EXCELTUR, Alianza para la Excelencia Turística (Alliance for Excellency in Tourism), is a non-profit group formed by the Chairmen of the 30 leading Spanish tourist groups from the following sectors: airlines, cruises, hotels, travel agencies, tour operators, credit cards, rent-a-car, tourist hospitals, and GDSs. EXCELTUR was founded at the end of 2001, with the following main goals:

  • To raise awareness and promote better knowledge and understanding of the socioeconomic importance of tourism, the job creation capacity, and its multiplier effects on the Spanish economy.
  • To promote and encourage the highest degree of competitiveness for the Spanish tourism industry to be able to consolidate its leadership and continuous growth in the most sustainable manner.

The approximate turnover of all above firms exceeded 30 billion Euros in 2023 with a labor force of over 220.000 employees, and direct investments in more than 40 countries worldwide. The turnover of EXCELTUR’s members approximately represents 4% of Spain’s GDP.

LIST OF ASSOCIATED FIRMS AND THEIR REPRESENTATIVES

AIR NOSTRUM LAM (Regional air line)

Carlos Bertomeu

Chairman & CEO

AMADEUS IT GROUP (Leading worldwide GDS)

Luis Maroto

CEO

AMERICAN EXPRESS DE ESPAÑA(Credit Card & Travel Services)

Juan Ortí

Chairman & CEO

ATOM HOTELES SOCIMI GMA (Hotel Chain)

Víctor Martí

Chairman & CEO

BALEARIA EUROLÍNEAS MARÍTIMAS (Regular maritime transport of passengers and cargo)

Adolfo Utor

Chairman

BINTER CANARIAS (Regional Airline)

Rodolfo Núñez

Chairman

EUROP ASSISTANCE (Insurance Company)

Juan Luis Cavero

CEO

EUROPCAR MOBILITY GROUP (Rent a car)

Ron Santiago

Managing Director

FUERTE GROUP (Hotel Chain)

José Luque

Managing Director

GLOBAL EXCHANGE (Global Exchange)

Isidoro J. Alanis

Chairman & CEO

GRUPO IBEROSTAR (Hotel Chain)

Sabina Fluxá

Vicepresident & CEO

GRUPO INVERSOR HESPERIA (Resort Hotel Chain)

Jordi Ferrer

Chief Executive Officer

GRUPO PIÑERO (Hotel Chain)

Encarnación Piñero

Chief Executive Officer

GRUPO VIAJES EL CORTE INGLÉS (Travel Agency)

Miquel Moyà

General Manager

HERTZ ESPAÑA (Rent a Car)

Javier Díaz-Laviada

General Manager

HIP (Hotel Chain)

Alejandro Hernández-Puértolas

Founding Partner & Chief Executive Officer

HOSPITEN (Tourist Hospital Chain)

Pedro Luis Cobiella

Vicepresident & CEO

HBX GROUP (The World’s BedBank)

Nicolas Huss

CEO

HOTELES SERVIGROUP (Hotel Chain)

José Mª Caballé

Chairman & CEO

IBERIA LAE (Partner airline of British Airways)

Marco Sansavini

Chairman

JUMBO TOURS (Tour Operator)

Ginés Martínez

Chief Executive Officer

LORO PARQUE (Theme Park)

Wolfgang Kiessling

Chairman

MELIA HOTELS INTERNATIONAL (Hotel Chain)

Gabriel Escarrer

Chairman & CEO

META (Social Networks)

Irene Cano

Country Manager Spain & Portugal

NH HOTEL GROUP (City Hotel Chains)

Ramón Aragonés

Chief Executive Officer

OK MOBILITY GROUP (Rent a car)

Othman Ktiri

CEO & Founder

PALLADIUM HOTEL GROUP (Resort Hotel Chain)

Abel Matutes Prats

Chairman

RIU HOTELS & RESORTS (Hotel Chain)

Carmen Riu y Luis Riu

Chief Executive Officer

SENATOR HOTELS & RESORTS (Resorts Hotel Chain)

Daniel Rossell

Vicepresident

VALENTIN HOTEL GROUP (Hotel Chain)

José Codolá

Chief Executive Officer

EXCELTUR

José Antonio Tazón

Honorary Member & Ex-Chairman of Amadeus

EXCELTUR

José Mª González

Honorary Member & Ex-Managing Director, Southern Europe and Australia & NZ Region of Europcar Mobility Group

MAIN RESEARCH PROJECTS

Since its foundation, EXCELTUR has based its lobbing activities in different research initiatives.

The most important ones are:

MoniTUR: a pioneering and unique international initiative to assess, at a regional scale, the relative competitive position of the 17 Spanish regions.

Objectives of MoniTUR:

  • To provide an objective instrument for the assessment and comparison of the different elements which determine the tourism competitiveness of the seventeen Spanish regions, based on reliable and consistent information which allows the diverse agents involved in the tourism industry to improve their decision-making.

  • To establish inter-regional benchmarks which prioritise advanced, innovative and committed policies encouraging tourism competitiveness.
  • To provide an instrument to assess the evolution of the different regions over time.
  • To become both a national and an international reference model in monitoring regional tourism competitiveness.

 

MoniTUR comprises seven pillars of tourism competitiveness, gathering data in 79 indicators related to: i) sales and marketing, ii) accessibility, iii) environmental factors regarding tourist destinations, iv) the diversification of tourism products, v) education and training, vi) public governance, and vii) the performance of tourism activity.  READ MORE >>

UrbanTUR: A competitive monitor of the 20 most important Spanish urban destinations. Released in May, 2013, UrbanTUR aims at encouraging the best urban policies to reinforce tourism competitiveness in the main Spanish cities, highlighting the best practices in public leadership and tourism governance, urban planning, public spaces cualification, city mobility, city marketing and on-line g communication tools.  READ MORE >>

Business Confidence Survey: Carry out in 2002 to improve the tourist information in Spain and introduce the perspective of the private sector in the analysis of tourist results. More than 2000 responses each quarter, covering different subsectors of the tourism value chain. It provides results for the 17 Spanish regions, analyzing main drivers of the evolution of business in the Tourist Industry: sales, profits, prices, costs, employment.  READ MORE >>

Synthetic Activity Indicator of Spanish Tourism GDP: Designed in 2002 to measure the quarterly Tourist GDP growth and compare its performance vs Spanish Economy. EXCELTUR Tourism GDP indicator anticipates with a low deviation and two years before the results of the Spanish Tourism Satellite Account.  READ MORE >>

Tourism quarterly Barometer: Released 2002, 2nd Quarter, includes an analysis of both the official available data and indicators and the business information generated by Exceltur.

Downloaded by more than 20.000 people from our website. Covered by more than 50 media (Tv, radio, newspapers, etc.)  READ MORE >>

IMPACTUR: The regional socio- economic impact of tourism studies. IMPACTUR Project was launched in 2005 to measure the economic impact of tourism at a regional scale. Each study is developed in cooperation with regional governments, following Tourism Satellite Account Recommendations issued by UNWTO. Nowadays, IMPACTUR is the most recognized tool to measure tourism GDP in Spanish regions, accounting the 9 regions developed in the last years more than 75% of Spanish tourism GDP.  READ MORE >>