ZAINI BIN HAJI JAHIDIN

In Sarawak there are only seven national parks and one wildlife centre that provide accommodation facilities for the visitors. The accommodation ranges from the exclusive VVIP Chalet to hostels and camping sites.

Booking can be made through the booking offices both in Kuching and Miri via mail, e-mail, and telephone and in person. All requests for bookings are dealt with on a ‘first come first served’ basis. The booking offices are located in the town centre, and are easily accessible by foreign and local visitors. The office in Kuching opens every day including Sundays and public holidays, while the Miri office opens only during normal office hours.

The number of visitors coming to the parks increases each year, putting increasing pressure on the bookings system. The objective of the present study was to document the present booking system as a basis for planning an up-graded service for the future, including computerisation.

The booking office in Kuching allocates the rooms at Bako, Kubah and Gunung Gading National Parks and the Matang Wildlife Centre, while the one in Miri handles the bookings for Mulu, Lambir, Niah and Similajau National Park. Both booking offices will deal with booking requests for all the parks, passing on the request to the other office if necessary. However, there are slight differences in the booking process. In Kuching the visitors are required to pay accommodation fees at the booking office, while the Miri office does not collect the accommodation charges, which are paid on arrival in the park.

Booking from the visitor’s point of view
Demand for accommodation is very high and many requests are turned down. Bookings are received from all over the world ranging from individual travellers to organised travel and tour agencies, schools and other institutions, private bodies and companies. For advance booking made by people in the Kuching region, the visitors are required to pay a non-refundable deposit at the time of booking and to pay the balance one week before arrival at the park, failing which the booking is automatically cancelled. Applicants from outside Sarawak are not required to pay a deposit and may pay the full charge on arrival in Kuching.

Visitors who are already in the park who have not booked their accommodation or wish to extend their stay can contact the park warden who will check the availability of rooms with the booking office before accepting the booking. The payment will then be made in the park itself.

Entry Permits
Entry Permits are required for all overnight visitors and this is normally issued at the booking office when visitors come to pay the accommodation fee. In the permit will be written the check in and check out time, type of accommodation used and the duration of the stay in the park. At this time, the visitors will write out all their names, home address, nationality, passport number or identity cards numbers. The visitors will be issued with two copies of the entry permit, one of which will be retained by the warden at the park.

Receipt
Official Receipts are issued for all amounts collected and the receipt number will be recorded inside the Booking of Accommodation Record Book as confirmation and record of payment made. The original copy of the receipt is clearly marked "Non Refundable", but if unforeseen circumstances prevent the visitors from going to the park (e.g. bad weather or rough seas), the trip may be postponed to another date.

The park booking system has to meet the following requirements -

• Minimise revenue collection at the park level to avoid accumulation of large sums of money in remote areas.
• Give prompt information on availability for visitors, including telephone and walk-in enquiries.
• Avoid double bookings, but without refusing bookings unnecessarily due to uncertainty.
• Ensure fair access for all visitors.
• Reply promptly to booking applications.
• Generate statistical information on visitor use and demand for decision-makers.

Booking Process
The master record of bookings is in the form of one book for each month for each of the parks, with one page for each type of accommodation and one line for each day of the month. For the Kuching office, this means a stack of 48 large books to make bookings for one year in advance. All booking requests and enquiries need to be checked against these books.

A booking record includes the following details:

• visitor’s name or tour company name and telephone contact number,
• receipt number and entry permit number,
• file references relating to correspondence on accommodation or activities in the park.

The record is update when the permit and receipt are issued or if the booking is cancelled. This process is too slow and cumbersome for phone and walk-in visitors, who need information on the availability of several alternatives, which may mean referring to several record books.

Co-ordinating the booking with the Park Warden
The park warden is informed by phone or fax of the arrival of visitors to the park a week in advance. When visitors wish to extend their stay in the park, the park office has to refer to the booking office by phone to check the availability of rooms. Then, at the booking office, the request will be checked against the record book. This process again is too slow and cumbersome in an era of modern technology.

The system of the booking needs to be upgraded as the demands of the booking are tremendously high.

Computerised booking systems are widely used by hotels, airlines, train services, etc. The advantages of such a system for park accommodation will be an increase in the effectiveness and efficiency of handling bookings, enabling fast access and immediate updating of the database. The system will also be able to generate statistical information on visitors coming during the year. The system will be most effective if it links all the parks and the booking offices in Kuching and Miri.

The computerisation of the system will benefit the visitors as well as the organisation.