Nombramientos

✈️ Comandante José Flores retired from Iberia after 37 years, starting with Boeing 727 and ending with Airbus A350 for long-haul flights. His career was celebrated by air traffic controllers on X (formerly Twitter), where his daughter Ana, a flight attendant, and son-in-law Sergio, a pilot, plan to welcome him on future flights as a passenger.

🚣 TUI, the German travel giant, made a contentious decision to cancel all excursions to the Turkish-supported northern part of Cyprus, following instructions from the Cypriot government. This move, communicated via email, has sparked tension with Turkey, where TUI has significant tourism interests. The north of Cyprus, not recognized as a popular destination and lacking airports, relies on tourism traffic diverted from the south. Political leaders in northern Cyprus and Ankara have voiced their disapproval, but TUI has remained silent on the matter. The ongoing Cypriot conflict reflects the historical poor relations between Greece and Turkey.

📢 Juan Rossello is appointed as Civitatis' new Business Development Director for the United States and Central America, aiming to strengthen its presence in the key US market, where Spanish is the second most spoken language. Civitatis, emphasizing the US market's economic influence and growing Hispanic population, commits to high-quality travel experiences. Rossello's extensive experience is crucial for market development and meeting the rising demand for quality Spanish-language travel experiences. Civitatis' platform offers efficient booking, competitive pricing, and 24/7 multilingual support, leading to a 93% satisfaction rate among Hispanic agencies in 2023.

🏖 Playa Hotels & Resorts appointed Silvia Catena as the new Commercial Director for the UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy. Her role aims to boost company sales in these markets. Catena's background includes working with TripAdvisor in the UK and managing over 70 hotels in the Caribbean for Cara Hotel Marketing. Multilingual in Spanish, Italian, and English, she graduated in Foreign Languages from the University of Bologna. She will work closely with Lucy Abdul, the Commercial Manager for the UK and Ireland, focusing on sales performance, partner relationships, and product knowledge for Playa's properties.

🏦 World2Meet hires Gessika Da Silva as Business Development Manager for its bedbank area, aiming to strengthen its Brazil operations. Da Silva, with nearly 20 years of experience and a background at Restel, Globalia, Atout France, Flytour, and others, joins a company managing over 35,000 directly contracted hotels and a total inventory of more than 600,000 hotels globally. The addition of Da Silva is expected to contribute to W2M's growth and expansion.

🏡 A family office acquired the Room Mate Alba hotel in Madrid for €32.5 million. The 4-star property, inaugurated in 2019, has 80 double rooms, a breakfast bar, meeting room, and gym. Room Mate, owned by Angelo Gordon, will continue to manage the hotel, which is one of five they operate in the capital. Spain's hotel investment volume reached €1,550 million in the first half of the year, with expectations to surpass €4,200 million by year-end - a figure previously achieved in 2023. Cushman & Wakefield, the advising firm, also confirmed that Madrid remains a prime target for investors, with its hotel market regarded as a safe-haven investment.

🚀 Air Europa, a Spanish airline owned by the Hidalgo family, has faced tensions with the Venezuelan government after modifying their Madrid-Caracas route to avoid crew overnight stays in Caracas for safety concerns. Surprisingly, the airline amended operations to include a crew change in Gran Canaria, but recently reverted to direct flights. Madrid's Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas Airport has reported no anomalies with scheduled flights. Currently, five airlines operate the Madrid-Caracas route: Iberia, Plus Ultra, Air Europa, Iberojet, and Hi Fly for Estelar and Láser.

✈ Juan José Hidalgo, owner of Air Europa, discusses the airline's future on Toro TV after a thwarted acquisition by Iberia, facing challenges without IAG support and significant pandemic debt. Despite connections, Hidalgo states no government support was received, not even from Franco, who died November 20, 1975, or subsequent Spanish governments. Hidalgo formerly worked as a driver for General Álvarez Arenas, later Army Minister under Franco.

🚨 In 2024, Mallorca has witnessed four anti-tourism protests, increasing from zero over the previous eight years under the Partido Popular's governance. Activists call for another protest on August 11, demanding limits on tourism, economic model changes, and respect for nature. Protesters' demands include access to decent housing, an end to real estate speculation, battling gentrification, improving public services, regenerating natural areas, preserving the local language, and advocating for fair and well-paid jobs.

🎰 Salvador Illa, leader of the PSC, has been inaugurated as president of the Generalitat of Catalonia with the support of Ada Colau and the comunes, directly impacting the Hard Rock project in Tarragona. The agreement between the parties includes halting the "macrocasino" despite previous commitments to the project, which was set to feature a casino, two hotels, a commercial area, dining establishments, and entertainment facilities, attracting over 15,000 people, with expectations of two million annual visitors and the creation of 11,500 jobs. The project was initially awarded in 2017. Jessica Albiach, president of the comunes, emphasizes Catalonia's refusal to become "the casino of Europe.