The tourism sector lacks women: they only lead 23% of the large companies that operate in Spain

The tourism sector continues to accumulate blows. When it seemed that recovery was approaching, the new wave of infections in Europe and the appearance of the omicron variant have cooled the forecasts that invited optimism.

According to the latest monthly barometer of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the arrival of international tourists to the Old Continent could reach 375 million in 2021, 75% less than in 2019 and a level very similar to that of 2020.

In these almost 2 years of constant changes, in which the sector went from being the main engine of the Spanish economy to suffering the greatest impact from the pandemic, the managers at the head of the large companies in the sector have had to make important decisions that They demanded responsibility and leadership.

Business Insider Spain has analyzed who is who in the tourism sector and the conclusion is very clear: women are still not at the helm. In the sector, gender equality is still far away.

The 6 characteristics that the 18 Spanish women at the helm of large technology companies have in common

Of the 30 companies that appear on the list, only 7 have a woman as CEO —in one of the cases, the position is shared with a man—. In other words, only 23% of the companies in this strategic industry have a woman as chief executive.

Hotels

Hotel entrepreneurs were forced to close all their hotels in March 2020 and say goodbye to all their clients for a long season. Not only that. Many of its employees had to take advantage of a Temporary Employment Regulation File (ERTE) and the reopening of the establishments was marked by uncertainty and successive changes.

Gabriel Escarrer, Raúl González, Ramón Aragonés, Luis and Carmen Riu, Sabina Fluxà, Amancio López and Jesús Sobrino managed this process in chains such as Meliá, Barceló, NH, RIU, Iberostar, Hotusa or Palladium, while Pedro Saura was appointed president of Hostels last summer.

Meliá Hotels International — Gabriel Escarrer

Gabriel Escarrer Jaume worked for 3 years at Salomon Smith Barney in New York. From there he participated, in 1996, in the IPO of Meliá Hotels International, founded by his father, Gabriel Escarrer Juliá, to which he would join shortly after.

Already as CEO — he was appointed in 1999 — Escarrer tackled the challenge of launching an ambitious plan to remodel hotel assets. Since 2009 he is also vice president.

As the chain pointed out to this medium, among its most successful hotels are the Hotel Cádiz Paseo del Mar, the Hotel Jerez Centro, the Innside Palma Center or the Meliá Palma Marina.

Barceló Hotel Group — Raul Gonzalez

Raúl González is CEO of Barceló for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He joined the Barceló Group in 1998, as General Manager of Barceló Clavel Vascohoteles.

He later became responsible for the vacation division of Barceló Hotels & Resorts in Europe and, in 2002, he assumed the general management of the company's business in the Old Continent.

Last year, the hotel chain increased its portfolio to 251 hotels and added more than 57,000 rooms in 22 countries.

NH Hotel Group — Ramon Aragones

Ramón Aragonés has developed most of his extensive professional career in the world of tourism, where after holding various positions of responsibility in Spain, Belgium and Venezuela, he was appointed General Manager of Hesperia Hotels in 2000.

Following the integration of Hesperia into NH in 2009, Aragonés held various management positions until he was appointed CEO of NH Hotel Group in January 2017.

Between July and September 2021 —last results presented to the market—, the hotel chain reduced losses by 61.1% to 29.7 million euros, and increased revenues by 84.2%, to 273.5 million.

RIU Hotels & Resorts — Luis Riu and Carmen Riu

Carmen and Luis Riu are the third generation of the Riu family, founder and owner of the RIU Hotels & Resorts chain. They have been CEOs since 1998 and share the management of the company.

In 1978, Carmen was appointed Director of Personnel for the chain and, 3 years later, she assumed the financial and administrative management.

For his part, Luis led the expansion of the chain in the Canary Islands in 1985 and, 6 years later, he was appointed president, a position from which he directed the internationalization of the company.

RIU is currently the 32nd largest chain in the world, the 3rd in Spain by revenue and the fourth by number of rooms.

Iberostar — Sabina Fluxa

Sabina Fluxà is the eldest daughter of Miguel Fluxà Roselló, who founded the Iberostar Group in 1986, which Sabina joined in January 2005.

In November 2006, she was named co-vice president and, in 2017, she added the role of CEO. In 2016 she joined the board of Telefónica as an independent member, a chair she has held until September of this year.

The businesswoman is also a member of the governing council of the APD directors' association in the Balearic Islands, as well as patron of the Iberostar Foundation and the Endeavor Foundation.

Hotusa Group — Amancio López Seijas

Amancio López Seijas chairs the Hotusa Group, a company to which he has dedicated his entire professional career and which he has directed since its founding in 1977.

In addition, he is a member of the advisory board of Aena; president of the social council of the Rey Juan Carlos University; co-chairman of the tourism commission of the American Chamber of Commerce; vice-president of the permanent commission of the tourism council of the CEOE; member of the advisory council of Turespaña; and member of the advisory council of the Catalan employers' organization Foment del Treball.

