The Council of Ministers grants, at the proposal of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, the Medals and Plaques of Tourist Merit

• The chef Martín Berasategui has been awarded the Medal of Tourist Merit for Promotion.
• The Medal of Tourist Merit for Innovation has gone to Abel Matutes Prats for the reconversion of the Ushuaia Beach Hotel and the revitalization of Playa d'en Bossa in Ibiza.
• Alejandro del Castillo y Bravo de Laguna, Medal of Tourist Merit for the extraordinary services provided to Tourism, is the architect of the strategic plan to convert “Maspalomas, Costa Canaria” into a leisure and rest destination.
• The Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism awards five types of Medals and two Plaques of Tourist Merit.

08.11.2012 The Council of Ministers has approved today, at the proposal of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, the granting of the Medals and Plaques of Tourist Merit whose objective is to distinguish those people, institutions, companies or destinations that, in a notable and extraordinary way, have contributed to the development, promotion and promotion of tourism.

The Medal of Tourist Merit for Innovation has gone to Abel Matutes Prats, executive vice president of Empresas Matutes and General Director of Fiesta Hotel Group, who has demonstrated, with the reconversion of the Ushuaia Beach Hotel, his capacity for innovation after becoming reference for the transformation and revitalization of Playa d'en Bossa (Ibiza).

The chef Martín Berasategui will receive the Medal of Tourist Merit for Promotion. Berasategui is the Spanish chef with the most Michelin stars (seven in total). His career took off in 1993 when he opened his restaurant in Lasarte, obtaining his first Michelin star in one year, and the second three years later.

Miguel Ángel Fernández Torán, president of the Balnearios de Montaña Group, formed by the spas of Cofrentes and Chulilla in Valencia, Montanejos and Benassal in Castellón, and Baños de Montemayor in Valencia, has been awarded the Medal for Tourism Merit in Sustainability and Quality. Caceres. The Valencian businessman has tenaciously opted for quality and innovation as business strategies.

The Medal of Tourism Merit for Internationalization has been awarded to Eugenio de Quesada and Carlos Ortiz (ex aequo) for having jointly created the Ibero-American Conference of Ministers and Entrepreneurs of Tourism (CIMET), an effective instrument for the internationalization of companies Spanish tourism in Latin America.

Alejandro del Castillo y Bravo de Laguna, Count of Vega Grande de Guadalupe, has been awarded the Medal of Tourist Merit for extraordinary services provided to tourism. In 1961 he convened the international ideas competition “Maspalomas, Costa Canaria” whose result was a strategic plan to convert those sandy beaches into a leisure and rest destination for millions of Europeans.

Plaques of Tourist Merit

The Plaque of Tourist Merit for public-private collaboration for the modernization of mature destinations will go to Meliá Hotels International for the Calviá Beach Resort project in Mallorca, an innovative accommodation and leisure offer, which has allowed the repositioning of an offer through the contribution of differential added value.

Finally, the Autonomous Community of Extremadura will receive the Tourist Merit Plaque in emerging destinations thanks to the tourism development models it has been using and for knowing how to channel the promotion of its natural resources based on its monumental assets, enhancing its destination image well known in national circuits and emerging destination in international ones