfers information about telephone conversations to the general guest balance. The system can be connected to any access rights restriction system installed in the hotel. The electronic lock system is controlled using magnetic cards. But lately the Intursoft company has been practically invisible on the market.

The only Russian developer that entered the world market with its software product for hotels was the Rek-Soft company from St. Petersburg.
The first installation of the Edelweiss system abroad was made in 1996 in a small Swiss hotel. Currently, the Edelweiss system is installed in more than 400 hotels in different countries. In Russia, these are Scandinavia, Helvetia and Grand Hotel Emerand 5* in St. Petersburg, Victoria Palace Hotel in Astrakhan, Versailles in Khabarovsk, and the Chernomorye sanatorium in Sochi. The main task of the Edelweiss system is the automation of reservation and accommodation services (“Receptionist”), the commercial department, accounting, accommodation, maid service, service bureau, business center, and hotel telephone service.

Such software systems as “Cinimex: Hotel”, “Ei-Hotel”, “Ining-Hotel” are quite noticeable on the market.
The SinimexInformatics company offers the Sinimex: Hotel configuration, created for enterprises providing hotel services, hotels themselves, holiday homes, and boarding houses. Using this program, you can register clients, make room reservations and plan hotel occupancy, extend your stay or carry out relocation, keep records of room rentals, and make payments to clients.

In addition, “Cinimex: Hotel” allows you to manage the accommodation of clients, including on the basis of agreements with legal entities, to control the condition of the room stock (rent, repairs, cleaning, etc.); generate summaries and operational reports on loading, maintain a “black list” in which so-called problem clients are included.
The configuration contains a number of specialized directories (room stock (rooms), their categories, types of guest accommodation, services, tariffs) and several general purpose directories. It allows you to generate 18 types of documents and printed forms, 40 summaries and reports, as well as carry out 22 types of document processing.
In the 1C: Enterprise program system, on the basis of which the configuration was developed, daily data is entered using documents. The program allows you to register requests for accommodation, book rooms or places in them. Applications can be accepted not only by telephone and fax, but also by e-mail. When booking a new guest, the program checks whether he has previously lived in the hotel or whether he is on the “black list”.

The product of the company "Effect Inform" is called "E&Otel", its task is to keep records of accommodation and reservations in hotels. Reservations are made based on the client’s request; they can be individual or group, as well as guaranteed and non-guaranteed. In the latter case, if the client does not appear on the due day or no notification is received from him, the number is transferred to the free state. If guaranteed, the reservation is retained for the entire period, and the client’s bill includes the fee for the number left to him.
The selection of rooms is made based on the client’s wishes (room category, availability of a balcony, telephone and other amenities): from those currently available, the one that satisfies the request is selected. If there are no such reservations, the reservation will be transferred to the “waiting” list. All data about the departing guest is transferred to the archive. If necessary, a card is printed containing complete information about his stay at the hotel. The available data can be used if the client stays at the hotel again.
The system allows you to generate a report on available rooms for a specific date with the ability to select by category, group of rooms and with a breakdown of totals by category. There is a division of access rights to information for different users, identification of the latter is carried out by entering a name and password. You can track exactly what changes a particular user has made.
The Ining-Hotel program, developed by the Ining Business Soft company, is intended for hotels and holiday homes and is a system for registering guest accommodation, as well as conducting settlements with partners (travel firms) and residents. In addition, with the help of additional modules, you can automate the booking of rooms and the sale of travel packages, including via the Internet. The program has several categories of directories that characterize the housing stock (types of buildings, room categories, room stock); general purpose (information about countries, tour companies); for personnel (managers and access rights). The program contains such useful reports as: a register of sold vouchers for travel companies; list of arrivals/departures for the day; list of residents (guests); information about the citizenship of guests; daily information on the number of occupied rooms; number usage report. The computer systems described above are the main ones today, but the situation in this market is changing daily.

