Global Distribution System

The Global Distribution System (GDS) is a primarily a booking tool for travel agents, agencies

and travel companies and if you are in travel business, you surely have used the GDS many times

in your travel business but what is GDS, and why is it important for the travel industry?

What is GDS?

GDS is an arena/platform that enables travel agents, agencies and their clients to access travel

data, shop for and compare fares options, and then book travel. GDS networks like the system

operated by Travelport generate billions of dollars in global travel sales in travel industry.

Through this platform as the GDS Travelport, agents can have access to scheduling and

inventory of hotels, airlines, car rentals, and railway and bus reservations in real time. GDS links

all those services across the three primary travel reservation sectors (airline, hotel, and ground

transportation, i.e., car rentals), and activities.

There are three important GDS systems: Travelport (Galileo & Worldspan), Amadeus and

SABRE.

The importance of GDS to travel agents?

Think of a large room with large round tables. Seated around each table are airline reservation

employees. As a ticketing request is called in, a reservationist reaches out toward a very large

rotating lazy employee placed on each table. The lazy employees has complexities that house

index file cards each card represents an airline flight.

The airline employee pulls a card, marks it to indicate that seat is booked; a ticket is manually

written, the phone call is concluded, and the index card is returned to its actual owner the process

for one reservation takes between 90 minutes and 3 hours.The year which we are talking is of

1950s.

The modern GDS system progress from this early labour intensive manual system, thanks to the

collaborative team efforts of American Airlines and IBM. The result of that collaboration? The

first airline industry mainframe GDS based system evolves as SABRE.

Now travel agents, travel agencies & travel corporate now use increasingly more enlightened

GDS systems to search for the best available travel, accommodations and best fares for their

customers. Agents will make airline and hotel bookings in real time for clients, and they will

complete their desired search and bookings within couple of minutes.

Promotional messaging to agents through GDS central like the most prestigious airline inter-

nationally distribution systems (Amadeus, SABRE, Galileo, and Worldspan) alert agents to

special deals, fares, and travel packages an effective marketing tool for passing savings on to

agents and from agents to their customers.

Not only messaging through GDSs effective in promoting and distributing travel savings to

clients, GDS providers are becoming fundamental to the supply of travel inventory to retailer

travel agents in travel & tourism industry.GDS systems bolster high traffic portal travel websites

also for effective

The future of GDS?

GDS bookings have increased tremendously worldwide over the past 5 years yet some industry

panelist suggests that GDSs may become nearly obsolete by 2020 but like many

technology/software based systems, GDS may evolve, instead of all such observations.GDSs

may become more of a direct booking tool instead of a system used exclusively by travel

management companies and travel companies. Technology may refines and evolves engines to

target specific travel interests like corporate or leisure travel. Integration functionalities may

change, soften or merging nearly separate functions like booking a flight processes. Technology

integrated in GDSs evolves new travel solutions to make information more useful and practical

for customer’s travel agents and expand to cover new travel & tourism industry.GDS system will

never become obsolete because these are the key component in this industry.