Dear Friend, 

Tourism closes 2015 in a privileged position in many countries like Spain, with its principal macroeconomic indicators confirming the leadership and key contribution of the sector to the growth of the economy and creation of employment. Besides that strength of the sector, which has also facilitated the recent and gradual recovery of revenue and business margins strongly damaged by the crisis, it should not be obviated that in large part the recent years have been favoured by an appreciable “tailwind” attributable to exogenous and unexpected factors.

The undesired instability in the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa, together with the situation in their minimum values of two macroeconomic variables which are determinant for the sector- the exchange rate of the euro against the dollar and the pound, together with the price of oil- have impelled the influx of tourists towards southern Europe destinations like Spain. Although its results have been at maximum levels in recent years, these external factors may be reverted in the near future, given the  existing volatility and uncertainties of a geopolitical scenario, which could condition the current competitive position of their tourist sector.

All this coincides in Spain with the start of a new central government legislature 2016-2019, which should observe a reinforced priority for a key sector, also marked by the intense changes provoked by the accelerated empowerment of tourists who are increasingly demanding, informed and connected online. That is to say, with more creative and coordinated institutional policies at country level, favouring the reinvestment and continuous adaptation of both a more personalised marketing and the most competitive business models resulting from the obligatory digitalisation of the sector, with the prerogatives which this brings to the tourist.

In this context, the year 2016 will face new political, institutional, social and technological challenges to guarantee a sustainable growth of those more socially and economically more profitable tourist flows. This will require a more committed and innovative public-private management, diversifying a supply and demand, which helps to moderate seasonality and is more focused on achieving the greatest benefits for all parties. 

This scenario will facilitate the advance towards new differential and more experiential tourist positionings, which will favour the creation of greater and better employment and a higher tourist spillover in Spanish destinations, generating wider knock-on effects on its socio-business fabric. This will bring in turn greater understanding, coexistence and empathy of its citizens and local societies towards the tourist sector.

Encouraged by these objectives, EXCELTUR is holding the VIII Tourism Leadership Forum, conscious that with a solid bet for innovation and digitalisation, with a vision more widely shared between all the public and private actors, we shall successfully overcome the increasing competitive challenges posed by the global tourism horizon. That is the spirit which once more guides the program, which will count on the participation of leading figures from the Government and State and the intervention of top national and international leaders from public administrations and business who, in the diverse panels, will reveal their experiences in this respect.