The Eurostars Hotels chain is part of the group that it presides over and comprises 67 establishments distributed between 9 European countries and 3 American countries.

Palladium Hotel Group — Jesus Sobrino

After 50 years of experience in the hotel sector, the Matutes Group of Companies reformed its organizational structure at the beginning of 2020 and appointed Jesús Sobrino Fernández General Manager of Palladium Hotel Group.

Sobrino is the right-hand man of Abel Matutes Prats, president of the hotel company, whom he met in 2006 when they were both studying for an MBA in Madrid. He since then he works in the company.

The hotel group brings together 10 brands with hotels in 6 countries around the world: Spain, Italy, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Brazil.

Hostels — Pedro Saura

Pedro Saura was appointed president and CEO of Paradores de Turismo last July after an extensive career in politics in which he has held the Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda of the Ministry of Public Works and has been a PSOE deputy in the 4 last legislatures.

Saura has also held the positions of General Director of Economy and Planning and Sectorial Secretary of Economy and Finance in the Region of Murcia, in addition to occupying the direction of the public company Sepes, belonging to the Ministry of Public Works.

Paradores has 97 lodgings throughout Spain and 4,000 people work for the chain.

Airlines and airports

Despite having returned to pre-pandemic levels, the Airline Association (ALA) places the recovery of the air sector in 2023 or 2024.

With the arrival of the pandemic and the slowdown in travel, executives such as Luis Gallego, Javier Sanchez-Prieto, Marco Sansavini, Valentín Lago, Carlos Bertomeu, Carlos Gómez, Javier Gándara, Julia Hillenbrand, Monika White and Maurici Lucena were in charge of make the decisions.

IAG — Luis Gallego

Luis Gallego became the first executive of IAG in September 2020, which he accessed after directing Iberia between 2013 and 2020. He replaced the Irishman Willie Walsh.

He has a long history in the aviation sector. He was CEO of Iberia Express (2012-2013), Director of Operations at Vueling (2009-2012) and founder of Clickair (2006-2009), a company in which the current CEO of Iberia Express also worked.

In addition to CEO of IAG, he is a member of the governing board and steering committee of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The airline holding company – which includes Iberia, British Airways, Vueling and Aer Lingus – lost 574 million euros in the third quarter of 2021 (July to September), the last with available data.

Iberia — Javier Sanchez-Prieto

When Luis Gallego stepped down as CEO of Iberia to lead IAG, Javier Sánchez-Prieto became the chairman and CEO of Iberia. He previously held the same position at Vueling, where he arrived in April 2016 after having been director of finance and strategic planning at Iberia for 3 years.

He was previously financial director at Iberia Express and previously held management positions at the Uralita Group (now Coemac, a multinational construction materials company). His beginnings in the aviation sector were as deputy director of Strategic Planning at Air Nostrum, in 2001.

Iberia has rolled out an ambitious route program for this winter, with 280 weekly frequencies to 23 cities in 17 countries in Latin America, the US and the Maldives.

Vueling — Marco Sansavini

Marco Sansavini was appointed president and CEO of Vueling in September 2020. Until then he was commercial director of Iberia, but he succeeded Javier Sánchez-Prieto at the low-cost airline.

In Iberia, Sansavini was commercial director since the end of 2012, but before he landed in Iberia he had held different management positions in Alitalia and KLM.

After the merger of KLM and Air France, he participated in the creation of the company's first commercial unit, becoming its commercial director in Europe and North Africa and being vice president of business worldwide.

Vueling began operations in July 2004 based in Barcelona as an independent airline, although after its merger with Clickair in 2009 its main shareholder became Iberia.

Air Europa — Valentin Lago

Valentín Lago has been CEO of Air Europa since March of this year. Prior to his arrival in the airline sector, he was a consultant at Indra.

In 2002 he joined Air Nostrum, where he spent another 10 years until he joined Iberia Express. At Iberia's low-cost subsidiary, he was in charge of Production and, 4 years later, he landed at Vueling as Director of Operations (COO).

The history of the acquisition of the airline by Iberia is now 2 years old and it seems less and less clear that they will end up flying together in the future.

Air Nostrum — Carlos Bertomeu

Carlos Bertomeu, founder and current president of Air Nostrum, began his professional career at the Instituto de Empresa as a finance professor and strategic consultant. In 1994, he joined the Nefinsa Group as Director of Investments and Strategic Development.

He has been a director of Vueling and is currently a director of Exceltur and vice president of the European Association of Regional Airlines (ERA).

The Valencian airline grew by 12.7% in the first half of the year, reaching 1,967,651 passengers. During that period in 2020 it transported 1,745,751 passengers.