In addition to the obvious advantages that the use of information technology in the hotel business provides, many problems arise due to the requirements for operating conditions and proper use, as well as the underdevelopment of the Russian information technology market.
The main problem when installing software, in addition to technical issues, is computer illiteracy and insufficient qualifications of personnel. The overwhelming number of hotel workers have a humanities education, which causes certain difficulties when working with a computer and the Internet. Retraining employees or hiring professionals requires additional financial resources. Not all hotel companies can afford to employ IT specialists.

In Russia there are only a few universities that provide education in the field of hotel business, and even more so, giving students the opportunity to visually become familiar with the computer systems that are used in hotels.
It often happens that software from foreign manufacturers is not adapted for the Russian market.
An obstacle to the development of online sales systems is the small number of Runet users, the low standard of living of the population, the low degree of development of payment systems, payment mechanisms for bank checks and credit cards. And, despite the fact that non-cash payment tools for individuals are actively developing, Internet travel companies are in no hurry to introduce payment technologies, because there is still a certain risk of incurring unreasonably high expenses: in particular, a small percentage of Russian travelers still have credit cards . In addition, Russian tourists prefer to pay a “live” manager rather than a virtual machine, and at the same time make sure that no one is deceiving them.

Sometimes hotels that have their own websites make serious mistakes. Forgetting that a website is a business card of a company on the Internet and it must function 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, many do not pay due attention to the design of the site and forget to maintain it in working order. The largest number of dead sites are found in the online tourism and hospitality industry. Summarizing the above, we note that “promotion” and content of your Web representations is a special job that cannot be ignored.

The problem is that there is no proper regulation and licensing of this activity by the state. Conventionally, it can be divided into groups: information security with the widespread use of computer technologies; lack of uniform standards in the use of the Internet and other information technologies; problems of interaction with allied partners. In fact, information is transmitted through the hotel chain, which, in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation “On Information, Informatization and Information Protection” dated January 25, 1995, must be protected. This, for example, is the personal data of citizens. Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 334 of April 3, 1995 obliges legal entities and individuals to use only certified encryption tools and have a license to operate them, which almost no one has. As a result, today almost all participants in the hotel business who store and transmit customer data are violators of the law. None of them is able to independently find an acceptable way out of the current situation, since there are neither means of protection that satisfy all the requirements, nor a legal basis for their use. The problem must be resolved in close cooperation with the relevant government agencies. Of great importance, in particular, is the speedy release of by-laws and normative documents to the law on electronic digital signatures.

Without delving into the specifics and individual problems with ensuring information security, we draw attention to the following - despite the use of special software and hardware protection tools, restrictions on information transmitted via public communication channels, and the use of various methods of administrative control - the problem of information security remains and must be solved on the scale of the entire industry as a whole, and perhaps on the scale of the entire country. Laws, control bodies, and perhaps even direct government support for domestic manufacturers of security equipment are needed. It is necessary that the products of these manufacturers be advanced and competitive, including in price.
The prospects for the development of computer systems in the hospitality industry today are as follows.
The first hotel computer systems appeared 30 years ago, and over the years, computer systems have come a long way in development. Nowadays, computer systems cover all processes of the hotel’s functioning and its relationships with guests.

The development of information technologies and their significant functionality have led to the emergence of fully integrated computer management systems for hotel enterprises. Currently, systems based on the use of networks of personal computers and minicomputers with a developed interface are widely used. Such an information bridge allows the exchange of management and financial information. The systems allow you to automate the daily tasks of hotel staff and management. At the same time, interconnection is achieved between various hotel services, which significantly increases efficiency and eliminates errors. At the same time, management receives a powerful tool for monitoring the condition of the hotel and financial flows, and the possibility of abuse by hotel staff is reduced to a minimum.

One of the most dynamically developing areas of computer systems for the hospitality industry is booking using computer technology, the creation of which has made it possible to connect the entire hospitality industry into a single whole. Computer networks link the various departments operating in a hotel, improve communications and enhance the hotel's capabilities. Modern equipment provides clear and fast access to information. The number of computer systems services provided is constantly growing, and the emergence of “Global Hotel Management Systems” can be expected in the near future.

