Tourism students at Foundation University can now obtain hands-on experience in handling reservations for airlines, hotels and car rentals following the installation of the Abacus Distribution System at the Greyhound Travel and Tours.
Cristine Aba of the FU College of Hospitality Management said the Abacus Distribution Systems, which has been in use since 1990, is widely used by travel agents in the Asia-Pacific Region.
We decided to partner with Abacus to give our Tourism students needed skills in the highly competitive Travel industry as it gives them the competitive advantage upon graduation, Aba said.
The Abacus is a travel reservations computer system, a learning activity that can be incorporated in Tourism subjects.
This system is being used by travel agencies for their reservations, ticketing, and non-air booking requirements. The Abacus is a consortium of Asia-Pacific airlines namely, All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Dragonair, EVA Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Royal Brunei, Silkair, Singapore Airlines and Sabre, the largest GDS in North America.
Tourism students at Foundation U will be exposed to two Abacus programs: The Abacus Functionalities for Tourism Students is a five- day extensive hands-on training course on the Abacus System. The course will cover basic reservations (creation of an airline booking), pricing and issuance of an electronic ticket.
The second system is the Abacus Agent Self-Paced Systems Training. This program has been installed in 50 computers at Foundation University that is designed to familiarize students with the Abacus system. Aba said this program also includes a comprehensive training plan and a personal progress tracking report. Each of the system’s modules is easily accessible and thus, students have the flexibility to polish and repolish their new skills at their most convenient time.
