EXISTING DMSs
TIScover, Austria
Tyrolean Information System (TIScover) has been operating for
five years. It is the most worthy of comparison. In 1997, which was its first
complete year of operation, over 23 000 transactions were made through the
Austrian DMS (TIScover), generating about $8million in revenue. In 1998
TIScover generated accommodation revenue of about $20 million, which was set to
increase to about $55 million in 1999. It was hoped that break-even for the
TIScover Internet investment will be reached in 1999. TIScover adopted a
clientserver intranet/internet model. From 1998 until the middle of 1999, in
Austria,
England, Scotland, Ireland, TIScover was the only or at least
the most comprehensive destination-based booking system, which offers online
bookings via the Internet, and certainly the one that generates most revenue.
TIScover has since been privatized in order to provide more freedom to attract
more private sector capital.
Gulliver, Ireland
In Ireland there is a system called Gulliver, which is Ireland's
most advanced and comprehensive tourism database. Gulliver is build on a
distributed client-server system based around Windows NT 4.0/SQL server with
static data being accessed locally on PCs. Originally it was an
information-only system without booking facilities, like one of its
forerunners, the Danish Dan data. It is now possible to make bookings via the
Internet through the Bord Failte (Irish Tourist Board) website, with instant
confirmation. In 1998 the amount of reservations and booking enquiries has been
estimated to almost 87 000, 75% of which are assumed to lead to actual stays,
each generating $307 in revenue. For 1999 about 200 000 reservations and
booking enquiries were expected, 75% of which are assumed to lead to actual
stays, each generating $364 in revenue. Gulliver has been sold to a private
operator in 1997. FEXCO a foreign exchange company secured a majority (74%)
stake in this new joint venture and took Gulliver forward as this acquisition
shows an obvious synergy with the company's core strength: the expertise in
provision telesales and technology-based retail
solutions (Frew & O'Connor, 1999). Today well over 1.5
million people worldwide have used Gulliver's site to access detailed
information on Ireland (Irish Tourist Board, 2001).
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