Ethnic Travel Presents

A growing, profitable niche for North American travel agencies, according to new Amadeus report

Report analyzes market opportunities and business drivers for agencies serving ethnic and
heritage travelers in the U.S. and Canada. Amadeus offers solutions package tailored to the unique needs of North American ethnic travel agencies

Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, has released a new report focused on the growing niche of ethnic and heritage travel and the emerging business opportunities it presents for travel agencies in North America.

The Amadeus report, "Understanding Ethnic Travel Agencies' Cost Drivers and Business Optimization Opportunities," takes an in-depth look at ethnic travel trends and travelers; explores the various business models of various types of ethnic agencies; and identifies opportunities for them to optimize their business and serve their clients.

"With the foreign-born population in the U.S. at 38 million people, ethnic travel is an area that is positioned to significantly increase. This presents a potentially profitable opportunity — but one that comes with unique business and technology needs — for travel agencies who want to serve this growing niche group of travelers," said Tom Cates, Chief Commercial Officer for Amadeus North America. "This report, along with Amadeus' unique solutions package, is aimed at helping travel agencies better understand and position their services and business efforts to capitalize on the ethnic travel segment."

For the purposes of the report, an "ethnic travel agency" is defined as one primarily serving foreign-born individuals who are part of particular ethnic groups traveling to and from their native country to visit family or friends. Ethnic travel agency owners and agents are also likely to come from the same background as their customers. Ethnic travel agencies are predominantly located in U.S. metropolitan areas and within ethnic communities.

Cates said although the focus was on U.S. ethnic travel agencies, many of the recommendations in the report hold true for any travel agency. The study reveals that ethnic travel agencies could benefit from:
• Increasing sales of high-margin, non-air products like hotels, car rentals and packages
• Diversifying their destination offers to seize the opportunity of attracting and retaining 2nd and 3rd generations of ethnic travelers
• Establishing an online booking engine as a complementary sales channel to offline efforts
• Tracking marketing expenditures so the agency can redirect their dollars to the most cost-efficient and profitable channels
• Utilizing customer relationship management (CRM) tools so the agency can increase revenues by offering products based on their clients' preferences, while also tracking customer satisfaction and marketing activity
• Capitalizing on distribution automation delivering broad content and business efficiencies
There are currently 38 million foreign-born individuals living in the U.S., comprising nearly 13% of the total population, according to the most recent U.S. Census data. Latin American immigrants account for 54% of this population, with Mexico being the main country of origin. People migrating from Asian countries account for 27%, with China, the Philippines, and India accounting for 51% of that group. New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, and Washington D.C. have the highest foreign-born populations, accounting for almost 50% of the total foreign-born population in the US.

In the report, Amadeus identifies that there are currently over 1,000 ethnic travel agencies in North America, with approximately 80 percent in the U.S. and 20 percent in Canada.

Amadeus offers a tailored portfolio for ethnic travel agencies "The Amadeus Ethnic & Heritage Travel Specialist package to help these specialty agencies maximize their business and the services they provide to their clients so they can keep up with the demand," said Cates.

The unique solutions package incorporates the Amadeus Selling Platform, with time-saving tools and high-value GDS and non-GDS content to help an agency expand its offering and serve its clients.
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, 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 850 million billable travel transactions in 2010.

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 73 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 2010, the company reported revenues of EUR 2,683 million and EBITDA of EUR 1,015 million. The Amadeus group employs over 10,130 employees worldwide, with 123 nationalities represented at the central offices.

To find out more about Amadeus please go to www.amadeus.com
To visit the Amadeus Investor Relations centre please go to
www.investors.amadeus.com