malaysia tour package website using rule-based expert...
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Malaysia Tour Package Website Using Rule-Based Expert System
NG YEE SHIAN
A thesis submitted in fulfillment
of the requirement for the award of the degree of
Bachelor of Computer Sciences
(Graphics & Multimedia Technology)
Faculty of Computer Systems & Software Engineering
University Malaysia Pahang
December, 2012
v
ABSTRACT
Currently, there have been many tourism websites that offered holiday package booking
services. However, not many did offered holiday package recommendation. “Malaysia Tour
Package Website Using Rule-Based Expert System” is a web-based application purposely to
provide customers with valuable recommendations based on their preferences. Thus, these
recommendations are provided by an artificial intelligence (AI) based engine which will use the
rule-based system. The tour package rule-based recommender system is a flexible rule-based.
This is because the rule-based is depend on user criteria to recommender tour package for user
and it is a way to help tourist to make decision when they go for a holiday. Besides that, this
“Malaysia Tour Package Website Using Rule-Based Expert System” also allow tourist to book
tour packages. The website consists of three users; they are customer, administrator and office
staff. A customer will able to use the tour package recommender system to choose their
preferred holiday package and book a tour package is also included. Administrator can promote
their holiday packages and maintain the website, while office staff can view customer
information for payment approvement. The methodology is based on the Software Development
Life Cycle (SDLC) used as a guide to develop the software stage by stage. The ASP.NET, C#
Language and MYSQL Server also help to construct the prototype “Malaysia Tour Package
Website Using Rule-Based Expert System”.
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Abstrak
Pada masa ini, terdapat banyak pelancingan laman web yang menawarkan
perkhidmatan tempahan pakej percutian. Walau bagaimanapun, tidak banyak web yang
menawarkan dan mensyorkan pakej percutian. Malaysia Tour Pakej Laman Web yang
menggunakan Sistem Pakar Berasaskan Peraturan" adalah sebuah aplikasi berasaskan
web disengajakan untuk menyediakan pelanggan dengan cadangan berharga
berdasarkan pilihan mereka. Oleh itu, saranan-saranan ini disediakan oleh risikan tiruan
yang dipanggilkan sebagai AI enjin yang berasaskan akan menggunakan sistem
berasaskan peraturan. Pakej pelancongan berasaskan peraturan penentu system yang
fleksibel berasaskan peraturan. Ini adalah kerana berasaskan peraturan bergantung
kepada kriteria pengguna penentu pakej pelancingan untuk pengguna dan merupakan
salah satu cara untuk membantu pelancong untuk membuat keputusan apabila mereka
pergi untuk bercuti. Selain daripada itu, Malaysia Tour Pakej Laman Web menggunakan
Sistem Pakar Berasaskan Peraturan yang juga membenarkan pelancong untuk
menempah pakej pelancongan. Laman web ini terdiri daripada tiga pengguna; mereka
adalah pelanggan, pentadbir dan kakitangan pejabat. Seorang pelanggan akan dapat
menggunakan sistem Penentu pakej pelancongan untuk memilih pakej percutian pilihan
mereka dan menempah pakej pelancongan juga dimasukkan. Pentadbir boleh
mempromosikan pakej percutian mereka dan menjaga laman web, manakala kakitangan
pejabat boleh melihat maklumat pelanggan untuk meluluskan pembayaran. Metodologi
adalah berdasarkan Perisian Kitaran Hayat Pembangunan Sistem (SDLC) digunakan
sebagai panduan untuk membangunkan peringkat perisian oleh pentas. ASP.NET, C #
Bahasa dan MYSQL Server juga membantu untuk membina prototaip "Malaysia Tour
Pakej Laman Web Menggunakan Peraturan Berasaskan Sistem Pakar".
