Escarrer and Sánchez were both taking part in the Exceltur Tourism Leadership Forum in Madrid, which is typically held the day before the opening of the Fitur tourism fair. The Meliá CEO asked the prime minister to reflect on planned economic policy, telling Sánchez that removing elements of flexibility from a seasonal industry, which is intensive in terms of employment of personnel with low qualifications, will affect jobs.
The prime minister heard that social advance has to be feasible and sustainable. Escarrer highlighted the fact that there have been "notable increases" in salaries because of collective bargaining agreements. These show that the tourism industry has been achieving advances in both labour and social terms, but Escarrer warned the prime minister about policies which could have a negative impact on employment at a time when the general economy is slowing down and the tourism economy is in particular.
Escarrer accepted that businesses in the tourism sector have a responsibility for transforming models of tourism in order to attain greater social and economic profitability.
He moved on to identify the major themes under consideration at the forum. These were commitments to sustainability, responsible tourism, innovation and digital transformation.
He stressed that there cannot be tourism competition simply on price and that indicators of tourism success should not merely be about the number of tourists or the level of spending; these indicators are too "simplistic". There must be greater corporate social responsibility and an adherence to the principal components of technological and digital change.
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If I read the 2018 Annual Report correctly the net profit for this company was ONLY 140 million euros so we must appreciate that the minimum wage must not be increased,keep the lowest workers in their place to enable larger dividends for shareholders and larger bonuses for the bosses. Think I will use a different hotel chain
Maybe he can kick in a little of his obscene salary and profit share to help those that he only gives short term badly paid contracts to? No workers = no guests = no hotels = no obscene salaries for hotel CEO's...
Might he also be concerned that the huge profits hotels make and the obscene salaries paid to their owners will diminish; and that he will have to exist on an income still hundreds of times more than his hotel workers receive?