Many hotels today provide the opportunity to advertise their services via the Internet. This allows potential clients from around the world: business tourists, vacationers, foreign guests - anyone who has access to the Internet, to use their personal computers to imagine in advance where they are going, what they will be able to have in a given hotel. As this becomes more and more popular, hotels are making their Web sites more and more user-friendly, with an intuitive user interface. When reserving hotel rooms, a site visitor - a potential client - is provided with general information about the hotel, photographs of rooms of various categories, a description of additional services (food, conference room, sauna, sports complex), as well as a list of cultural places located in the immediate vicinity of the hotel and rest. To book a room, you need to enter the necessary data (last name, date of arrival and departure, number and type of rooms, contact address and telephone number) and send a request, which will then be processed, entered into the hotel computer, and the client will be sent confirmation of his reservation. This is usually done by email, but if the client wishes, many hotels can send confirmation by fax or mail.

Additional Internet operations include: the ability to view the room plan and hotel plan; possibility of ordering additional services; opportunity to get acquainted with the city plan and the work of transport (metro, bus, taxi).
The Internet and its services are developing rapidly throughout the world. Already today, hotels can operate on the Internet at confidential rates and use bank transfers for payments, in addition to credit cards. In any case, today TravelWeb and similar sections are excellent information directories of addresses of agencies, tour operators, flight schedules, hotels, attractions and much information that is so necessary in modern conditions.
It is safe to assume that it is precisely those hotels that have already begun to move in this direction that will determine the strategy for the development of the hotel business in the field of information technology for the next few years.

When assessing the state of the Russian market in terms of the development and use of computer technologies, it is important to note that much depends on the hotel management. In leading Russian hotels that are part of global hotel chains, work is fully automated, technologically advanced, and has its own computer and Internet services. Such hotels are the first to receive computer news and carry out upgrades. By the way, the geography of technology companies in Russia is vast. They are in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, Novosibirsk and other large cities. The share of such “advanced” hotels on the market is small in number. But the well-known “20-80” rule applies here: 20% of active hotels provide 80% of customer needs. This is the specificity of the Russian market

The tourism industry is so diverse and multifaceted that it requires the use of a wide variety of information technologies, ranging from widespread technologies for working with text, spreadsheets and databases to the use of specialized software products that automate the work of an individual travel company or hotel, and global computer networks and satellite navigation systems. The variety of information technologies and systems used in tourism is shown in Figure 1.2.

Automated management systems in tourism – control systems for the production and service process in tourism enterprises and organizations. They serve to create an effective tourism structure that allows for comfortable working conditions for staff through their professional development and management of their business careers. The functionality of these systems should provide input, editing and storage of information about tours, hotels, clients, and the status of applications; provide for the output of information in the form of various documents; calculation of the cost of tours taking into account exchange rates, discounts, control of payment for tours, generation of financial statements;

translation of export-import data into other software products (Word, Excel, accounting programs) and other functions. Such systems are presented on the market in two versions: for small offices - installed locally on each computer and used by individual employees; for medium and large companies - installed as a distributed system on a group of computers: all data is stored in a single database, each manager individually manages only information about his applications, the director or senior manager exercises control and has access to all data in the database. Examples of such systems are: SAMO-Tour (SAMO), Leader-Tour (FREND), TourManager (Tourism Technologies Center LLC), Master-Tour (Megatech), TurWin, Charter, Ovir (Arim-Soft), Tourist Office ( "Tourist Technologies"), Intour-Soft ("Intour-Soft"), ANT-Group (ANT-Group), Edelweiss, Barsum, Rekonline (Rek-Soft), etc.

Rice. 1.2. Information systems in the tourism industry

Computer booking systems – international booking systems. The most famous of them are global distribution systems (Global Distribution System, GDS), whose representatives are: Amadeus, Galileo, Saber, Worldspan. Initially, such systems were developed for booking airline tickets, but later they also began to include the ability to book hotel rooms, sea cruises, car rentals, etc. These systems are discussed in more detail in the second chapter of this manual.