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
SUPERVISOR’S DECLARATION i
STUDENT’S DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT iv
ABSTRACT v
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF TABLES xi
LIST OF FIGURES xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES xv
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem Statement
1.3 Objective
1.4 Scope of Study
1.5 Assumption and Constraint
1.6 Thesis Organization
1
2
3
4
6
6
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
2.1.1 Tourism Information System
2.2 Features of the Tourism Information System
2.3 Case Studies on Existing Tourism System
2.3.1 Case Study on Online Trip Advisory System
2.3.2 Case Study on www.cuti.com.my
2.3.3 Case Study on www.virtualmalaysia.com
2.4 Tourism Recommender System
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2.5 Rule-Based Expert System
2.5.1 Definition
2.5.2 Rules
2.5.2.1 Components of a rule
2.5.2.2 Compound Rules
2.5.3 Architecture of Expert System
2.5.4 Inference mechanisms
2.5.4.1 Forward Chaining
2.5.4.2 Backward Chaining
2.6 Development Tools and Support
2.6.1 Methodology Model
2.6.2 Scripting Language
2.6.2.1 Java
2.6.2.2 C Sharp (C#)
2.6.2.3 Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP)
2.6.3 Database
2.6.3.1 Oracle
2.6.3.2 Microsoft SQL Server
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3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Proposed Solution
3.2.1 Planning Phase
3.2.2 Analysis Phase
3.2.2.1 Data Collection
3.2.2.2 User Requirements
3.2.2.2.1 Criteria of the Recommender System
3.2.2.2.2 Flow Chart for the Package Recommender
3.2.3 Design Phase
3.2.3.1 System Requirement
3.2.3.1.1 Use Case Diagram for Proposed System
3.2.3.1.2 Modules Design
3.2.3.2 Interface Design
3.2.3.3 Database Design
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3.2.3.3.1 Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)
3.2.3.3.2 Data Dictionary
3.2.4 Implementation Phase
3.2.5 Testing Phase
3.2.6 Delivery Phase
3.3 Project Requirement
3.3.1 Software Requirements
3.3.1.1 Software Requirements for Developer
3.3.1.2 Software Requirements for User
3.3.2 Hardware Requirements
3.3.2.1 Hardware Requirements for Developer
3.3.2.2 Hardware Requirements for User
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4 IMPLEMENTATION
1.1 Introduction
1.2 General Coding and Functions
4.2.1 Database Connector
4.2.2 Delete Functions
4.2.3 Update Functions
4.3 Result of the ‘Malaysia Tour Package Website Using
Rule-Based Expert System’
4.3.1 Home Module
4.3.2 About Us Module
4.3.3 Register module
4.3.4 Package module
4.3.4.1 Book Tour Package module
4.3.4.2 View Booking module
4.3.4.3 Package Recommender module
4.3.5 Office Staff module
4.3.5.1 Customer Booking module
4.3.5.2 Customer Information module
4.3.6 Admin module
4.3.6.1 Register User Setup
4.3.6.2 Package Category Setup
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4.3.6.3 Package Setup 80
5 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Result Testing
5.2.1 Test Plan for Rule-Based on Tour Package
5.3 Discussion
5.3.1 Result Discussion
5.4 Advantages and Disadvantages
5.5 Future Work
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6 CONCLUSION 93
REFERENCES 94
xi
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO TABLE PAGE
1.1 Criteria of Each Rule of Data Package 5
2.1 Travel Ontology 9
2.2 Recommended Destination Display 12
2.3 Estimated Expenses Display 13
2.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of 3 Existing Systems 19
2.5 First Pass Forward Chaining 27
2.6 Second Pass Forward Chaining 28
2.7 Third Pass Foward Chaining 29
2.8 Strengths and Weaknesses of SDLC 35
2.9 Advantages and Disadvantages of Java 36
2.10 Advantages and Disadvantages of C# 37
2.11 Advantages and Disadvantages of PHP 39
2.12 Advantages and Disadvantages of Oracle Database 40
2.13 Advantages and Disadvantaged of Microsoft SQL
Server
40
3.1 Reason of the Criteria 45
3.2 Criteria of the Three Tourism Recommender System 46
3.3 Functions in the “Malaysia Tour Package Website Using
Rule-Based Expert System”
49
3.4 Modules & Sub-Modules for “Malaysia Tour Package
Website Using Rule-Based Expert System”
51
3.5 Software Requirments for Developer 56
3.6 Minimum Software Requirements for the User 57
3.7 Hardware Requirements for Developer 57
3.8 Minimum Hardware Requirements for User 58
5.1 Eights Testing Examples on Different Criteria 83
5.2 Test One Criteria 83
xii
5.3 Test Two Criteria 84
5.4 Test Three Criteria 85
5.5 Test Four Criteria 86
5.6 Test Five Criteria 87
5.7 Test Six Criteria 88
5.8 Test Seven Criteria 89
5.9 Test Eight Criteria 90
5.10 The Eight Expected Result 91
xiii
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO TABLE PAGE
1.1 The Sector of Group Package Tour 2
2.1 Cuti Home Page 14
2.2 Tour Package in Different Country 14
2.3 Four Types of Criteria 15
