airlines and travel agencies have been using global distribution systems also known as a gds for over 30 years traveling today would be difficult without a gds to understand how the travel industry moves you need to understand how global distribution systems connect the world in this video we will learn how a gds connects suppliers with distributors let's first see how a gds functions a gds is an online network for companies within the travel industry it can connect travel agencies cruise lines hotels car rental companies and airlines a gds takes the content from suppliers and makes it available to distributors let's take airlines as an example of a supplier and a travel agency as a distributor airlines have reservation systems that keep track of their inventory the inventory is the number of seats that are booked or available to book the gds has access to this inventory through a contract the gds then gives this access to travel agencies if a travel agent were to book a seat the gds makes sure that the information is sent to the airline's reservation system and the inventory is updated just like in this airline example a gds has access to many other suppliers to illustrate this let's see how jean books his trip to another country jean calls his travel agency to book a flight from atlanta georgia in the united states to cape town south africa he needs a hotel and a rental car for the three weeks that he will be there the travel agent then uses a gds to access thousands of flights from hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotel and car options for jean the gds filters all these options to give the travel agent the best set of travel options after reviewing these options with jean the travel agent can then use the same gds to book multiple flights from multiple airlines and reserve the hotel and rental car because of this vast network of suppliers through the gds gene has access to the best possible travel options through his travel agency global distribution systems are vital for the ever-growing travel industry as more suppliers and distributors pop up the need for access to the expanding network continues to grow a gds helps suppliers reach more travelers and helps agencies give travelers more options now you understand how gds functions within the travel industry but before we go let's review how a gds connects suppliers and distributors a global distribution system is an online network for travel suppliers and distributors the gds has contracts with suppliers like airlines to access their inventory the gds gives this access to distributors like travel agencies the travel agencies can then use the gds for a thorough search of travel options then the gds can be used to both search and book these travel options by using a global distribution system the travel industry can reach farther