Iberia Express — Carlos Gomez

Carlos Gómez was ratified as president and CEO of the low cost Iberia Express in October 2020 after more than a year as interim and after Fernando Candela left that position vacant when he went to Level as CEO.

Until then, Gómez was Director of Production for the airline and was part of the launch of the brand in 2012. At the same time, he was commander and instructor of Airbus A-320 at the company. He was also Director of Operations and Director of Production at Iberia Express.

Although its creation was approved 10 years ago, Iberia Express began operations on March 25, 2012.

EasyJet — Javier Gandara

Javier Gándara is the general director of easyjet for Spain and Portugal, a position that he combines with the presidency of the Association of Air Lines (ALA).

Coming from FedEx, he was hired by the low-cost airline in 2007, when he was entrusted with the direction of Operations for Spain. It was in 2011 when he was promoted to his current position.

The British airline lost 858 million pounds (1,010 million euros) in its last fiscal year (which ended in September).

Lufthansa - Julia Hillenbrand

Last June, the Lufthansa airline group appointed Julia Hillenbrand as general director of the consortium for the new Western Europe commercial region, made up of France, Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain.

From Madrid, Hillenbrand assumes the direction of this division and is responsible for the commercial activities of the 5 airlines of the group —Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Swiss—, whose services she tries to expand in each market.

With a degree in International Business Administration, she has been General Manager of the group for Spain and Portugal since July 2019, although she joined the company in 2005, in the Lufthansa Sales department in Portugal.

Before her arrival in Spain, Hillenbrand was director of Asia-Pacific Sales Products and Programs for the group from Singapore.

Lufthansa is the largest airline group in Europe.

Emirates—Monika White

Monika White, general director of Emirates for Spain, has lived the evolution of the airline since the beginning of operations in the national market in 2010.

White, who has a long history of more than 3 decades of experience in the industry in different commercial and managerial positions, replaced Fernando Suárez in 2018 at the head of the Persian Gulf company when he was appointed Vice President of Emirates for Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Taiwan.

Emirates is the largest airline in the Middle East, operating nearly 3,400 flights per week from its hub at Dubai International Airport.

Aena — Maurici Lucena

Since 2018, Maurici Lucena has been Chairman and CEO of Aena. Until his incorporation into the airport manager, he held various managerial positions in both the public and private sectors.

Lucena was President of the Council of the European Space Agency (ESA) between July 2008 and June 2010.

He later worked at Banco Sabadell as director of Wealth and Prudential Management. In addition, he was a deputy and spokesman for the Socialist Parliamentary Group of the Parliament of Catalonia from December 2012 to October 2015.

The group's total income increased by 1.6% from January to September —the latest period with available data—, reaching 1,761 million euros.

cruises and trains

After many months docked, the cruise ships sailed the seas again, although with many changes due to the pandemic. The most important decisions were made by executives such as Fernando Pacheco or Luigi Stefanelli.

Meanwhile, in the railway world, a new player led by a woman arrived in Spain, Hélène Valenzuela, Renfe's first rival.

MSC Cruises — Fernando Pacheco

Since 2017, Fernando Pacheco has been the general director of MSC Cruises in Spain, a shipping company he joined in 2002 after a year at the Italian Costa Cruises.

After 3 years as commercial director of MSC Cruises, in 2010 he resigned to join Logitravel as head of cruise contracting, but returned to the shipping company in 2013 holding the position of commercial and marketing director.

MSC Cruises is the fourth largest cruise operator in the world and the second in Europe, only surpassed by Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line.

Costa Cruises — Luigi Stefanelli

Luigi Stefanelli was born in Naples and began his career as a financial consultant at EY. Later, he joined the Costa Cruises headquarters in Genoa, in the revenue management department.

Later, he was appointed director of corporate development for Costa Cruises in Asia and, for 3 years, worked from Shanghai for the cruise line's development in the Asia-Pacific region and Australia.

Before arriving in 2019 at his current position as General Manager of Costa Cruises in Spain and Portugal, Stefanelli was General Manager of Central Europe.

The shipping company has been the first international company authorized to operate in China, with regular departures from ports of the Asian giant.

Renfe — Isaiah Taboas

Since 2018, Isaías Taboas has been the president of the Renfe-Operadora Public Business Entity and of the state-owned commercial companies Renfe Viajeros, Renfe Mercancías, Renfe Manufacture and Maintenance and Renfe Rental of Railway Material.

He has developed his professional career between the Public Administration and the private sector. He was Secretary of State for Transport (2010-2011), Secretary General of the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya (2006-2010) and Director of the Cabinet of the Minister of Industry (2004-2006).

The public company has 14,000 employees and almost half of them will be over 65 years old in the coming years.

Ouigo — Hélène Valenzuela

Hélène Valenzuela is General Manager of Ouigo in Spain, a company created by SNCF to compete in high-speed rail services in Spain.

