A simulation approach to the Internet package tour reservation problems

Group package tours (GPT) usually have some package tour terms and conditions. One of which is that package tours can be canceled once the number of reserved customers does not reach a minimum number of passengers by a specific date. Thus, one critical challenge facing tourism operation managers is to make the determinations of what package tours should be provided at the start of a planning interval, and tour reservation control and which package tours should be canceled once the number of reserved passengers is low at a review time. This study establishes a dynamic programming model to deal with an Internet package tour reservation problem. The proposed model offers insights into how the travel agents use the reservation status to make the open and close decisions for each package tour on their Web sites. Simulation approach is conducted to develop the above two decisions.