Rafael García Garrido has been CEO of Nautalia Viajes since September 2015. Since then, the executive has been able to turn the business around and make it profitable.
Once you have exceeded 400 million billing, what is your goal for this year?
Grow double digit. The normal thing would be to stay at 440 or 450 million. That would be the goal. Now let's see if we get it but for five years we are making it. This year we have grown 19%. We will consolidate the businesses we already have and open new ones. The holiday part we have very consolidated like events, where we are one of the three most important, and then we have services to companies where we have a lot of travel.
Have you won a business contract recently?
We keep the two most important accounts in Spain. The Ministry of Defense and the Interior Ministry are very important. We have a team of 70 people dedicated to these ministries.
“We set up Nautalia Live and it has paid off with the organization of the Vive Latino Festival”
How are they positioned in the Ibex companies?
There we are starting. We only have five years. At the local level we are strong but now we have everything to go. The part of Bussiness Travel in Nautalia has the most travel.
How do you see the merger of Aboris with Globalia?
I see it as an opportunity. Now we are the third player but I think that besides where they do not arrive, we will do it. It can be an opportunity in the franchise side as in the own or people. They will have to look for economies of scale and I see it as good for the sector and a good decision on their part. This is a volume business, therefore, with more volume if you contain the expenses, it is better for you and that is where you will make the efforts.
How have you managed to turn the business around?
We bet on diversification. We set up Nautalia Live and the truth is that this year has paid off with the organization of the Vive Latino Festival that will be in Zaragoza on September 11 and 12. We hope to get 100,000 people if everything goes well. We believe that we will achieve it because we went on sale on December 18, we have already sold 32,000 tickets and there are still nine months left. In a festival the important sale takes place a month before. We are very excited. We have a brutal poster. The Festival has been in Mexico for 20 years and they put 190,000 people there. It is the first time it has been done in Europe. We have chosen Zaragoza because it is a well positioned city for people from Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia to attend and because they have been without a great musical event for many years and the Expo venue is wonderful. I wish Madrid had it! Here we have to go to Ifema, in the middle of nowhere, while the Expo is in the center of the city.
“A travel agency has many possibilities to do more things than the trip”
Will it be one of the biggest?
In attendance will be one of the largest in Spain because we also have a poster. It is an important part in which we will continue to grow doing other festivals as well as the promotion of some international tour that occurs in summer and another project that we have in hand that has to do with diversification for next year. In the end a travel agency has many possibilities to do more things that are not purely the trip, even if they feed it and make us much better known.
Looking for a young profile?
One of the great challenges that agencies have is to attract young people. Today it is unthinkable that a young man goes to a travel agency because he gets on the internet and does it and what better way to approach the world of music. I think we can get it right there.
“We have a department that makes golf trips, another that makes trips to sporting events …”
And other routes such as gastronomic or adventure travel?
We have everything but the more specialization you have, the better. We have a department that makes golf trips, another that makes trips to sporting events. In the end people seek service and that is given via specialization even if you are a general agency. Nautalia has been 10 years now and we are very happy with how he has turned in the last five years of being an agency that was losing a lot of money to being a profitable agency.
Is Las Ventas Bullring more profitable for concerts than for bulls?
Not yet. But it is an important part. We have the greenhouse, where we have done more than 60 shows this year but the whole ring cannot be used yet but it is a fundamental part. There is also a need for diversification, you cannot live alone from a business. In the bullring we depend a lot on time. Years like the past were great and two 34 years ago it rained 25. The final push is multiplied and 70,000 fewer people. for the time
Are they going to go for more places?
This year Malaga comes out and we are very interested. We want to grow in this area.
Do you see a problem for bulls the animal protection law that we want?
I read that they want to take away our subsidies. That all subsidies are taken away because there is none. This country and this Government has a lot of problems before this but it is true that this sounds a lot.