2.4 Select the Country, State & Location 15
2.5 Rule 2 Description 16
2.6 Select the Days of Package 16
2.7 Select the Types of Package 17
2.8 Sort Keyword Field 17
2.9 Final Result of Cuti Recommendation 18
2.10 Four Types of Criteria of Virtualmalaysia System 18
2.11 Final Result of VirtualMalaysia Recommendation 19
2.12 Architecture of Simple Expert System 23
2.13 Simple Rules 25
2.14 Complex Rules 25
2.15 First Pass of Forward Chaining 27
2.16 Second Pass of Forward Chaining 29
2.17 Third Pass of Forward Chaining 30
2.18 Pass 1 Backward Chaining 31
2.19 Pass 2 Backward Chaining 31
2.20 Pass 3 Backward Chaining 32
2.21 Pass 4 Backward Chaining 32
2.22 Pass 5 Backward Chaining 33
2.23 Pass 6 Backward Chaining 33
2.24 The Waterfall Model (System Development Life Cycle) 35
3.1 Framework of “ Malaysia Tour Package Website Using
Rule-Based Expert System”
43
3.2 Flow Chart for Select Criteria in Recommender System 47
xiv
3.3 Use Case Diagram for “Malaysia Tour Package Website
Using Rule-Based Expert System”
48
3.4 Entity Relationship Diagram, ERD 52
3.5 Login Detail Database 53
3.6 Booking Database 53
3.7 Package Category Database 54
3.8 Package Type Requirement Setup Database 54
3.9 Package Setup Database 54
4.1 Delete Button Function 60
4.2 Image Delete 61
4.3 Edit Button Function 61
4.4 User Login 63
4.5 Link Text 64
4.6 Result for Kuala Lumpur Tour Package Information 65
4.7 Special Links 65
4.8 Air Asia Website 66
4.9 Register Button Function 66
4.10 List of Package in Book Tour Module 67
4.11 Package Holiday Information 68
4.12 Tour Package Information 69
4.13 Review Booking 70
4.14 Package Recommender Module 71
4.15 Result of Package Recommender System 75
4.16 Result of Customer Booking 77
4.17 Result of Customer Information 78
4.18 Create Type of Package 80
4.19 Result of Package Setup 81
xv
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX TITLE PAGE
A GANTT CHART 97
B USER INTERFACE DESIGN 100
C LIST OF TOUR PACKAGE MTPW 110
D PLAGIARISM DETECTED BY TURNITIN 116
1
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Malaysia is a country divided into two parts, Peninsular Malaysia and The Borneo
Island which consists of the states of Sabah and Sarawak. Peninsular Malaysia is sometimes
referred as East Malaysia while for the The Borneo Island is called as West Malaysia.
Malaysia is full of various interesting destinations, thus a tour package is needed to
allow tourists to find information, compare, plan and book their chosen tour package based on
their requirement. A tour package can allow tourists to explore the unmatched beauty of the
finest beach destination, inspiriting natural beauty and fascinating man made tourist attraction.
A tour package includes organizing different services in a manner that is affordable for
the tourist as well as profitable for the tourism agency. A tour package usually consists of
transportation and accommodation, which are advertised and sold a long side with a tourism
agency. Other services may be provided such as a rent a car service, activities or excursions
during holiday. The actual elements of a tour package will vary depending on the type of
holiday package the tourist has chosen and how much he wants to pay for the tour package.
A tour guide’s behavior will be the predominant factor influencing the customer’s
perception of travel service quality. But so far, the exact service features of a tour guide in the
Asian group package tour remains unknown [1]. The group package tour itinerary was then
divided into nine sectors; pre-tour briefing, airport or plane, hotel, restaurant, coach, scenic-spot,
shopping, optional tour and others [1].
2
Figure 1.1: The Sector of Group Package Tour [1]
The reasons for having tour package is because travelers expect package tours to be one
of the best method to achieve several goals. The goals are, in budget, saves time, security and
having personal tour guide. Package tour is a rational and effective way for travelers to visit a
largest number of sites in a trip in a given period, to travel in a relatively safe way to faraway
countries with foreign cultures, to avoid unreliable transportation and doubtful standards of
hygine, while being usually less expensive than taking an individual trip to the same
destination.[2]
1.2 Problem Statement
Currently, there are several problems encountered by most of the tourists while selecting
a tour package. Firstly, tourists have no idea where to go as there are too many attractive tourist
destinations available in Malaysia. Due to a large amount data in Malaysia’s tourist information,
it has become a difficulty for the inexperienced tourists to choose a tour package among the
large set of available options from the internet. Thus, a tourist needs a system where they can be
guided step by step for what they will expect in the tour packages and how to purchase it from
the web-based tourism system.
