The Board of Directors of Paradores de Turismo, in its session held this morning, has appointed Pedro Saura as the company’s new president-CEO, replacing Óscar López.
In his first words after his appointment, Pedro Saura assured that he arrives at Paradores with great enthusiasm and “wanting to capitalize on its great strengths to meet the challenges of making it a leader in sustainable tourism, deepen energy sustainability and achieve its complete digitization” . It has also ensured that it wants to continue consolidating the Paradores brand and continue to lead in the implementation of security protocols for its customers and employees.
Today the occupancy figures in Paradores during the month of July have also been known, which exceed 78%, being the best recorded data in the entire history of the hotel chain this month.
In fact, 25 Paradores have reached 90% occupancy during this month: Aiguablava, Alcañiz, Baiona, Benavente, Benicarló, Bielsa, Cádiz, Cambados, Cangas de Onís, Chinchón, Costa da Morte, El Saler, Ferrol, Gijón, Jarandilla , Jávea, Mazagón, Mojácar, Monforte, Nerja, Puebla de Sanbria, Ribadeo, Santo Estevo, Tui and Verín.
Paradores is on the way to repeating the success obtained in the last summer campaigns, if the situation of the pandemic does not force new restrictive measures to be taken. The public hotel chain faces the season with record occupancy forecasts. In 2020, the months of July and August closed with an average occupancy of 77.15% and 79.82% in 2019, so the 2021 summer season is expected to exceed those figures.
Pedro Saura, president-CEO of Paradores de Turismo
Pedro Saura García (Torre Pacheco, Murcia, 1962) has served as Secretary of State for Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda of the Ministry of Public Works since June 2018.
Previously, he has been a deputy of the Socialist Group in the last four legislatures, in which, in addition, he held the position of spokesperson for his training in the Economy, Finance and Budgets commissions of Congress and also in the Regional Assembly of Murcia.
Pedro Saura is a doctor in Economics and professor of Fundamentals of Economic Analysis at the University of Murcia. In his extensive professional career, he has also held the positions of General Director of Economy and Planning and Sector Secretary of Economy and Finance in the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, in addition to occupying the direction of the public company SEPES belonging to the Ministry of Development.
Spaniards trust Paradores
Paradores has been the first large hotel chain in Spain to be certified with the Safe Tourism Certified seal granted by the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality for complying with the maximum hygienic-sanitary guarantees and that turns the 98 paradores into safe spaces for customers and employees.
Paradores was the only large Spanish hotel chain that reopened all its establishments after the de-escalation last year. The public company has always been a benchmark in terms of quality and reliability and, now more than ever, it has taken the cleaning and disinfection measures to extremes in all its establishments. The fact that most of its establishments are located in remote places, far from mass tourism, as well as the size of its hotels, almost all medium or small, facilitates the rigorous implementation of safety and hygiene controls to make them the place safer tourist.
In a year marked by the drop in foreign tourism and mobility restrictions in our country, Spaniards trust Paradores. The hotel chain has been recognized as the brand with the highest reputation in Spain in 2020 and the hotel with the best reputation in the world, being the only Spanish company that enters the “top” of the 10 international brands with the highest reputation, according to Brand Finance, a firm independent international brand valuation and strategy.
The trust and support of national customers in Paradores is reflected in the fact that it is the brand most recommended by those who consume it, according to the V Report on the Maturity Status of the Customer Experience in Spain, prepared by the Association for the Development of the Experience of Client (DEC) and the strategic consultancy Bain & Company. The Paradores product / service exceeds the expectations of its customers and maintains an above-average emotional bond with them.