If industry analysts are correct in their assertion that tourism is the lifeblood of South Africa as a means of generating much-desired foreign exchange via tourist dollars, then South African National Parks (formerly known as The National Parks Board) has achieved the ultimate transfusion.
South Africa is the ultimate haven for lovers of the great outdoors and wildlife, so when global vacation time arrives and Rio or Phuket don`t shape up as desired holiday options, then out come the credit cards and travellers` cheques, and it`s off to Kruger, Kalahari or any other national park which conjure up images of the Big Five under a clear African sky.
In short, the desire is there, the facilities are there, the animals are there: all that was needed was a sophisticated, comprehensive Reservations and Front Office System available to the leisure industry.
And South Africa, not content with having the best of tourist offerings, has also come up with its ground breaking, world-leading RAFOS system - five years in the planning, centralised in Pretoria, with reservation offices in Cape Town and Skukuza, and already boasting a performance level which has generated significant foreign and local interest. Not to mention bookings.
RAFOS is based on Computer Associates` Ingres mission-critical software, and will provide a reservation system for 30 sites, each with multiple accommodation modules such as bungalows, camp sites, guest houses and bush camps. "It`s a unique environment for tourist booking," said SA National Parks IT Manager, Hilton Visser. "Standard hotel booking is a matter of how many people in how many rooms. We have multi-faceted offerings, each catering for the specific demands of a diverse tourist public. For example, Skukuza alone has 15 different accommodation classifications."
RAFOS - which was written by PQ Consulting using Computer Associates` Ingres as its database - has Microsoft Visual Basic as its developing language. There is a Sun Solaris as the main server, with another Solaris as a backup server.
"SA National Parks needed a solution which would maximise tourist accommodation potential," said CA`s Wade Gomes, National Sales Manager. "The previous system allowed reporting every two weeks, which was clearly unsuitable, often resulting in a situation where, even with massive tourist demand, camps were filled to only 73% of capacity, whereas 85% is a more desirable - and a more profitable - occupancy level."
RAFOS, he said, is exactly that solution - and is arguably the most sophisticated of its kind in the world. Not without its initial teething problems, the system is now firing on all cylinders. Tobie Jooste, Facilities Manager at SA National Parks confirmed that a query problem has been resolved quickly and was now running without major problems.
"Our staff comes from a traditional mainframe background so we needed to change the culture - this technology is a new environment for them, however we have completed a comprehensive training programme for all 150 users, all of whom are enjoying the benefits of the new system," Jooste said.
Jooste said productivity had been ramped up extensively now that there was greater - and faster - availability of information, and as a consequence booking procedures were much slicker than ever before.
"We`re already seeing our occupancy numbers climbing, even after a few weeks of operation, so in the short, medium and long term the five-year development process will be well and truly validated."
He said that phase two of the project - the camp management rollout - would be initiated in January. "Many organisations have tried to create a system such as RAFOS, and all have failed," Visser said. "We`ve done it - we`ve created a reservations and booking system which works perfectly, and has established itself as the de facto blueprint for similar systems throughout the leisure industry.
"Local and overseas interest - as well as enquiries from South Africa`s neighbours - has been keen." Visser said.
Visser and Jooste are both committed Ingres fans, and as the software applies to RAFOS, it has proven itself to be something of a bedrock for the system. "We`ll recoup our development costs very quickly," Visser said. "Our mainframe cost us R1,4-million per annum in maintenance: RAFOS cost us R3.0-million in total to develop and our Year 2000 enablement was completed easily and quickly. Hence, within two years the system will have paid for itself. More to the point, we now have a simple, user-friendly system where, rather than the old system which provided block allocations, we now have a streamlined system which allows customers to book `live`."
Computer Associates was the obvious choice for us - we`ve had a relationship with them for the past seventeen years when we bought our first mainframe database program from them. It made sense for us to continue working with them."
The system also provides for online booking - check it out on www.parks-sa.co.za - or go via Computicket or become a member of the e-commerce generation and Go Wild as soon as the next RAFOS phase is complete.
Visser is particularly bullish about what Rafos will do for this country. "RAFOS is the device which will ultimately steer South Africa`s tourism industry. It is the glue that will bind all our incredible natural resources into a visitor-friendly package that is simple to use and quick to serve, and which will turn this country into what it rightfully should be - the ultimate host to the world`s tourists. Leisure is all about service, and RAFOS is all about service excellence."
Share
Editorial contacts