Meliá founder honoured by Magaluf travel industry
More than 800 people gathered at two Meliá properties in Magaluf to honour the hotel group’s founder Gabriel Escarrer Juliá for work to boost tourism in the area.
Workers, residents and members of the travel community attended the event in the gardens of Meliá Calvià Beach and Meliá South Beach hotels – two great examples of the spectacular transformation of the area supported by the founder of Meliá Hotels International.
Palmanova and Magaluf saw the first boom in Spanish tourism in the 1970s, and the event – also attended by the Mayor of Calvià and leading tourism authorities in the Balearic Islands and Mallorca – saw the unanimous recognition of the career of Escarrer, who rose from his beginnings in the area to create an international hotel group that is now among the top 20 largest hotel companies in the world.
Initially suggested by one of the members of staff in a Meliá hotel, the event was supported by the city council, main trade unions, hotel and business associations, taxi drivers and other professionals in the area, as well as the Balearic authorities, in order to recognise the work of a global entrepreneur who was born and opened his first hotels in the bays of Palma and Calvià, where most of his Mallorcan hotels are still located.
The organisers and authorities presented Escarrer with an original sculpture in Mallorcan stone and cut glass representing the bay of Palmanova-Magaluf made by StudioRoses.
The honour for Escarrer is also in recognition of the important commitment made by Meliá between 2012 and 2019 to transform the destination after its degradation in the 1990s and first decade of this century, repositioning it once again as one of the best destinations for family travel and quality tourism.
Meliá has invested over €250 million since 2012 with partners, and was also joined in its efforts by other entrepreneurs to trigger a transformation of the destination that now means that 70 per cent of its hotel beds are in the 4 and 5-star categories, well above the average for Mallorca and Spain.
As the founder and president of Meliá recalled, the company got involved in the project due to “our love of this land and our commitment to its community”, even though it would have been easier and more profitable to invest in other destinations.
Escarrer explained: “we should not only look at the material side of the investments, but also at the human side of the business”.
“I remember the golden age of Magaluf with nostalgia, and the quality tourism we had that is fortunately now coming back.” He added. “It was a wonderful time and something I hope will be repeated.”
Meliá Hotels International continues to operate more than 3,800 rooms in 11 hotels in Palmanova and Magaluf as well as state-of-the-art commercial and leisure facilities and iconic buildings that attract tourists from all over the world.
Gabriel Escarrer made an emotional speech with a number of references to the early 1970s, when he used to visit every hotel in the area every day as part of his routine – and knew many employees by name.
He also recalled how this period also led to the emergence of a large number of excellent hotel managers and travel professionals and how it all started “out of nothing”, except for his faith, drive and passion for the development of the tourism industry.