COVID-19. Impact and Amadeus response
The COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented and damaging impact on the travel industry as countries worldwide impose lockdowns and travel restrictions to control the spread of the virus. During the COVID-19 crisis, our priority has been to ensure the financial stability of the company, to protect the health and well-being of our employees and to continue supporting our customers.
Corporate performance
As we continue to monitor the situation closely, we have progressed in our efficiency and future-proofing projects, and advanced in strategic priorities like digital and customer-service transformation measures and our move to the cloud.
Amadeus in the travel industry
Travel fulfills our need to explore the world, it builds economies, broadens cultures and creates connections between societies. And it is one of the world’s largest business sectors.
Amadeus sits at the crossroads of travel and technology. We’re passionate in our pursuit of better technology to make better journeys. We connect travelers to the journeys they want, and we power the solutions that keep the world of travel moving.
Business lines
Amadeus operates several complementary business lines with significant commercial and technological synergies. Through them, we offer cutting-edge technology solutions that help key players of all types in the travel industry succeed.
Technology and innovation
The travel industry relies heavily on technology. This trend is accelerating, with multiple channels and methods to interact with travelers. The extraordinary circumstances in 2020 have accelerated technology advances with a major impact on travelers such as touchless passenger handling and electronic IDs.
Amadeus people and culture
Amadeus’ people are our greatest competitive advantage, and they’recritical to the success of our strategy. Our goal is to build an inclusive culture in which diversity is valued. Weprovide an environment that appreciates each individual andprovidesthe best possible opportunity to have a productive, stimulating andenjoyable career.
Social responsibility
Our corporate social responsibility purpose is to bring our people and technology together to help build a responsible, inclusive and sustainable travel and tourism industry. Travel can bring significant socio-economic benefits for local communities.This is whywefocuson initiatives that contribute to the responsible development of travel and tourism.
Amadeus volunteers in Nice supported people affected by Storm Alex through donating essential items as well as helping to clean up the local beach.
Faced with the context of COVID-19,Amadeus volunteers empowered localcommunities through volunteering andengaging virtually or remotely.
Amadeus Volunteer Day included diverse initiatives to support communities globally. In Bangkok, Amadeus volunteers visited an orphanage and organizedan ‘Edutainment day’ where they participated in various activities.
Amadeus industry affairs
Amadeus’ industry leadership comes with the responsibility of working with other stakeholders in the interest of the travel industry at large. We therefore engage regularly with governments, public entities, trade associations and other institutions globally.
Environmental sustainability
The last two years have been crucial regarding the focus on environmental sustainability in the travel industry. During 2019, social movements like Fridays For Future raised the attention to sustainability to a higher level. Interestingly, for very different reasons, in 2020 the travel industry has also reinforced the importance of sustainability, as the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the vulnerability of the industry was previously underestimated.
Amadeus has been reinforcing its strategy to address environmental concerns, especially in cooperation with industry stakeholders.Ourstrategy is based on three pillars: (1) the environmental efficiency of our operations; (2) the development of IT solutions that help our customers improve their environmental efficiency; and (3) partnering with industry stakeholders in joint sustainability initiatives.
Corporate risk management
Throughout 2020 we’ve continued fostering effective coordination of assurance activities acrossAmadeus, andadopted the updated Three Lines of Defense Model. This update was endorsed by the Audit Committee of the Board ofDirectors, andreaffirms our commitment to strong governance andrisk management practices.
Corporate governance
Amadeus upholds the highest levels of corporate governance, which helps us maintain our market leadership and our reputation as a trusted partner for customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. Our corporate governance policies and procedures are designed to help us achieve our objectives and protect the interests of our shareholders.
Shareholders and financial institutions
Amadeus Investor Relations’ mission is to maintain an open dialogue andbuild long-term relationships based on credibility and trust with its financialcommunity, including investors, research analysts and the regulator of theSpanish market.We aim to communicate effectively and proactively, in aconsistent and timely manner.
About this report
This chapter explains how we define the content of the Global Report from our materiality analysis as starting point, as well as the methodology to produce it. In addition, we describe our contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The quantitative and qualitative information published in the Global Report, as well as the fact that it’s verified by external consultants, have been key to remain in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices.