Hanover, 10 April 2024

TUI Green IT Award: Innovations, partnerships and social responsibility for sustainable transformation

  • Awards for IBS Software, MarineXchange and Amadeus
  • TUI CEO Sebastian Ebel: "Social, ecological and economic sustainability belong together to make tourism successful."
  •  From 2025, TUI will be looking for outstanding sustainability initiatives among suppliers from all areas of the business

The TUI Green IT Award recognises exemplary initiatives and programmes by the tourism company's IT suppliers in the area of sustainability. The winners were announced at the TUI Campus in Hanover. With technological innovations for a lower-emission cruise industry (MarineXChange), partnerships for sustainable business models in tourism (Amadeus) and a programme to empower Indian women entrepreneurs (IBS Software), the award-winning initiatives represent the three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, social and economic. 

"This year's winners of the TUI Green IT Award symbolise the breadth of the challenges – but also the diversity of possible solutions when it comes to greater sustainability. Social, environmental and economic sustainability belong together to make tourism successful. TUI stands for a holistic approach, which is also reflected in the award-winning initiatives," says Sebastian Ebel, CEO of TUI Group.

The winners of the TUI Green IT Award 2024:

  • In the "People" category: IBS Software – Futurepoint Drivers: This programme supports women from underprivileged background in Kerala, India, to become professional drivers and acquire behavioural competence skills. They are supported in their journey to becoming self-sufficient entrepreneurs earning a profitable livelihood. Participants are offered up-skilling opportunities in subjects including driving and car maintenance, interpersonal skills, communication, self-defence as well as financial literacy and legal awareness. The program offers a lifelong partnership for the candidates including financial support. The women can therefore create a better quality of life for themselves and their families.
  • In the "Planet" category: MarineXchange – MXP Enterprise Platform: MXP Enterprise Platform utilizes latest technology to improve the sustainability performance of the cruise industry. Its business intelligence and advanced analytics capabilities reduce food waste by accurately predicting onboard consumption. MXP's focus on fuel consumption includes optimized route planning and CO2 emissions calculation, leading to significant fuel savings, efficient itinerary planning, and a direct reduction in environmental impact.
  • In the "Progress" category: Amadeus –Travel4Impact. Travel4Impact, an initiative of Amadeus and IE University, supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the travel and tourism industry to drive sustainable business models and digital innovations. Around 40 SMEs will be selected for the Launchpad phase, which will begin in September 2024.The programme has already helped more than 60 SMEs to increase the positive impact of their business and accelerate their digitalisation since its launch in 2021. Travel4Impact stands for networking, growth and forms a platform for knowledge exchange and mutual support within the travel industry.

In addition to the three winners, the jury emphasised two companies with a special mention. With both mentions, it emphasises the importance of partnerships for achieving sustainability goals:

  • Partnerships for sustainability: FLIGHTKEYS works together with TUI and other partners to reduce aviation´s non-CO2 emissions through contrail avoidance. FLIGHTKEYS delivers contrail forecasts to flight dispatchers for the pre-planning phase, while providing pilots real-time decision support to avoid contrails in flight.
  • Prominate is one of the suppliers for the catering of TUI flights and relies on 100% sustainable and domestically recyclable materials. It is an example of how sustainability throughout TUI's value chain can only succeed in cooperation with suppliers and partners.

All suppliers from TUI's IT sector were invited to submit their initiatives. The winners were determined in a multi-stage selection process. The final decision was made by a jury. In addition to TUI CEO Sebastian Ebel, the jury consisted of TUI Chief Sustainability Officer Thomas Ellerbeck, Group Director Sustainability & ESG Kathrin Möllers, Group Procurement Director Paul Walker and members of the global IT Leadership Board headed by Group Chief Information Officer Pieter Jordaan.

In future, TUI will not only recognise suppliers and partners from the IT sector for their outstanding sustainability initiatives, but will open up the competition to suppliers and partners from all areas of the business. With this expansion, TUI is emphasising the importance of suppliers in achieving its own sustainability goals.

About TUI Group

The TUI Group is one of the world's leading tourism groups and operates worldwide. The Group is headquartered in Germany. TUI shares are listed in the MDAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and in the regulated market of the Lower Saxony Stock Exchange in Hanover. TUI Group offers its 19 million customers integrated services from a single source and forms the entire tourism value chain under one roof. The Group owns over 400 hotels and resorts with premium brands such as RIU, TUI Blue and Robinson and 17 cruise ships, ranging from the MS Europa and MS Europa 2 in the luxury class and expedition ships in the HANSEATIC class to the Mein Schiff fleet of TUI Cruises and cruise ships operated by Marella Cruises in the UK. The Group also includes Europe's leading tour operator brands and online marketing platforms, for example for hotel-only or flight-only offers, five airlines with more than 130 modern medium- and long-haul aircraft and around 1,200 travel agencies. In addition to expanding its core business with hotels and cruises via successful joint ventures and activities in vacation destinations, TUI is increasingly focusing on the expansion of digital platforms. The Group is transforming itself into a global tourism platform company.  

Global responsibility for sustainable economic, environmental and social action is at the heart of our corporate culture. With projects in 25 countries, the TUI Care Foundation initiated by TUI focuses on the positive effects of tourism, on education and training and on strengthening environmental and social standards. In this way, it supports the development of vacation destinations. The globally active TUI Care Foundation initiates projects that create new opportunities for the next generation.