A new project named ‘UNIMARINA – GDS-Marinas’ aimed at improving the global marina industry is currently underway, and is planning to set a standard for IT transactions within the marinas infrastructure. In its first phase, an Experts’ Committee made up of 10 top decision makers in the industry is working together with Travelport and Portbooker.com<http://Portbooker.com> to validate the coding of 8600 marinas around the world. This will define countries and regions, and determine the business rules of transactions between marinas and their customers.
In the 1970’s, the world’s airports adopted the short codes that we are all now familiar with such as: Palma=PMI, Gatwick=LGW, etc…. this increased passenger and cargo business exponentially. The same type of coding of marinas is a targeted milestone of the GDS (Global Distribution System) project and is intended to help develop communications, distribution and business development in the Marina Sector.
Another previous example but actually a bad one is the hotel industry. Somewhat differently from airlines who kept control of their pricing and business rules, the standard for hotels was imposed by online travel agencies through “booking fees” to be paid by intermediaries, so hotels lost control of their distribution, which is now based on commissions for transactions, thus significantly reducing margins.
In the case of GDS-Marinas, the purpose of an Experts Committee with its executive powers is to have Marinas take full control of the standard and its business rules. Another characteristic is that it is planned as an open standard, allowing those marinas that work with optimal customer service, to effectively develop their businesses via their involvement.
www.Unimarina.org<http://www.Unimarina.org> is a non-profit website, free for marinas worldwide to check status of coding, update detailed information, facts & figures and also to request inclusion in the Project. This site will also keep you updated on the development of the project, and there is an e-mail address where you can ask any questions at: marinas@unimarina.org<mailto:marinas@unimarina.org>
Unimarina.org<http://Unimarina.org>’s simple mission statement is; “To benefit the Marina Industry by making transactions faster, easier and more secure!”
