Nombramientos

🏡 Yassine Bouallala is appointed as the new president of Grans Hotels de Catalunya, succeeding Jordi Mias who served for 8 years. The consortium comprises 67 hotels specialized in experiences like gastronomy and cycling, located across Catalonia. Bouallala, with his management experience, aims to expand the association. The General Assembly on March 25 also presented plans for 2025. Despite global uncertainties, the entity reports strong pre-Easter bookings from the UK and the USA. Grans Hotels de Catalunya was established in April 2024, merging Costa Brava Hotels and Blau Verd Hotels, now including 38 under its own name and 29 as Petits Grans Hotels.

🏠 During the two legislatures of Francina Armengol, 90,000 homes were shifted from the residential market to tourism in the Balearic Islands. This change represents nearly a fifth of the islands' 500,000 home inventory, making housing less affordable and causing resident exodus and unprecedented tourist saturation. The recent approval of 90,000 'Airbnb' legalizations is considered a significant blow to the Balearics' general interest, criticized even by its initial proponents and leading to long-term negative effects.

🏦 Christie & Co expanded its hotel investment team in the Madrid office with the addition of Joël Franco as a senior investment consultant and Christian Cornic as an investment analyst. The firm aims to strengthen operational capacity and add value to transactions in response to sustained industry growth and rising client demand. With over 20 years of experience, Franco has led strategic growth in significant projects, while Cornic brings expertise from the residential and commercial real estate sector, including entrepreneurial success in consumer goods across Europe. Their appointments reflect Christie & Co's confidence in the Spanish and Portuguese markets and their commitment to assisting hotel owners in the mid-range segment during a dynamic period for the sector.

🏥 Joan Gaspart, a hotelier from Catalonia and friend of former Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero, supports the current Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili in his campaign for re-election at the World Tourism Organization (OMT) elections in May. Pololikashvili, despite opposition, seeks votes from hesitant countries to remain in his position. Zapatero has contacted Morocco for support, while former politician Bono has attempted to gain the Dominican Republic's favor for Pololikashvili, although the country remains noncommittal. Other countries like Venezuela and Guinea, where Zapatero's influence extends, are not OMT members.

🏩 Ginés Martínez, after a 19-year tenure, was ousted from Alpitour Group in 2024, where he last served as Vice President of Global Alliances and International Development. Based in Italy, Alpitour is a tourism powerhouse with over €2 billion annual revenue, comprising more than 2,500 travel agencies, Voi Hotels, Neos airline, and parent company to Jumbo Tours Group.

📌 The new hotel association in the Canary Islands, formed to counteract Ashotel's inaction, has recently apologized to the Tenerife hotel employers' association president Jorge Marichal. Initially, the association, backed by national and international hotel chains, criticized Ashotel's direction. However, they have now retracted their statements, blamed for cowardice, and created a division between local and foreign business interests. Key figures in Tenerife's tourism like Puig, Riu, Kiessling, Escarrer, and others are recognized as the pioneers of tourism in the region, despite the presence of controversial characters among them.

🐎 Javier Blanco, yerno of Air Europa owner Juan José Hidalgo, takes the bullfighter's alternative in Moralzarzal, Madrid, celebrating the town's bullring's 20th anniversary. Blanco, a quiet individual, left the bullring in 2006 to work for Hidalgo's Globalia Group, eventually leading the hotel division. Despite the break from bullfighting, he still participated in festivals. His return to the ring is notable not just for the 20-year hiatus, but at 42 years old (turning 43 in July), he's joining bullfighting stars José Antonio Morante de la Puebla and Alejandro Talavante. The event, likely to sell out, is also remarkable for Blanco's familial ties and the media attention it garners.

🏨 Meliá Hoteles International convened a shareholders' meeting for May 8-9, informed by CNMV. Montserrat Trapé Viladomat appointed as first vice president and Cristina Aldámiz-Echevarría González de Durana as second vice president of the board. Gabriel Escarrer approved for variable compensation for 2022-2024. Meliá's net income in 2024 was €162 million, 24.5% higher than the previous year, with revenue of €2.013 billion, up 4.4% from 2023, and a 10.7% increase in RevPAR.

💰 Ávoris and Viajes El Corte Inglés, Spain's leading travel groups, remain at odds in 2025 despite reconciliation efforts. No progress has been made since Ávoris aimed to restore commercial relations at the start of the year. The conflict escalated when Ávoris hired Toni Frau, former Traveltool director, and made decisions against VECI's interests. Juan Carlos González, Ávoris's director general, could influence a potential reconciliation after breaking their longstanding Imserso agreement, which sparked the dispute. The disagreement led both companies to withdraw agent incentives for selling each other's tour operator products, inadvertently boosting sales for rival firms in the industry.

✈ Plus Ultra retires its last operating Airbus A340, named Santa María Portugalete (registration EC-MQM), from its fleet after eight years of service. This marks the end of an era for Spain's A340s, as Iberia first flew the model in 1996 and sold its last units in the summer of 2020 during the pandemic. Plus Ultra now standardizes its fleet to only A330s for better operational costs in maintenance and fuel consumption, with the retired A340 heading to the Netherlands for dismantling.