The Would Tourism Conference which was held at Manila, Philippines in October 1980, considered the nature of tourism phenomenon in all its aspects and the role tourism is bound to play in a dynamic and vastly changing world.
Convened by the World Tourism Organisation the conference also considered the responsibility of various states for the development and enhancement as more than purely economic activity of nations and peoples.
The significance of tourism in developing countries camp up for detailed discussion during the conference. The participants in the World Tourism Conference attached particular importance to its effects on the developing countries. The conference from the beginning pronounced itself on this subject.
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It stated its conviction “that the world tourism can contribute to the establishment of a new international economic order that will help to eliminate the widening economic gap between developed and developing countries and ensure the steady acceleration of economic and social development and progress in particular, of the developing countries.”
Manila Declaration on World Tourism considered almost all the aspects of the tourism phenomenon. Besides the economic aspects, social, cultural, spiritual also were considered.
The conference was also convinced that world tourism can be a vital force for world peace and can provide the moral intellectual basis for international understanding and interdependence. Its declarations are as follows:
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(i) Tourism is considered an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural, educational and economic sectors national societies and their international relationship relations.
Its development of nation and can only be positive, if man has access to creative rest and holidays and enjoys the freedom to travel, within the framework of free time and leisure whose profoundly human character it underlines.
Its very existence and development depend entirely on the exercise of a state of lasting peace, to which tourism itself required to contribute.
(ii) On the threshold of the twenty-first century and in view of the analyse the phenomenon of tourism, in relation fundamentally to the dimension it has assumed since the granting to workers of the right to annual paid holidays moved tourism from a restricted elitist activity to a wider activity integrated into social and economic life.
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(iii) As a result of people’s aspirations to tourism, the initiatives taken by States regarding legislation, the permanent activities of voluntary bodies representing the various strata of the population and the technical contribution made by specialised professional, modern tourism had come to play an important role within the range of human activities.
States have recognised this fact and the great majority of them have entrusted the World Tourism Organisation with the task of ensuring the harmonious and sustained development of tourism, in cooperation, in appropriate cases, with the Specialised Agencies of the United Nations and the other international organisation concerned.
The right to use of leisure and in particular, the right to access to holidays and to freedom of travel and tourism, a natural consequence of the right to work, is recognised as an aspect of the fulfillment of the human needs by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as by the legislation of many States.
It entails for society the duty of providing for its citizens the best practical, effective and non-discriminatory access to this type of activity. Such an effort must be in harmony with the priorities, institutions and traditions of each individual country.
There are many constraints on the development of tourism and groups of nations should determine and study those constraints and adopt measures aimed at removing their negative influence.
The share tourism represents in national economies and in international trade makes it a significant factor in world development. Its consistent major role in national economic activity, in international transactions and in securing balance of payments equilibrium makes it one of the main activities of the world economy.
Within each country, domestic tourism contributes to an improved balance of the national economy through a redistribution of the national income. Domestic tourism also heightens the awareness of common interest and contributes to the development of activities favourable to the general economy of the country.
Thus, the development of tourism from abroad should be accompanied by a similar effort to expand domestic tourism. The economic returns of tourism, however, real and significant they may be, do not and cannot constitute the only criterion for the decision by States to encourage this activity.
The right to holidays, the opportunity for the citizen to get to know his own environment, a deeper awareness of his national identify and of the solidarity that links him to his compatriots and the sense of belonging to a culture and to a people are all major reasons for stimulating the individual’s participation in domestic and international tourism through access to holidays and travel.
The importance that millions of our contemporaries attach to tourism in the use of their free time and in their concept of the quality of life makes it a need that government should takes into account, and support.
Social tourism is an objectives which society must pursue in the interest of those citizens who are least privileged in the exercise of their rights to rest.
Through its effects on the physical and mental health of individuals practicing it, tourism is a factor that favours social stability, improves the working capacity of communities and promotes individual as well as collective well-being.
Through the wide range of services needed to satisfy its requirement, tourism creates new activities of considerable importance which are a source of new employment. In this respect, tourism constitutes positive elements for social development of their level of development.
With respect to international relation and the search for peace, based on justice and respect of individual and ever-present factor in promoting mutual knowledge and understanding and as basis for reaching a greater level of respect and confidence among all the peoples of the world.
(iv) Modern tourism results from the adoption of a social policy which led to the workers’ gaining annual paid holidays and represents the recognition of a fundamental right of the human being to rest and leisure. It has become a factor controlling to social stability, mutual understanding among individuals and people and individual betterment.
