By Mani Ganeshan
The travel industry has always been a significant contributor to the global economy, driving growth, employment, and cross-cultural exchange. According to the UNWTO, 2022 saw a 63% jump in the number of international travelers from 2019, taking the count up to more than 900 million. Such spikes in travel, while known to bring significant economic benefits to local destinations, can have negative impacts on the environment. . Thishas fostered a growing movement towards embracing sustainable practices in travel operations.
At Amadeus, we’re looking to leverage our technology, a global network and travel industry expertise to make a positive contribution to the sustainability of the travel and tourism industry. Our sustainability strategy is centered around environmental, social and governance practices, and focuses on reducing the environmental impact of operations, supporting sustainable tourism, promoting responsible business practices, and fostering an inclusive workplace. As the industry looks to reduce its negative impact on the environment, adopting sustainable travel operations through innovative sustainable solutions at scale has the potential to make a real difference.
Beyond our own targets, there’s a notable shift in mentality among travelers. According to the recent Traveler Tribes Report 2033, a significant number of travelers are expected to embrace sustainable travel. For instance, one of the tribes – ‘Pioneering Pathfinders’, prioritize sustainability in their decision-making, with 71% stating that sustainability dictates their decisions. Compared to other Traveler Tribes they are 20% more likely to have sustainability as a guiding factor for their travel decisions.
Positive social impact, environmental sustainability and climate action have become crucial topics for the travel and tourism industry and will continue to be in coming years. As a result, businesses in the travel industry must consider adopting sustainable practices in travel:
Leveraging data to reduce carbon footprint – The first step in addressing environmental sustainability is understanding the environmental impact of operations and nurturing a company culture that encourages greater awareness and looks to reduce it where possible. To do this, we continue to monitor the company’s impact through an Environment Management System which can help to measure, report and continuously improve the environmental performance of operations as well as identify best practices. Gathered data can be analyzed to provide valuable insights into performance and expectations from stakeholders regarding reporting transparency and involvement in areas such as Energy Usage, CO2 emissions, Paper Consumption, Water Usage and Waste Management. Climate technology companies such as CHOOOSE facilitate the automated calculation of carbon emissions for offsetting and provide access to a marketplace of solutions that focus on mitigating the impact of climate change.
Minimizing impact of data processing and software development – In the travel and tourism industry, numerous transactions take place every day.. Moving to the cloud can be imperative to optimize operations and develop strategies to minimize the environmental impact of data processing and software development. It also comes with numerous benefits such as improved resiliency, the ability to innovate and explore new business opportunities, providing global customer support, increased time to market, and scalability. Amadeus has partnered with Microsoft Azure to accelerate its cloud journey with enhanced capabilities to better manage and scale solutions while reducing environmental impact.
Supporting local communities and protecting ecosystems – Organizations need to recognize and address the needs of local communities and the environment they operate in. At Amadeus, our initiatives such as Green is the New Blue, are actively engaging in conservation activities to create a significant impact on supporting local communities and protecting ecosystems. Among many, contour trenching farming is one of the most impact activities in the region which is conserving up to 75,000 liters of rainwater every year. This activity helps in preserving the fertility and moisture of the soil while also preventing soil erosion and improving underground water resources. Such an impact will ultimately lead to sustainable farming and food production, thereby benefiting the local community. Another impactful activity was volunteers building solar lamps for orphans facing power outages in summer, helping reduce energy consumption. These solar lamps not only support children during their studies but also reduce energy consumption, promoting sustainable energy use and reducing carbon emissions.
Stakeholder collaboration to create sustainable impact – Sustainability is a global concern and achieving long-term sustainability in the travel industry requires cooperation among all stakeholders. To achieve this goal, it is essential to identify and participate in collaborative environmental and social sustainability initiatives that aims to raise awareness around carbon emissions, promote the adoption of standard methods for estimating carbon emissions per traveler, and encourage the implementation of measures to reduce emissions.
Creating innovative sustainable solutions – Creating platforms where individuals can share their ideas on how to build a more sustainable future can positively impact the environment. For instance, organizing hackathons that promote sustainability will help develop applications and innovative solutions that contribute to a more sustainable travel experience for everyone. Such hackathons have produced innovative applications such as the ones that use bit masking recursive scheduling and routing – a customized approach that optimizes routes to reduce carbon emissions from commercial vehicles.
Inspiring more conscious search habits – Integrating information on CO2 emissions during the booking process, so that travelers can make better informed decisions and choose options that have a lesser environmental impact. Additionally, promoting multimodal travel, which involves using different modes of transportation, such as trains and buses, can also be effective in encouraging people to prioritize environmentally conscious options.
In conclusion, travel has the ability to boost economies, promote cultural exchange, and foster connections between different societies. For these reasons, it is important to prioritize the development of a travel and tourism industry that is responsible, inclusive, and sustainable. We should strive to unite people and technology in order to ensure that global travel can continue to expand in a responsible manner and have a positive impact on communities.
Amadeus has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for the 11th year in a row, in both the World and Europe categories which notifies Amadeus’s recognition for its sustainability efforts. Additionally, Amadeus is the first travel company to join the Green Software Foundation. The Green Software Foundation is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2021 by Accenture, GitHub, Microsoft, and ThoughtWorks. Its goal is to educate and contribute to the development of sustainable engineering practices that are commonly used.
(The author is Mani Ganeshan, Global Head of Engineering, Travel Distribution and Centre Head, Amadeus Labs, and the views expressed in this article are his own)
