Gabriel Escarrer Juliá

Gabriel Escarrer Juliá was 21 years old when he founded what is now Meliá Hotels International in 1956, operating a 60-room hotel on the island of Majorca, the place where he was born and where the company still has its headquarters. Under his management, the Company first established its leadership in Spain, the cradle of leisure travel in Europe, before later extending it to the Caribbean and Southeast Asia. Over the years, Escarrer formed strategic alliances that strengthened the Company’s positioning and allowed it to expand into city destinations in Spain, Europe, Asia and America. This vision has earned him recognition as one of the driving forces behind the globalisation of Spanish businesses and one of the great figures of the international tourism industry.