Meliá Hotels International, INFLUENTIALS Award for Brand Spain

Meliá Hotels International, managing company of the Palma Convention Center, received the "Influentials" award for Brand Spain organised by El Confidencial and Herbert Smith Freehill. The ceremony for the first edition of the awards was attended by many important Spanish business leaders, personalities and politicians.

The CEO of Meliá Hotels International, Gabriel Escarrer, proudly received the Brand Spain Award, a brand that the company has been promoting for over 60 years in the more than 40 countries in which it operates almost 380 hotels. Escarrer recalled that "Meliá is proud to bring Spanish hospitality, culture, cuisine and way of life to places all over the world," and explained that the company "does not just sell beds, but rather experiences, and our hotels have become genuine Spanish Embassies overseas".

The CEO of the only hotel company in the IBEX 35 Spanish stock market index stressed that these great strengths of Spain are part of the attraction that made the country the second most popular travel destination in the world in 2017, with more than 82 million international visitors. He also highlighted the excellence of the Spanish tourism industry, recalling that the Davos Forum named Spain as world leader in competitiveness in the tourism industry for the third consecutive year.

In the presence of the Vice President of the Spanish Government, Soraya Saenz de Santamaría, and the Minister of Tourism, Energy and Digital Agenda, Álvaro Nadal, as well as numerous executives from Ibex 35 companies and other prominent figures from the political, sports and social spheres, organizers presented the six winners that they believe represent the talent and excellence that drive optimism in the country and help make a difference.

The Vice President of the Spanish Government named Meliá as an example of how in Spain "we know how to do things very well, as you can see in our tourism industry and companies like Meliá". Along with Gabriel Escarrer, awards also went to José Antonio Álvarez (CEO of Banco Santander), Francisco Reynés (President of Gas Natural), Mariano Silveira (Cabify), Paco Arango (Aladina Foundation), and Vicente del Bosque.