Global Distribution System

1. 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.

2. 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.