In addition to its well-known economic aspects, it has acquired a cultural and moral dimension which must be fostered and protected again the harmful distortions which can be brought about by economic factors.
Public authorities and the travel trade should accordingly participate in development of tourism by formulating guidelines aimed at encouraging appropriate investments.
(v) Youth tourism requires the most active attention since young people have less adequate income than others for travelling or taking holidays. A positive policy should provide youth with the utmost encouragement and facilities. The same attention should be provided for the elderly and handicapped.
(vi) In the universal efforts to establish a new international economic order, tourism can under appropriate conditions, play a positive role in furthering equilibrium, cooperation, mutual understanding and solidarity among all countries.
(vii) Nations should promote improved conditions of employment for workers engaged in tourism and confirm and protect their right to establish professional trade unions and collective bargaining.
(viii) Tourism resources available in various countries consist at the same time of space, facilities and values. These are resources whose use cannot be left uncontrolled without running the risk of their of their deterioration, or even their destruction.
The satisfaction of tourism requirements must not be prejudicial to the economic interests of the population in tourist areas, to the environment or, above all, to natural resources, which are the fundamental attraction of tourism and historical and cultural sites.
All tourism resources are part of the heritage of mankind. National communities and the entire international community must take the necessary steps to ensure their preservation. The conservation of historical, cultural and religious sites represents at all times and notably in time of conflict, one of the fundamental responsibilities of states.
(ix) International cooperation in the field of tourism is an endeavour in which the characteristics of peoples and basic interests of individual states must be respected. In this field, the central and decisive role of the World Tourism Organisation as a concept utilising and harmonising body is obvious.
(x) Bilateral and multilateral technical and financial cooperation cannot be looked upon as an act of assistance since it constitutes the pooling of the means necessary for the utilisation of resources for the benefit of all parties.
(xi) In the practice of tourism, spiritual elements must take precedence over technical and material elements. The spiritual elements are essentially as follows:
(a) The total fulfillment of the human being;
(b) A constantly increasing contribution to education;
(c) Equality of destiny of nations;
(d) The liberation of man in a spirit of respect for his identity and dignity;
(e) The affirmation of the originality of cultures and respect for the moral heritage of peoples.
Computer in Airlines:
Today almost all the airlines use computers for their entire reservation work. The sudden growth, about forty years ago, in global travel, put a big pressure cr. the handling of air traffic, especially the passenger traffic for the airlines, both international and domestic.
Growth patterns in passenger traffic had begun to indicate that handling reservation manually could not be sustained long without affecting efficiency in the customer service.
It was then that a need to computerise passenger reservation systems was felt by the major airlines of the world. IBM took the initiative and developed a computerised reservation system known as Programmed Airlines Reservation System (PARS). This system was developed in the early 1960s.
However, PARS was not developed exclusively for or with any, one particular airline. The system was designed as an all-purpose software package that would fit the requirements of any domestic airline. It was designed around IBM’s new hardware range system 36b,’ which was subsequently to revolutionise the entire computer industry.
The first airline to use PARS was the United States based Continental airlines in the year 1967. This was followed by most major US airlines which used the system making PARS the most popular and successful software product of the time. This was a major achievement for IBM.
The later expanded to meet the needs of several other airlines outside the United States of America resulting in the creation of International Programmed Airlines Reservation System (IPARS).
Initially this system was a joint venture between IBM and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and aimed at adapting PARS to the needs of airlines that had mainly international operations.
Subsequently, many airlines adopted the system. The international package became almost as much of a standard as PARS. Although, many airlines modified the system extensively IPARS was at the base of most international airlines system.
By the late 1960s, the system developed was known as CPARS (C for Compact). This system was followed by a system known as Univac Standard Airline System, USA.
With the passing of the years more and more systems developed, incorporating more functions to enable the airlines to have more transactions and instructions. The functions of various systems are basically identical across all airline reservation systems.
The difference between them are in reaps not apparent to the passengers, such as the flexibility with which they can handle control of space of flights, particularly, where multiple classes and multiple sectors are involved.
The popular of any system to a large extent depends on its coverage and online reservation network. The number of terminals which a system has is also an important consideration. The more the terminals a system has, the larger will be the online reservation network.
The number of reservation transactions carried out by a system in a given time is another important aspect.
