Pedro Saura García: "Paradores offers its visitors enriching, personal and cultural experiences"

In the special programme broadcast by Atalayar from the International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR), in collaboration with Europea Media, Aviación Digital and the International Press Club, we had the presence of Pedro Saura García, president of Paradores, who analysed in depth the history of the Spanish public company throughout its 25 years of history. Likewise, the president of Paradores emphasised the fact that this is the year of the consolidation of the recovery of tourism. Finally, Saura encouraged all tourists who so desire to live one of the most enriching experiences offered by Spanish tourism, which allows them to disconnect and learn about the country's history and geography. 

What does Paradores expect from FITUR, and what are the main objectives?

What we at Paradores want to show the world here at FITUR is mainly three things: firstly, we want to talk about cultural heritage in the broadest sense, architectural heritage, gastronomic heritage, natural heritage, in short, all that heritage but updated with a more contemporary vision; secondly, sustainability, Paradores has stood for sustainability since its foundation, as the vast majority of Paradores, or a significant part of them, are in very sustainable environments from the point of view of biodiversity; thirdly, we want to show the history of Paradores, I would say of love, with 1.2 million Spaniards who are the friends of Paradores, a history that is now 25 years old, that would be the third axis that we want to show to the world. 

From the space that this interview offers, we encourage everyone to enter the Paradores website and become "Friends of Paradores", as they offer a series of advantages when it comes to enjoying truly modern facilities. 

Perfect, so we take this opportunity to encourage everyone to do so.

Moreover, Paradores combines the historic with very modern services. 

Without any doubt, we have 97 Paradores in Spain and 1 in Portugal, 98 in total, we are currently working on 3 more and we really have everything. There is history in the broadest sense of the word, but we also have sea, golf, nature, etc. We are a network that extends throughout the national territory and of which Spaniards are very proud and I insist that it combines different types of tourism, historical tourism is probably the most important, but there are more types of tourism. 

How does Paradores see the recovery?

The second half of last year was historic, the best summer in the entire history of Paradores and what we see after Omicron and these weeks of doubts due to the pandemic, given that the Spanish population has been vaccinated en masse, is a daily improvement and we are optimistic. We are very hopeful and we believe that this is the year of the consolidation of the recovery of tourism and FITUR is going to be very important for that recovery. 

Do you have a Parador that is your favourite?

It puts me in a confrontation, logically as president of Paradores, for me, each of the 98 Paradors are like my children. 

It is true that we should make a programme to visit each of the Paradors that exist throughout Spain...

Indeed, to mention just a few, the Agua Brava in Girona has been completely refurbished, in Galicia, where there is a lot of heritage, the Musía has recently been put into operation and it is a new parador that is on the sea. The one in Cádiz has recently been remodelled, in Úbeda there is a parador that is in an idyllic setting, which has a spectacular flavour, it makes my skin crawl when I talk about these paradors.

Moreover, in recent years, Paradores has managed to introduce all those demands that its consumers had. Nowadays it seems that in a hotel, wifi is more important than the bed.

The bed is very important, and the beds in Paradores are magnificent. Currently, there are 31 Paradors that can be visited with a pet, that is, we want to extend to the entire network that visitors who decide to come to Paradores can do so in the company of their pets, I say this in relation to what we were talking about updating our services to the demands of customers. 

Paradores offers its clients a series of really interesting offers, at different times of the year, weekends, etc.

Indeed, at every time of the year we have offers, the friends of Paradores always have a plus of improvement, because they are people who love our network and my personal advice to visitors is to take advantage of the network offered by Paradores and go to the different Paradores that we have throughout the peninsula. We do not offer rooms at Paradores, what we offer is an experience. 

Another fundamental point is the top quality gastronomy offered at Paradores.

Of course, it is also very much in keeping with the environment. 

I consider this to be something very much our own.

Indeed, a public, Spanish company, of which Spaniards are proud, and the Paradores brand is a national benchmark, and this is one of the great things about this company, together with the team behind it, of course. The brand is identified with living experiences and doing so with the highest quality service. We also like to have a very close and personalised service for each client. 

To sum up, what would you say to the Spanish people and why should they book at a Parador?

Thank you very much for the opportunity, fundamentally because we are going to offer you the possibility of a rest and experiences that will allow you to disconnect from your daily life, in a culturally and personally enriching way. We are not just offering you a bed, we are going to offer you experiences that allow you to disconnect and learn about the history and geography of Spain. 

Link to the Paradores website