Amadeus joins the European Commission Low Season Tourism initiative which looks at actions to enhance the competitiveness of the tourism sector by stimulating the travel flow between European and South American countries.

Amadeust has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the European Commission to participate in the "Low Season Tourism" initiative aimed at increasing the travel flow between Europe and other territories. The pilot project will be launched with South America and is expected to be extended to other regions in the future.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for industry and entrepreneurship, and Luis Maroto, President & CEO of Amadeus IT Group.

This initiative will look at actions to enhance the competitiveness of the tourism sector by stimulating the travel flow between European and South American countries. This will be achieved by promoting travel in particular in the respective low seasons of Europe and South America, utilising the available spare airline and accommodation capacity thus benefitting the local economy of the host destinations.

This will imply working with airlines that are ready to offer fare concessions and with travel agencies and tour operators that would organise relevant travel packages and also with the European Commission, that will facilitate and co-finance communication activities and the involvement of South American countries, commencing with Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

Amadeus' expected contribution to this project will focus on two areas: facilitating technology tools and solutions to deploy this programme and track its results and supporting the European Commission in establishing contacts with relevant stakeholders in South America as well as participating in joint promotional activities.

"Amadeus is pleased to support the European Commission and the travel and tourism sector by offering our technology, extensive knowledge and established relations with industry leading players worldwide to make this programme successful", comments Luis Maroto, President & CEO, Amadeus IT Group.

The Memorandum of Understanding has been developed by the European Commission in collaboration with governments, tourism industry representatives and major airline companies.

These currently include:

• The governments of France, Italy, Lithuania and Spain;
• Air carriers such as Air France, Alitalia, British Airways, Iberia, the Lufthansa Group and TAP Air Portugal (and open to other interested companies);
• The European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) and the European Travel Agents' and Tour Operators' Associations (ECTAA).