Amadeus launches global competition to find 'Brighter, Bolder, Better' ideas for travel

• Confirmed names on industry judging panel include Oxford Economics’ Senior Economist Andrew Tessler and Bonvoy Inc. Founder & CEO Mujteba Naqvi. Further names to be announced shortly

Madrid, Spain, December 15th 2010: Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, today announces the launch of a new global competition designed to find innovative ideas that will help transform the travel experience.

The competition, which is now live at www.ideasfortravel.amadeus.com, was set-up by Amadeus in order to listen to what the industry believes needs to be improved in terms of the all-round travel experience, recognising that a good idea can come from anywhere.

To ensure industry-wide participation and neutrality, Amadeus is putting together a prestigious judging panel from across the travel industry. Initial confirmed judges include Andrew Tessler, Senior Economist at Oxford Economics and Mujteba Naqvi, Founder & CEO at Bonvoy Inc. The judging panel will also include members of Amadeus’ senior management.

The competition, which includes a cash prize of 20,000 EUR for the winning idea plus further cash prizes totalling 10,000 EUR, runs from December 15th 2010 until May 18th 2011. The winning idea will be selected solely by the judging panel, with the five ideas which receive the highest number of votes online also receiving 2,000 EUR each.

Cash prizes shall be subject to the appropriate tax reduction (withholding tax) in accordance with the Spanish Tax Legislation or Double Tax Treaty in force at the time of the payment. Full terms and conditions can be found online at www.ideasfortravel.amadeus.com


Ian Wheeler, VP Marketing and Distribution at Amadeus comments: “We’ve created ‘Brighter, Bolder, Better ideas for travel’ because we genuinely want to listen to what the industry feels can be improved about the travel experience, from beginning to end. At Amadeus we always recognise true innovation and will support the winning idea with 20,000 EUR of our own money in order to help make it become a reality. Indeed, we are 100% committed to working towards a Brighter, Bolder, Better travel industry more generally and we look forward to the results of the competition being made public mid next year”.

Amadeus is hoping to announce the winner and the five ideas which receive the highest number of votes online in conjunction with Tnooz.com, a global news and analysis website for technology in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry.

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Notes to the editors

About Amadeus

Amadeus is a leading transaction processor and provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel and tourism industry.

Customer groups include travel providers (e.g airlines, hotels, rail, car rental, ferries, etc.), travel sellers (travel agencies and websites), and travel buyers (corporations and individual travellers).

The group operates a transaction-based business model and processed more than 670 million billable travel transactions in 2009.

Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters and marketing), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations – data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires, Bangkok and Dubai. At a market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations through 72 local Amadeus Commercial Organisations covering 195 countries.

Amadeus is listed on the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges and trades under the symbol “AMS.MC”. For the year ended 31 December 2009, the company reported revenues of EUR 2,461 million and EBITDA of EUR 894 million. The Amadeus group employs over 10,200 employees worldwide, with 123 nationalities represented at the central offices.

To find out more about Amadeus please visit www.amadeus.com.

To visit the Amadeus Investor Relations centre please visit www.investors.amadeus.com.


Contact details

Amadeus
Corporate Communication Department
tel: +34 91 582 0160
fax : +34 91 582 0188
e-mail : mediarelations@amadeus.com