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TRANSFORMING
THE VACATION
CONCEPT Affability and shared ideals: Warm Hospitality
A “guest-centric” approach is an integral part of Warm Hospitality and a distinguishing
In light of the current international social, political and economic uncertainties, it is essential feature of our corporate culture. Costa is committed to guaranteeing a customer
for Costa to help reformulate the concept of a holiday, incorporating the idea of responsibility experience based on inclusive, personalized service, this being at the heart of the
associated with traveling to different parts of the world. In line with the UNWTO (United experience on Costa’s ships, thanks in no small part to our friendly, helpful crew, who
Nations World Tourism Organization) guidelines, providing recommendations for responsible are ready and available to assist guests round the clock, with whatever they require.
management of destinations and diversification of their market components, we are committed The Company starts looking after the guest as soon as they leave home to join the ship.
to responsible destination stewardship, generating tangible benefits for the local community Always attentive to the possibility of offering travelers low impact services, Costa has
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and contributing to the UN’s 2030 Agenda . Travel is a privilege and also a responsibility responded to growing interest among tourists (especially in Europe) in collective and
shared by all the relevant stakeholders. Costa sets out to promote responsible, ethical and multimodal transport solutions and has introduced a number of options for cruise
sustainable travel while retaining its position of leadership with policies and strategic plans passengers, facilitating travel between the front door and the port of embarkation/
that help preserve the economic, socio-cultural and natural resources of its destinations, disembarkation. For example, in 2019 we entered into a partnership with Flixbus,
also guaranteeing compliance with the highest international safety and security standards which operates a new low-cost intercity bus network moving millions of passengers
on its ships and – at the same time – taking care of its guests; we do this in accordance with across Europe while reducing environmental impact. An ideal partner to provide new
our core value of Warm Hospitality on board, i.e. an inclusive, personalized welcome and stay transport services for us, Flixbus coaches are already operating on routes comprising or in
1 https://www.unwto.org/tourism4sdgs is a vital part of the guest’s vacation experience. close proximity to many Italian ports of embarkation, and our joint objective is to extend
the service throughout Europe, thus encouraging the use of public transport instead of
cars, meaning less traffic and a reduction in CO emissions. Again with regard to joint
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planning and accessibility, specifically to respond effectively to traveler’s demands for
safe and efficient services, we continued our Fly&Cruise program, whereby guests fly
straight to the place of departure adjacent to the port. By virtue of our partnership with
Genoa Airport, already operating for flights to Vienna, during the reporting year we
added three new routes to Abu Dhabi, Rostock and Stockholm.
Our investments in technology have enabled the development and digitization of many
services designed specifically to meet the needs of current and future guests, both on
board and shoreside. One significant example is the way that Costa has involved its
Italian travel agencies in the new program of corporate geomarketing activity: using
its own state-of-the-art Geointelligence platform, Costa can now carry out the strategic
mapping of specific areas, so as to identify very high value development opportunities.
This enables further consolidation of our partnerships with the agencies, who are
consequently able to offer customized solutions meeting local needs and those of the
target audience, as revealed by the Geointelligence data. Once on board the ship, guests
can take advantage of the cutting-edge digitization of services; they can manage their
cruise holiday the smart way, with the Costa App, which the Company uses to provide
information in real time, and the guest can use to make reservations for the shipboard
restaurants, spas and other amenities as well as shore tours. This way all the processes
