The global meetings industry has some truly inspirational leaders and one of those is recently retired, Pere Duran…

Leaving the industry on a high, deserving winner of the EIBTM 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award, Pere had spent 14 years at the helm of one of the world’s leading Tourist Board’s and most successful Convention Bureau’s – Barcelona! Here, we take a look at his coveted career in the MICE business.

Pere’s involvement in the tourism sector goes back as far as 1980 where he worked for four years in leading travel agencies specialising in congresses and incentive travel and at the end of 1984 was where his affair with Barcelona’s tourism promotion began – joining Barcelona Tourist Board and in 1986, he became manager of the established Barcelona Convention Bureau.

Pere was manager of the “Patronato de Turismo de Barcelona” from 1988 where he played an active role in delivering the memorable 1992 Summer Olympic Games until its dissolution in 1993. In 1994, he was appointed manager of the “Consorcio de Turismo de Barcelona and in July 2000, appointed General Manager of Tourism de Barcelona, a position he held until July 2014.

Over the last 30 years, Pere drove extraordinary growth in the city of Barcelona both through business and leisure tourism, and with his team, has driven the city to the very top of international league tables covering both markets, particularly meetings, where Barcelona sits proudly at the very top of the world’s most important and favored city destinations.

As you might imagine, Père has held many elected positions during his time in office, including President of the European Federation of Conference Towns and Founder of the Delice World Network of Gastronomic Cities.

It was also through his leadership and his team’s dedication that Barcelona secured the Mobile World Congress for the city in 2006, making Barcelona the world capital for mobile technology.

Pere can be seen as an inspiration to anyone working in the meetings and events industry and we just wanted to take a moment to thank him for his truly valuable contribution.