Travel+agencies

=IT in T ravel Agencies =

A travel agency process tickets for customers under the usage of E - commerce, and add a large 37% of the total e - commerce spending in the US in 2010 (that's just from travel related e - commerce). One usage of e - commerce is through online booking, and this is well accustomed with booking airline tickets, train tickets, bus tickets etc. The way that customers can book tickets with travel agencies online is through online booking and the usage of an internet booking engine.


 * What is an Internet booking engine?**

An Internet booking engine (IBE) is an application which helps the travel and tourism industry support reservation through the Internet. It helps consumers to book flights, hotels, holiday packages, insurance and other services online. This is a much needed application for the aviation industry as it has become one of the fastest growing sales channels.

IBEs were necessary as the underlying (often called legacy) systems were unable to cater economically for the large number of shopping transactions and the speed of development required by the customers. In most cases the underlying systems were not designed for direct exposure to consumers.

An internet booking engine allows a customer to specify their travel requirements such as city of departure, destination, departure date, return date and class of travel. Once this information is received, the IBE will offer a list of available air tickets, hotels and excursions which the customer can then book.

The real value of an IBE is in the business rules and processes that package the content and provide the capability to shop and purchase. This includes packaging and pricing rules, customized displays for different customers and channels, business rules, and check out and payment processes.


 * Online booking **

An advantage of online booking is that it is very convenient for customers, plus businesses benefit from it as they can reduce the amount of employees they have which saves them money, because the simple things such as answering telephones, taking bookings and checking availability are all done by the customer with the usage of e - commerce.

Guy