Information Systems

Global General Purpose Systems

Global computer network Internet

Electronic payment systems

Satellite navigation system

Telephone network

Assistance systems

Information and legal systems

Multimedia systems

General purpose control systems

Electronic document management systems

Customer relationship management systems

Electronic business systems

Tourist destination systems

Office systems

Automated management systems in tourism

Computer booking systems

Geographic information systems

The global computer network Internet is a worldwide system for storing and transmitting information that unites computer networks at various levels (regions, states, scientific organizations, etc.) based on the TCP/IP network protocol stack.

Satellite navigation system is a complex electronic and technical system, consisting of a set of ground and space equipment, designed to determine location (geographical coordinates and altitude), as well as movement parameters (speed, direction of movement, etc.) for ground, water and air objects.

Currently, there are two satellite navigation systems operating in the world - GPS and GLONASS.

GPS (Global Positioning System) - a global positioning system - allows you to determine the location and speed of objects anywhere on Earth, in almost any weather. It has gained great popularity among travelers, people leading an active lifestyle, fishing enthusiasts and motorists.

GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) is the sum of unique technologies, the fruit of many years of work by Russian designers and scientists. GLONASS consists of 24 satellites. They are located at specified points in high orbits. Satellites continuously emit special navigation signals towards the Earth. Any person or vehicle equipped with a special device for receiving and processing these signals can, with high accuracy, determine their own coordinates and speed of movement anywhere on the Earth and near-Earth space, as well as bind to the exact time.

Telephone network is a system of switching nodes, telephone exchanges, lines and channels of the telephone network, terminal subscriber devices designed to provide telephone communications to subscribers.

Electronic payment systems are settlement systems between financial organizations, business organizations and Internet users when buying and selling goods and for various services via the Internet, for example: EasyPay electronic money, the “Raschet” payment system, the iPay mobile payment system, interbank non-cash systems payment systems BELKART, international payment system in the WebMoneyTransfer network, international payment system Mastercard.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems – for automating enterprise business processes related to customer service, such as the work of sales, marketing, call centers and departments specializing in service support. You can define CRM as a system whose work is aimed at achieving the main goal: creating a conveyor for attracting new and developing existing customers. At the same time, minimization of the human factor when working with them and absolute transparency of activities in the areas of sales, marketing and customer service are achieved. For travel business enterprises, a CRM system ensures the preservation of a complete history of relationships with clients and partners, the creation of a mechanism for effectively managing work with partners and agents, improving the quality of work of managers, increasing customer loyalty, creating a price calculation tool, etc. The most famous examples of such systems are amoCRM , ASoft CRM, Bitrix24, CRM Monitor, Marketing Analytic, Triumph Analytics, Data Analyzer, EasyABC Plus, OROS Enterprise.

Electronic document management systems (EDMS) are organizational and technical systems that ensure the process of creating, access control and distribution of electronic documents in computer networks, as well as providing control over the flow of documents in the organization. In fact, an electronic document management system is any information system that provides work with electronic documents. Today, systems of this class can be considered not only as a tool for automating classical office work tasks, but also as a means of working with various internal documents (contracts, regulatory, reference and design documentation, documents on personnel activities, etc.). EDMS are also used to solve applied problems in which an important component is working with electronic documents: managing interactions with clients, processing citizens' requests, automating the work of the service department, organizing project document flow, etc. Examples of electronic document flow systems include: Directum (Directum ), DocsVision (DocsVision), GlobusProfessional (Prominfosystems), PayDox (Paybot), 1C: Document Flow (1C), Boss-Referent (BOSS-Referent), BUSINESS (Electronic Office Systems), EUFRAT (Cognitive Technologies), MOTIV ( Motive).

Electronic business systems (e-business) are systems for implementing basic business processes based on modern Internet technologies, integrated with enterprise information systems.

Examples of this group of systems are tools for developing corporate portals and e-business systems: Liferay Portal (Liferay), InfoExchange Portal (BroadVision), CleverPath Portal (Computer Associates, CA), Enterprise Information Portal (Hummingbird), WebSphere Portal Server (IBM), SharePoint Portal Server (Microsoft), Oracle 9iAS Portal (Oracle Corporation), Borland Enterprise Studio for Windows, DeskWork (Softline).