3
Another challenge is the problem faced by the tourism agency to recommend a tour
package for new customers. It is very difficult to know the preferences and tastes of the
customer without asking too many questions [3]. Besides, in many times, the customers do not
have a clear idea of what they are looking for [3]. Thus, it was projected to be used in tourism
agency where tourism agents have to deal with specific customer’s needs and to have a broad
knowledge about tour package options.
Therefore, the “Malaysia Tour Package Website Using Rule-Based Expert System” is
designed to help tourist and tourism agency to find the best tour packages according to the
preferences provided by them. This system is based on the collaboration of tourism agent that is
stored in the tour package information within their local knowledge bases with the use of the
rule-based technique approach.
Lastly, most of the existing tour recommendation web-based usually suggests specific
needs according to the different criteria service features which are divided into (a) hotel, (b)
coach, (c) restaurant, (d) airport, (e) scenic-sport, (f) shopping, (g) optional tour and others can
be referred to Figure 1.1 [1]. Hence, this “Malaysia Tour Package Website Using Rule-Based
Expert System” is proposed to do the research and development of a tour package recommender
system in Malaysia. This system recommends an appropriate tour packages according to the
combination of all the entire criteria from the research of the existing web-based recommender
system. The criteria consist of type of packages, number of people, duration, location, category,
travel period, budget, transportation and accommodation.
1.3 Objective
The main objectives for the “Malaysia Tour Package Website Using Rule-Based Expert System”
are:
i. To develop a web-based expert system of Malaysia tour package.
ii. To implement rule-based techniques for package recommender.
iii. To verified the package recommender for selecting the right package based on input by the
user.
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1.4 Scope of Study
The scope of this project “Malaysia Tour Package Website Using Rule-Based Expert
System” is to develop a web-based system for Malaysia in the sector of tourism.
There are three users in the system which are tourist, office staff and administrator. The
user will involve themselves in same or difference modules in the system. The “Malaysia Tour
Package Website Using Rule-Based Expert System” consists of six modules which are (a) home
module, (b) about us module, (c) register module, (d) package module, (e) office staff module
and (f) administrator module.
a) Homepage module
The system will briefly introduce the information about the tourism Malaysia and the
function of the recommender system in the “Malaysia Tour Package Website Using Rule-
Based Expert System”.
b) About Use module
About us module is to purposely explain the purpose of the development of the project
which can suggest suitable tour package for tourist and also to provide them with
information of the tour package in Malaysia.
c) Register module
Register module allows tourist to register as a new member of the “Malaysia Tour Package
Website Using Rule-Based Expert System”.
d) Package module
The module will emphasize the package module; which involves the recommender tour
package system, book and purchase procedures. The recommender tour package system will
used rule-based expert system approach.
e) Office staff module
Office staff module allows office staff and administrator to view the tourist tour package
they had booked and also the details and personal information of the tourist.
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f) Administrator module
Administrator module only allows the administrator to determine the level of status for users
to login for the purpose to view some certain menu. Besides that, the administrator can also
create categories for advanced usage in the package setup.
The recommender system of the package module in this project covers eight criteria.
These are (a) type of packages, (b) number of people, (c) holiday duration, (d) location, (e)
package category, (f) budget, (g) transport and (h) accommodation to suggest a recommended
tour package for user.
Table 1.1: Criteria of Each Rule of Data Package
Criteria Rule of data package
1. Type of package Group Package and Individual Package
1. Number of people 1-10, 10-20, 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-60, 60-70, 70-80, 80-90
and 90-100 people
2. Holiday duration 1-3 days, 4-7 days, 8-14 days, 2-3 weeks and more than 3 weeks
3. Location Perlis, Perak, Pulau Pinang, Kedah, Terengganu, Pahang, Kuala
Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Johor
4. Package Category Adventure, Festival and Events, Shopping and Dining, Wedding and
Honeymoon, Beach and Coast, Cultural and Historical and Diving
and Theme Parks
5. Budget Less than RM100, Between RM100 and RM500, Between RM 500
and RM1000, Between RM1500 and RM2000 and more than
RM2000
6. Transport Ferry, Bus, Car, Train, Van
7. Accommodation Hotel, Hostel, Motel, Private home, Camping, Chalet
The size of the scope of study has been reduced to only cover the travel information
particularly in West Malaysia, due to the limitation of time and incapability to retrieve some of
the information from East Malaysia, which are Sabah and Sarawak.