Valenzuela has a long national and international career as director general and operations of railway companies in high-speed networks. She accessed the executive committee of SNCF Réseau in 2018 and has been director of operations at Thalys, in addition to working at Eurostar.

Half a year after starting operations in Spain, Ouigo reached one million passengers on the Madrid-Barcelona line with an average occupancy rate of 97%.

online platforms

The great trend highlighted by the pandemic was digitization and online travel platforms were a true reflection of this.

Putting the counterpoint to the rest of the sector, this segment does have more women at the head of the main companies, such as Mónica Casañas or Mireia Prieto.

Destinia - Amuda Goueli

Amuda Goueli, co-founder and CEO of Destinia, was born in Nubia (Egypt) and ended up settling in Spain in 2000.

In 2001, he founded the online travel agency —where his right-hand man is Ricardo Fernández—, in addition to other businesses such as Tor.travel and Tech Solutions Travel. In addition, Goueli is vice president of Adigital, the Spanish Association of the Digital Economy.

Airbnb — Monica Casanas

Mónica Casañas, General Director of Airbnb in Spain and Portugal, had been with the company for 9 months as Head of Strategy and Operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa when she was promoted to her current position.

It began on Monday, March 9, 2020 and, just 3 days later, the world took a turn without return and what seemed at first like a 2-week break ended up marking Casañas' first year at the helm of the company in our country.

The company saw how the entire empire that she had created over 12 years fell in a few weeks. Time has proven its strength and Airbnb has seen a rapid recovery in the last year.

Booking — Mireia Prieto

Before arriving at Booking in 2008 as account manager, Mireia Prieto was linked to the Derby Hotels chain as a sales executive.

The key to moving up in a large company, according to Mireia Prieto, director for Southwest Europe at Booking

Graduated in Tourism from the University of Barcelona, ​​she rose through the ranks in the online travel agency until reaching her current position in January 2020 as regional director for Southwest Europe, the Middle East and Africa (SWEMEA) after having in charge of Spain and France previously.

Booking has more than 17,000 workers in 198 offices in 70 countries around the world.

Travel agencies and technology

In the most difficult stage for the tourism sector, travel agencies have been one of the worst stops in the sector.

Leading the main ones are Christian Boutin, Miguel Ángel Sánchez, Jorge Schoenenberger, Gabriel Subías and Rafael García.

Amadeus IT Group — Christian Boutin

Christian Boutin joined Amadeus in 2006 and has held different executive roles until replacing Fernando Cuesta as General Manager of Amadeus in Spain and Portugal.

Boutin also holds the position of vice president of the retail and business travel agency segment in Western Europe.

The provider of technology solutions for the tourism sector achieved between July and September -latest data available- its first quarterly profits since the pandemic.

Ávoris Business Corporation — Miguel Ángel Sánchez

The group resulting from the merger of Ávoris and Globalia's travel division, Ávoris Corporación Empresarial, has Miguel Ángel Sánchez as CEO.

After 10 years holding various managerial positions at Barceló, Sánchez joined the group in 2005. Until now he had been General Manager and Chief Financial Officer of Globalia and is one of the 2 representatives of the Hidalgo family group on the board of directors .

Ávoris Corporación Empresarial has 6,000 employees and 1,500 points of sale.

Grupo Viajes El Corte Inglés and Logitravel — Jorge Schoenenberger

The merger between Viajes El Corte Inglés and Logitravel has created a new giant in the tourism sector that will be led by Jorge Schoenenberger and that before the pandemic had a turnover of 3,500 million euros.

Schoenenberger served as consulting director of Arthur Andersen between 1989 and 2002. After the dissolution of that company, the audit and legal advice team was integrated into Deloitte Spain.

Until his recent appointment, Schoenenberger has served as managing partner of the consultancy's Travel, Hospitality, Leisure in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

W2M — Gabriel Subías

Gabriel Subías Cano began his professional career at Grupo Iberostar in 1987, a company in which he held different positions of responsibility until in 1996 he was appointed CEO of the Group's broadcasting division.

In 2006 he joined the Orizonia Corporación team as CEO and, in 2011, he was appointed CEO of Ávoris Travel. Since January 2020, Subías has been CEO of WORLD2MEET (W2M).

The global service provider, which was founded in 2008 and is 100% owned by the Iberostar Group, has a presence in more than 175 countries.

Nautalia — Rafael Garcia Garrido

Since September 2015, Rafael García Garrido has been General Manager of Nautalia Viajes, the Wamos Group travel agency.

Previously, he had been in charge of the meetings, events and incentives (MICE) area in the same company for 3 years after having passed through CWT as commercial director.

Wamos has more than 300 points of sale, of which more than 200 in Spain under the Nautalia Viajes brand.