Office systems are software products for performing general user tasks that do not have a subject orientation, but allow partial automation of the routine daily work of a travel agency. These programs include publicly available office applications: for working with text (for example, Word word processor), for processing spreadsheets (Excel spreadsheet processor), for working with local databases (Access database management system).

Legal information systems (LIS) are systems for storing reliable legal information with effective search and analytical capabilities for a wide range of specialists. They provide quick access to legal information and provide the ability to quickly work with it. The most well-known examples of such systems in Belarus are “Etalon”, “Business-Info”, “ConsultantPlus”, “Expert”, “Usias”.

Multimedia systems are interactive computer developments, which may include music, video clips, animation, galleries of pictures and slides, various databases, etc. Among the main areas of application of multimedia technologies in tourism is the creation of electronic reference books, catalogues, museum and tourist guidebooks, advertising videos, etc. Electronic guidebooks allow you to virtually travel along proposed routes, view these routes in active mode, receive information about the country, objects along the route, information about hotels, campsites, motels and other accommodation facilities, get acquainted with the system of benefits and discounts, as well as legislation in the field of tourism. In addition, these catalogs may contain information about the rules for processing travel documents, tourism formalities, tourist behavior patterns in extreme situations, etc. The client can plan a tour program, select it according to specified optimal parameters (price, system of benefits, transport system, season, etc.). Multimedia technology creates a new level of interactive “human-computer” communication, when in the process of dialogue the user receives more extensive and varied information, which helps to increase the efficiency of professional activities, training and leisure. Creating a multimedia product is possible using programming languages ​​or specialized software tools, such as Adobe Director and AuthorWare (Adobe), Formula Graphics (Formula), Multimedia Creator, etc.

Geographic information systems (GIS) are systems for presenting consistent spatial and attribute information related to objects. The use of GIS is a promising area in tourism and recreational design and development of territories. GIS examples: ArcInfo, ArcView, ArcCAD, MapInfo, AutoCADMAP, Bentley. More information about these systems can be found in section 1.4 of this manual.

The basis of the tourism industry is made up of tour operator firms and travel agents engaged in tourist trips, selling them in the form of vouchers and tours; providing services for accommodation and catering for tourists (hotels, campsites, etc.), their movement around the country, as well as management, information, advertising bodies for tourism research and training for it, enterprises for the production and sale of tourist goods. Other industries also work for tourism, for which serving tourists is not the main activity (cultural enterprises, trade, etc.).

Tourism is an information-rich activity. There are few other industries in which the collection, processing, application and communication of information are as critical to daily functioning as the tourism industry. A tourism service cannot be displayed and considered at the point of sale, like consumer or industrial goods. It is usually purchased in advance and away from the place of consumption. Thus, the tourism market depends almost entirely on images, descriptions, communications and information transfer.

A travel agent is an individual or legal entity who acts as an intermediary in the sale of tours generated by a tour operator.

A tour operator is a tourism organization that organizes tours.

However, one feature stands out - the connecting center that holds various producers within the tourism industry is information. It is information flows, and not goods, that provide connections between producers of tourism services; they come not only in the form of data streams, but also in the form of services and payments.

Services (eg hotel stays, car rentals, package tours and airline seats) are not sent to travel agents, who in turn store them until they are sold to consumers. Information about the availability, cost and quality of these services is transmitted and used.
Likewise, actual payments are not transferred from travel agents to travel suppliers, and commissions are not transferred from travel suppliers to travel agents. In fact, information about payments and receipts is translated (Scheme 2).

Three characteristic features of tourism can be identified.

Firstly, it is a diversified and integrated trade in services.

Finally, this is an information-rich service. Therefore, tourism - both international and domestic - is an area of ​​growing application of information technology.

The information technology system used in tourism consists of computer reservation systems, teleconferencing systems, video systems, computers, management information systems, airline electronic information systems/electronic money transfer systems, telephone networks, mobile communications, etc.

It should be noted that this system of technologies is not deployed by travel agents, hotels or airlines individually, but by all of them.

Moreover, the use of information technology systems by each tourism segment has implications for all other parts.

