The OHL Group takes part in the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)

The OHL Group has participated in the XV World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) held between 15-16 April in Madrid. This summit is the most relevant annual event in the world tourist sector and, for the first time in eight years, is being held in Europe. The aim of the meeting was to generate awareness of the relevance of tourism as agent for both growth and development, and has gathered top-rank personalities. José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission between 2004 and 2014, and Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (WTO), were present at the act, which was also attended by Isabel Borrego, Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Botella, Mayoress of Madrid, and reference entrepreneurs in Spain.

Andrés Pan de Soraluce, Chairman of OHL Desarrollos, along with Simón Pedro Barceló, Co-Chairman of the Barceló Group; José Luis Bonet, Chairman of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum; Luis Gallego, CEO of Iberia; and Alberto Durán, Chairman of Ilunion and Vice-Chairman of the ONCE Foundation; took part on 16 April in the panel discussion entitled Linking Spain with the World, focusing on analyzing challenges and future opportunities in the tourist sector, and the gradually increasing importance of the city of Madrid as a worldwide tourist destination.

During his speech, Andrés Pan de Soraluce referred to the project being developed by the Villar Mir Group, through its subsidiaries Inmobiliaria Espacio and OHL, Centro Canalejas Madrid, involving the rehabilitation of a set of seven adjacent buildings between the streets of Alcalá, Sevilla, Plaza de Canalejas and Carrera de San Jerónimo, in Madrid, for residential, hotel and shopping use.

During his speech, the Chairman of OHL Desarrollos highlighted that 500 million euros will be invested in this project, generating huge profit for the region and city of Madrid. The benefits for Madrid will include establishing the first hotel of the U.S. Four Seasons group in Spain -considered the most prestigious hotel chain in the world- which will reinforce the capital city’s position as the seat of leading international events. Furthermore, he highlighted that Madrid’s job market will be reactivated as a result, given that Centro Canalejas Madrid will generate 4,800 jobs, of which 1,800 will be covered by the construction phase and 3,000 will consist of direct and indirect permanent jobs linked to the exploitation of the various facilities programmed.

Unique projects

The OHL Group, through its development division, currently has three large unique projects related to the luxury tourist/hotel and leisure sector. In addition to Centro Canalejas Madrid, it has promoted the Mayakoba tourist project in Riviera Maya (Mexico), a paradigm of the balance between tourist development and environmental friendliness and the Old War Office project, involving the restoration and renovation of the emblematic War Office in London, where there are plans to develop a five-star hotel and luxury apartments.

From left to right: Andrés Pan de Soraluce, Alberto Durán, José Luis Bonet, Simón Pedro Barceló, Luis Gallego and Anne Igartiburu, television presenter and moderator of the discussion panel.