CETT Tourism Policy Dialogue 2026

Daniel Solana has been Director General of Basquetour, the Basque Tourism Agency, since 2020. He has extensive experience in commercial leadership, business management and strategic development across the tourism, food and institutional sectors. He has held senior roles as a Commercial Director, consultant and Director of the Valle Salado de Añana Foundation, and has served as an adviser to the Basque Government. He holds a degree in Geography and History from the University of Deusto and has completed further training in marketing management and executive business management.

José Antonio Donaire Benito (Salamanca, 1968) holds a PhD in Geography from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Tourism at Universitat de Girona. He has served as Director of the Government of Catalonia’s Official School of Tourism, Director of the Institute of Advanced Tourism Studies and Vice-Rector for Communication and Internationalisation at UdG. In public office, he has served as Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Urban Planning in Sant Feliu de Guíxols and as a Member of the Parliament of Catalonia. He is currently Commissioner for Sustainable Tourism Management at Barcelona City Council.

Dr Joan Tugores Ques holds degrees in Law and in Economics and Business Administration, as well as a PhD in Economics, from the University of Barcelona. He has taught in UB’s Department of Economic Theory since 1977 and has held a full professorship in Foundations of Economic Analysis since 1986. He became an Emeritus Professor in 2024.

Throughout his career, he has served as Dean of UB’s Faculty of Economics and Business (1994–1998), Rector of the University of Barcelona (2001–2005) and Director of the UB Chair in Tourism, Hospitality and Gastronomy CETT (2015–2024). He has been a Member of Merit of the Col·legi d’Economistes de Catalunya since 2018.

A specialist in international economics, he has published numerous books and articles in academic journals and in general and specialist media, including La Vanguardia, Expansión and Món Empresarial. His recent publications address industrial policy and economic geopolitics, urban tourism and social media, as well as global imbalances and international cooperation. He has also written books on economic conditions and crises for a general audience.

Dr María Velasco González holds degrees in Law and in Political Science and Public Administration from the Complutense University of Madrid, as well as a PhD in Political Science. She is a lecturer in the university’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration. Her research focuses on political institutions and public policy, with particular attention to tourism policy, governance and the social sustainability of tourism. She has published more than sixty works and has co-directed the research group “Policy Design: Transfer and Innovation”.

From September 2021 to March 2025, she served as an adviser to Spain’s Secretariat of State for Tourism, contributing to the design of strategies and programmes covering tourism experiences, food and wine tourism, social sustainability, heritage and digital skills training. She was also a member of the Board of Directors of Paradores de Turismo from January 2022 to February 2025.

Since March 2025, she has led Research, Development and Innovation at SEGITTUR, with responsibilities for the Smart Tourism Destinations programme, the SICTED programme and the Anfitriones training platform.

PhD in Geography, Territorial Planning and Environmental Management from the University of Barcelona, with a thesis focused on innovation in public management of urban destinations. She is currently a lecturer in tourism policy in the Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism and in Digital Business and Tourism at CETT-UB, where she also coordinates the UB Chair of Tourism, Hospitality, and Gastronomy CETT. 

Her research focuses on tourism governance and public management, coexistence issues, and the ethical implications of policies applied during the pandemic.

Vincent Nijs holds a master’s degree in Sport and Leisure Sciences from KU Leuven and an MBA in Tourism Management from Modul University Vienna. He has more than 25 years of experience in tourism data, insights and strategy, and previously served as Head of Research at VISITFLANDERS.

He is a co-creator of the “Travel to Tomorrow” vision, which focuses on regenerative tourism in Flanders. He is passionate about sharing applied tourism knowledge, teaching and translating tourism business intelligence into operational strategies. He is a former Chair of the European Travel Commission’s Market Intelligence Group and Vice-President of the NECSTouR network.

PhD in Education, Society, and Quality of Life program at the University of Lleida. She is the Research Coordinator at CETT-UB, where she also lectures in the Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism. 

Her research focuses on the intersection of tourism and anthropology, with a special interest in the relationship between projected images of certain tourist typologies on social media and tourists’ behaviors and narratives. She is also an editor of the Tourism & Heritage Journal.