The system allows members of the public to complete their entire booking online in a few relatively simple steps. After a once-off registration, clients can browse accommodation availability in various parks and camps, build an itinerary and pay conservation and accommodation fees with their credit cards wherever they are. The reservation is then confirmed through an email.

Earlier this month at World Travel Market (WTM), in London, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Mr Marthinus van Schalkwyk, described the launch of the SANParks real-time booking system as a move "that will catapult South Africa’s premier conservation agency into a world class tourism agency which has embraced the potential presented by the online environment."

"This was the inevitable next step for SANParks to take, to keep us internationally competitive," said Van Schalkwyk. Over 580 million people worldwide used the internet last year and spent over R15-billion. Buying online and tourism products accounted for a high proportion of that spend.

SANParks is confident that the online real-time booking system will increase business, help it to access new markets and make it easy for regular travellers to book a visit to a South African national park. The system will also relieve the pressure on the SANParks call centre by allowing visitors to book at their convenience.

The system has been designed to accommodate added functionality in the future, but for now SANParks is monitoring user feedback and assessing how the system performs. SANParks traditionally experiences very high volumes of traffic to the website and the reservations system at the beginning of each month when new accommodation becomes available, and during peak times such as school holidays. In order to ensure full integrity, an additional update takes place for about two hours from midnight every night. During this time the site will be unavailable.

For more information on the Real-time Online Booking System visit SANParks’ website at www.sanparks.org