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1.5 Assumption and Constraint
During the development process, there are a few constraints faced by the developer. The
constraints of the system are listed below.
1. There is no actual expertise opinions and in-depth knowledge in developing the system, as
there is no co-operation from the tourism company because they have no time to give in and
to help by giving information. Everything is based on internet searching, travel books, flyer
and brochures.
2. The payment process for the “Malaysia Tour Package Website Using Rule-Based Expert
System” is handled by an office staff is done manually, meaning when office staff receives
the billing, cheque and credit card payment number from the customers. The office staffs
need to key in payment type numbers manually to confirm the payment had been made by
the customer. This happens because in this system, it does not have an online transaction.
3. For the tour package in “Malaysia Tour Package Website Using Rule-Based Expert System”,
package purchasing for customer is unlimited.
1.6 Thesis Organization
This thesis consists of six chapters.
Chapter one is the introduction which describes the overview of the “Malaysia Tour
Package Website Using Rule-Based Expert System”. Problem statements, objectives, scope of
study, assumption and constraint and thesis organization are included within chapter one. The
purpose is to give readers a clear conceptual view of the development of the system.
Chapter two is the literature review to study all the relevant journals, technical papers,
books and reports from other researchers. Besides that, there will be an analysis and discussion
of the existing web-based system’s advantages and disadvantages. Research of critical points of
the techniques, methodology model and programming language by other researchers are studied.
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Chapter three is the methodology which explains the tasks that have been done and
based on the methodology model. This has been chosen to be as a reference to obtain ideas for
the development of this project. Software and hardware requirements will also be discussed.
Chapter four is about the implementation of the project. It will describe each of the
major and general functions in the system’s modules with the aid of screen snapshot. Besides
that, chapter four will also discuss the techniques used.
Chapter five is result and discussion. Testing is done to check each of the criteria’s
based on the rule-based technique approach. The expected outcome of the test result will be
checked for any errors and error rate that might occur. The system’s advantages and
disadvantages will be explained in this chapter and will be the ideas for future work to advance
the system.
Chapter six is the conclusion of the project, giving a brief conclusion to the entire
system development project.
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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
This chapter discusses the research that has been done in the literature review which is
related to the “Malaysia Tour Package Website Using Rule-Based Expert System”. The first part
is the features of the tourism information system. The second part is about several existing web-
based tourism which have some similar criteria with current system. The third part of this study
is about the main part of the system which relates to the system’s objective which is about the
rule-based technique and the framework structures. Lastly, the chapter will also discuss about
the development tools and support used to develop the system in the aspect of methodology
model, scripting language and database.
2.1.1 Tourism Information System
Information System (IS) is the connection between the business world and computer
science. Information System includes people, procedures, data, software, and hardware that are
used to gather and analyze information.
Tourism Information System is used to provide these certain elements that are, to
provide customers with information about the various tourist destinations, measure the
customer’s requirement and needs, advertise tourism, provide customer support and service.
Tourism Information System (TIS) can provide the system with speed and great
efficiency. This is done by collecting data from the customer’s feedback and thus analyzing the
data and giving a good recommendation [4].
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2.2 Features of the Tourism Information System
Features of tourism information system requires tourism information, also known as
travel ontology. Ontology represents knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain, and the
relationships between each pairs of concept. It can also be used to model a domain and support
reasoning about entities.
This section presents details of the following important classes in the travel ontology.
These are (a) Traveller’s Preference, (b) Traveller’s Requirement, (c) Tourism Related Event, (d)
Traveller’s Plan, (e) Actor, (f) Activity, (g) Contact Point and, (h) Destination and (i)
Geographic Place [5].
Table 2.1: Travel Ontology [5]
Preferences Explanation Sub Items
Traveller’s Preference To store the linking of the traveller
with regards to accommodation,
transport etc. For example the tourist
might prefer three star
accommodations or a luxurious
travel.
Accommodation
Preference
Activity Preference
Brand Preference
Guest Room Preference
Transport Preference
Tourism Event Preference
Tourism Related Event Stores events that interest the
travellers. These additions will take
place in response to the information
provided by the various operators.