However, it became obvious that the system was too costly, for smaller international airlines developed their own IBM oriented reservation systems in the early 1970s to be considered by an airline before using a system. To sum up, the following main aspects are important to make a system perfect and universally acceptable:
(i) Number of reservation transactions acceptable
(ii) Data links with other airlines,
(iii) Number of terminals,
(iv) Information processing capacity and
(v) Data volume capacity.
Computers in Air Cargo:
Most of the airlines are now using computers for cargo handling operations as well. The handling of cargo shipments on ground is a costly affair and the cost has been increasing over the years.
Arrests 50 per cent of the handling of cargo shipment reflect the cost of manual information processing. Freight rate increases have not kept pace with cost increase, so airlines had either to accept reduced margins or takes steps to reduce overheads.
Computerisation of cargo has helped reduce costs as this speeds up the handling of information related to consignments and also reduces the time the cargo spends on the ground.
The pioneer in cargo computerisation was Alitalia; that PO 4-cargo system was adopted and modified by many major airlines, such as Swissair, TWA and British Airways.
Univac’s USAS has a fully developed cargo module. Almost all the major airlines in the world have now adopted one system or another of cargo computerisation.
Advantage to Travel Agents:
Today several airlines have developed and adopted sophisticated computer systems for their use. The airlines also make available their system to their appointed sales agents who are equipped with an appropriate terminal and receive the necessary instructions and procedures.
Airlines have thus, greatly benefited from the use and adaptation of computers. Some of the major advantages of use of computers by airlines include:
(a) High profile application like passenger reservations;
(b) Applications of departure, control and cargo;
(c) Accounting, budgeting, forecasting and planning;
(d) Engineering management;
(e) Cargo management;
(f) Revenue management;
(g) Fare quotations and constructions;
(h) Ticket printing;
Computer in Hotels:
Like in airlines, the computer technology has entered the hotel industry in a big way. A hotel’s most crucial internal resource is information and with the use of computers the information is available in a way that saves labour and ultimately increases the profits.
Although, computers in the hotel industry started being used as far back as the late 1960s, it was only in the 1970s that the technological advances in computer technology made possible the right combination of compactness and versatility for different sizes of hotels.
The lower cost encouraged many individual hotels to install the system. Today computers are industry. One of the most important factors or its large-scale acceptance in the industry has been its reliability. The computer system has been found to be very reliable in the dissemination of the right kind of information at the push of a button.
Today, the hotel industry is a major market for the computer manufactures and the software vendors. It has been increasingly realised that the hotel computer system achieve better internal and external control and through the use of analysis methods, provide the opportunity to improve the overall profitability of the unit.
Like in the airlines, the computers offer substantial advantages for reservation system in terms of speed and accuracy. The errors are almost negligible.
Application Areas:
Hotel system all over the world has traditionally been divided into the following two main areas:
1. Front Office Application Areas.
2. Back Office Application Areas.
Front Office Application Areas incorporate the following:
(i) Reservations
(ii) Registration
(iii) Guest accounting
(iv) Night auditing
(v) Communication operations (telephones, telex, fax).
Back Office Application Areas incorporate the following:
(i) Financial management
(ii) Inventory control systems accounts
(iii) Profit/loss accounts
(iv) General ledger
(v) Credit card verifications
The computer system streamlines the functioning of all the above areas in a hotel set-up. It helps in the smooth functioning of the hotel, better guest relations, increased efficiency of staff and the overall profitability of the hotel.
They key to successful operations of a hotel lies in the operation of an efficient information system. With the introduction of computers in the hotel the information system had become more accurate and efficient.
The guest has an access to the required information with a push button convenience. Since the computer is used as a communication medium, there is better coordination between various departments. The computer has relieved the staff of many routine jobs enabling them to devote more time and attention to the needs of the guests.
The computers have made guest accounting systems more sophisticated and reliable. It automatically collects and calculates receipts and payments and consolidates and verifies credit card payments and cash controls.
The sales outlets, like restaurants, automatically record the guest’s expenditure at the point of sale while, direct electronic links to the telephone system in the guest rooms can monitor guest calls for instant charging to their accounts.
The computers have eliminated cumbersome accounting machines often seen at the cashier’s desk giving a front office system a modern and sophisticated look, resulting in greater guest satisfaction and adding to the prestige of a hotel.
Back office systems have a large number of areas having great potential for cost control where computers are used to a great advantage for the hotel.
With the use of computer, management can monitor the progress of individual restaurants and other sales outlets against targets and budgets which may be set for various items. Daily report on inventory usage becomes available by way of organising input from each centre collected at regular intervals throughout the day.