José Luis Zoreda is a Spanish citizen graduated in Economics from the University of Barcelona, Spain (1972) and holds an MBA degree from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain (1975) as well as a PMD (Program for Management Development) from the Harvard Business School in Boston – USA (1992).
Since 2001, José Luis Zoreda is the CEO of EXCELTUR, the Spanish Alliance for Tourism Excellence, a 14-year-old lobby formed by the 24 most relevant Spanish tourism companies from various sub sectors of the industry (airlines, hotels, travel agencies, TTOO, Rent-a-car, credit cards, etc.) with an operational presence in over 175 countries, representing at the end of 2014 an aggregated turnover of more than 30 billion Euros, and a global workforce of over 220.000 employees.The turnover of EXCELTUR’s members approximately represents a 4% of Spain’s GDP.
The basic aims and objectives of EXCELTUR are to enhance the socio-economic perception and recognition of tourism as the most relevant sector of the Spanish economy, and to foster in close cooperation with the public sector authorities, the best conditions for the Spanish tourism industry to prosper and improve its long term competitiveness.
Before setting up EXCELTUR, Mr. Zoreda was involved from 1997-2001 with the World Tourism Organization, where he created and served as the first Chief Executive Officer of the then called “ World Tourism Organization Business Council: WTOBC “. Prior to joining WTO, and for twelve years, he formed part of the Board of Directors and was a special Advisor to the Chairman of Meliá Hotels International.
He is also frequently invited to lecture on a variety of tourism issues, which has taken him as speaker to forums and events in more than 45 countries worldwide.
