Gabriel Escarrer, President and Founder of Meliá:
"I remember the golden age of Magaluf with nostalgia, and the quality tourism we had that is fortunately now coming back. It was a wonderful time and something I hope will be repeated"
“What makes me most happy is that you are all proud to work for Meliá. I am glad to see that for many of you, Meliá has also become a part of your life project"
“Palmanova and Magaluf welcomed workers from all over Spain, and tourism helped you find work, raise a family and find prosperity and a future here"
"People pass on, but our work, our affection and memory endure."
More than 800 people gathered this morning in the gardens at the Meliá Calvià Beach and Meliá South Beach hotels in Magaluf, two great examples of the spectacular transformation of the area supported by the founder and Non-Executive President of Meliá Hotels International, Gabriel Escarrer Juliá.
Palmanova and Magaluf saw the first boom in Spanish tourism in the 1970s, and this morning hosted the unanimous recognition of the travel community (workers, residents, business and other organisations, as well as other travel entrepreneurs) of the career of Gabriel 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.
The event was attended by the Mayor of Calvià and leading tourism authorities in the Balearic Islands and Mallorca, as well as the General Secretaries of the Service Federations of the UGT and Comisiones Obreras trade unions.
Initially suggested by one of the members of staff in a Meliá hotel, the event was supported by the City Council, the main trade unions, hotel and business associations, taxi drivers and other professionals in the area, as well as by 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.
Repositioning project
The honour for Escarrer is also in recognition of the important commitment made by his company 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 euros 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% of its hotel beds are in the 4 and 5-star categories, well above the average for Mallorca and Spain. As the 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".
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. Escarrer was proud to have managed to turn around hotel results, improve customer segmentation, and even attract the important Groups and Conventions segment. He also highlighted, however, the persistence of certain challenges, such as the problem of the conflictive Punta Ballena area, asking the Mayor to lead the process of creating a road map to finalise the elimination of certain problems that continue to tarnish the reputation of this beautiful holiday destination from time to time.
“One of the happiest days of my life"
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 a large part of the 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.
The president of Meliá was overcome by emotion on several occasions, expressing how proud he was to be the President of the hundreds of employees who attended the event. He gave special thanks to the company employee who proposed the event with the support of trade unions, particularly for having demonstrated his ability to reach “important agreements through dialogue".
Despite many sleepless nights, he recalled that he has never failed to pay his employees on time, because “the most important thing is to never disappoint those people who trust you, whether they are employees, customers or banks".
Escarrer ended his speech by thanking everybody for the honour, and especially the representatives of local authorities for having attended, recalling with emotion that "people pass on, but our work, our affection and memory endure."