Conference Event
Entertainment Event
Exhibition Event
Sporting Event
Traveller Requirement To store the traveller’s requirements
for a given trip. These requirements
are used to search for suitable options
as to satisfy the user requirements.
Accommodation
Requirement
Activity Requirement
Event Requirement
Transport Requirement
Traveller Plan Represents the activity plan of a
traveller, and is the basis of a more
Itinerary
Personal Plan
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detailed travel itinerary.
Traveller To store the details of an individual
who is travelling.
Individual Traveller
Travel Group
Actor Represent an individual who
maintains the ontology or uses the
system.
Administrator
User
Activity A process or involvement which is of
relevance for a journey or business
trip.
Administrative Activity
Enterprise Activity
Immunisation
Appointment
Tourism Activity
Cinema
Formal Visiting
Informal Visiting
Shopping
Contact Point Represent a point of contact,
typically with a person.
Email Address
Phone No
Physical Address
Web Address
Destination Represent a place designated as the
goal, typically a travel target, such as
hotel, park, attraction or organised
activity.
Elementary Destination
Composite Destination
Geographic Place Represent a physical place with a
geographic address.
Country
Region
State
2.3 Case Studies on Existing Tourism System
This study presents a proposed web-based system “Malaysia Tour Package Website
Using Rule-Based Expert System” as a knowledge-based system. The proposed system mimics
a human tourism guide by building a relationship between knowledge based-system with the
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role of a tourist-guide, as a mean to provide a recommendation for tourists to best meet their
needs and desire of gaining sufficient information and better understanding of the places visited
together with a better value and satisfaction of their tour packages.
There are three existing systems that research and study have been conducted that has
similar requirements, concepts and functions as the “Malaysia Tour Package Website Using
Rule-Based Expert System”. The development of the system uses these existing systems as
reference to guide and provide ideas. These can then be used to create an enhanced system by
comparing with the current existing system and studying the weaknesses of these three system.
The following below are the three existing system:
i. Thesis: Online Trip Advisory System, OTAS [6]
ii. Website Asian: www.cuti.com.my [7]
iii. Website Malaysia: www.virtualmalaysia.com [8]
2.3.1 Case Study on Online Trip Advisory System, OTAS
The OTAS is a thesis from a senior, Yip Sook Chian who is an ex-student of University
Malaysia Pahang in the year 2010. The OTAS system uses a rule-based decision support
technique which is recognized as one of the best solution for the system. The rule-based
techniques will be used in the part of estimating the expenseses and recommending interesting
for the users, based on their preferences.
The development tools she used inside the OTAS are Peripheral Hypertext
Preprocessing (PHP) and Adobe Dreamweaver CS4. Besides that, phpMyAdmin is also used for
the purpose of storing and managing the database of the OTAS system.
The production rules is about 336 rules for the development of the system. For the
database design, there are three data dictionaries created in the OTAS system. First is the
database for admin login, second is the database to store the rules which recommends tourist
destinations for users and the last database is to store the rules to estimate the expenses for the
users. The OTAS system consits of four modules which are home, destination recommendation,
trip expenses estimation and administration.
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First module (Home page)
The OTAS system has a brief introduction and function of the system.
Second module (Desctination recommendation page)
Questionnaire will be provided to ask the users by determining the preference of their choices.
The questions in the OTAS system are list at the following:-
1. What is your preferred type of holiday?
2. What is your preferred accommodation?
3. What would you like to do there?
After a user chooses his preferences, the system will recommend some suitable places for the
user to visit. The Table 2.2 is the outcome of recommended destinations.
Table 2.2: Recommended Destination Display
Type of holiday Accommodation Preferences DestinationRecommended
Highlands Hotels and Resorts Outdoors and Adventures Genting HighlandCameron HighlandFraser HillsBukit Tinggi
If click on the following hyperlinks of the destination recommended which are the Genting
Highland, Cameron Highland, Fraser Hills and Bukit Tinggi. User will be navigated into the
next page to read the information of the destination place which the system has displayed.
Third module (Trip expenses estimation)
Questionnaires are provided to ask the user to determine the preferences of the users and then
estimate the expenses of the trip for users. The Table 2.3 is the outcome of estimated expenses
displayed. The questions in the OTAS system is listed in the following:-
1. What destinations do you want to go?
2. What is your preferred accommodation?
3. How many people are going on the trip?
4. How many nights do you plan to stay?
5. What is your preferred food and beverage?