For example, hotel internal management systems may be linked to computer wide area networks, which in turn provide the basis for communication with hotel reservation systems, which, in the opposite direction, may be accessible to travel agents through their computers.
Therefore, we are dealing with an integrated information technology system that is spreading in tourism.

The tourism industry is so diverse and multifaceted that it requires the use of a wide variety of information technologies, ranging from development of specialized software, providing automation of the work of a separate tourism company or hotel, up to use of global computer networks.

Currently, the formation of a tourism product involves use of global distribution systems GDS (Global Distribution System), providing fast and convenient booking transport tickets, hotel reservations, car rental, currency exchange, ordering tickets for entertainment and sports programs, etc.

Also widespread in the tourism industry video text, combining the capabilities of computer reservation systems, e-mail, telex, and electronic newspapers.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE RF ASTRAKHAN STATE UNIVERSITY

A.V. Kizim

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN TOURISM

Educational and methodological manual

for students studying in the following specialties: 100200 Tourism (bachelor's degree); 100201 Tourism

Publishing house "Astrakhan University"

Reviewers:

Associate Professor, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Doctoral Student, Volgograd State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering

N.P. Sadovnikova;

Candidate of Technical Sciences, Director of ITinent LLC

P.P. Kudryashov

Kizim A.V. Information technologies in tourism: educational manual / A.V. Kizim. – Astrakhan: Astrakhan State University, Publishing House “Astrakhan University”, 2011. – 146 p.

The purpose of the course is to form and develop the competencies of students in the field of modern software, information and network technologies used in the tourism industry. The objectives of the course are: studying modern network technologies used in the tourism industry; study of modern software and information tools used in the tourism industry; gaining skills in working with network software and hardware solutions for the tourism industry.

Intended to improve the skills of users and provide professional training for graduates in the field of new information technologies in tourism.

Developed within the framework of the project 144641-TEMPUS-2008-FI-JPCR (INTOUR) in collaboration with

cooperation with Volgograd State Technical University, Dagestan State University, Ufa State Academy of Economics and Service.

ISBN 978-5-9926-0470-2

© Astrakhan State University, Publishing house "Astrakhan University", 2011

© A. V. Kizim, 2011

1. SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY AND SCS. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM

1.1. Information and computer networks in the tourism industry

“Tourism is temporary departures (travels) of people to another country or locality other than their place of permanent residence for a period of 24 hours to 12 months or with at least one overnight stay for entertainment, recreational, sports, guest, educational, religious and other purposes. without engaging in activities paid for from a local source." A person making such a trip is called a tourist.

According to the definition adopted by the UN in 1954, tourism is an active recreation that affects the promotion of health and physical development of a person, associated with movement outside the permanent place of residence. In the materials of the World Tourism Conference held by the WTO in 1981 in Madrid, the following definition is given: tourism is one of the types of active recreation, which is travel made with the aim of exploring certain areas, new countries and combined in a number of countries with elements sports In 1993, the UN Statistical Commission adopted a broader definition: “tourism is the activity of persons who travel and stay in places outside their usual environment for a period not exceeding one consecutive year, for the purpose of leisure, business and other purposes."

There are other definitions, and each of them reflects certain aspects of tourism. On the one hand, tourism is a special case of travel, on the other hand, it is the activity of producing a tourism product. In principle, both travel and the production of tourism products are activities. However, production is an economic activity and its goal is to make a profit, and travel is always movement in space. It is necessary to distinguish between these concepts.

Tourism industry– a diversified industrial complex engaged in the reproduction of conditions for travel and recreation, that is, the production of a tourist product.

Typical subjects of the tourism industry (tourism industry in the narrow sense): accommodation enterprises (hotels, boarding houses, etc.), transport, tour operators, travel agencies, resorts, excursion bureaus and guide bureaus, associations and government bodies for regulating tourism development, organization of congresses, organization of exhibitions and fairs. Atypical subjects of the tourism industry (tourism industry in a broad sense): in the sphere of production - enterprises producing souvenirs, sporting goods, goods for

qualities of these services. Similarly, actual payments are not transferred from travel agents to travel suppliers, and commissions are not transferred from travel suppliers to travel agents.

In addition, the individual components of the tourism industry are closely related to each other, because many tourism producers are involved in each other’s activities (Fig. 1.). All this allows us to consider tourism as a highly integrated service, which makes it even more accessible to the use of information technology in organization and management.

Rice. 1. Integration of tourism services

Today, a prerequisite for the effective operation of a travel company is the presence of computers that are integrated into a local (LAN) or corporate network with access to the global network, and allow the active use of hardware and software network resources. Online information and network technologies allow companies to quickly collect information, process and analyze it, make the right decisions and, possibly, outperform competitors.

Computer network– this is a collection of computers and other computer equipment (active network equipment, printers, scanners, etc.), united through communication lines, network cards and running a network operating system.

According to the definition of the IEEE Institute, a LAN is a data transmission system that provides a number of independent devices with the ability to directly interact in a limited geographical space through a physical channel for the interaction of a limited area.

reduced productivity. A typical LAN is owned by only one organization, which uses and manages it. A typical LAN, through a network operating system (OS), connects servers, workstations, printers, and other devices, allowing users to share their resources and functionality. Sharing resources:

saves costs on purchasing and operating hardware

increases the efficiency of data use.

Creating a computer network requires certain, often quite significant, costs: for the purchase of additional equipment and software, for installation and adjustment of the network, as well as for its further operation. However, now in both public and private organizations and firms around the world, the use of a computer network is a common solution.

In computer networks, each subscriber (client, user) can use different types of computers, means and communication lines, and communication programs. In a computer network, computers can act as servers or clients.

1.2. Servers, clients and workstations

The term "server" usually refers to a program that makes requests. Also, a server is a computer on a network that provides its services to other users. To define the server's function, a word is added to explain its purpose. For example, file server, WEB server, mail server, SQL server, etc. The program that sends the requests, which is usually called the client, and the server can easily be executed on the same machine. The client sends requests, and the server executes them.

Modern operating systems are universal, that is, under their control any program can be executed - both working autonomously, and interacting with another program as a client, and server programs. At the same time, for reasons of convenience and information security, it is often decided that one computer on the network will perform specialized functions, for example, maintaining an enterprise database. In such cases it is called a database server, etc.

It is important to understand that the term “server” in relation to a program indicates that: 1) this program involves interaction with other programs and 2) this interaction is built according to the scheme: a request from a client program, execution by a server program and return of results to the client.

Unlike regular programs that start, perform a specific task and finish, a server program starts -

in advance and is in a passive state awaiting requests. Having processed an incoming request, the server waits for the next one to arrive.

1.3. File-server and client-server technologies of information systems

The systems used in the tourism business belong to the class of automated information processing and management systems (APIS), or, more simply, information systems (IS). The basis of ASOIU is a database (DB) - a structured storage of information necessary for the proper functioning of the system.

The most commonly used are two approaches to building ASOI systems, which are called “file-server” and “client-server”.

File server technology.

With a file-server implementation of ASOIU, the database is located in the form of files on the hard drive of one of the computers on the network. File servers are servers whose shared resource is disk memory (or files stored on the hard drive). Information is exchanged between the client and server. In this case, usually to change one byte (for example, the sign “is the number busy or not”) it is necessary to read a significantly larger amount of information, change this one byte and write the information to disk again. File server solutions are applicable only in high-speed networks with a limited number (8–16) of simultaneously running client applications.

User programs run on workstations and, if necessary, access server files - the system database. This raises many problems. The file server processes a huge number of requests to serve files, which takes a significant amount of time. The user has to wait. When several users simultaneously access one file (for example, a tour database), problems may arise with the reliability of information storage, since the file server reads/writes data blocks without controlling their contents. Accordingly, incorrect operation of the client application can easily destroy the system database.

Client-server technology.

SQL (Structured Query Language, structured query language) –

a specialized language for managing database queries, has the status of an international technology standard.

The client-server technology differs in that between the database and the client there is an intermediary - a SQL server. In relation to information systems, this means that work with the database is implemented using a SQL server. An SQL server is a program that is capable of receiving queries from client programs formulated in