The steady increase in the number of tourists visiting Spain from the Middle East and the increasing air connections have together brought Miguel Nieto Sandoval to the UAE.
Appointed as the director of the Spanish Tourism Office for the GCC region, Nieto Sandoval is no stranger to promoting Spain around the world. With 21 years of his life dedicated to the Spanish National Tourism Organisation, he tackled the tourism office in Singapore back in 1999, overseeing South East Asia and Australia, among other giant markets.
In 2004, he was appointed as director in México. And in 2009, he was assigned the task of setting up an office in India, where he introduced Spain through the Bollywood movie ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’, which grossed $24 million worldwide.
In an exclusive interview with TTN, he explains that Spain has cosmopolitan cities, great sport events, a good shopping offer, nice weather, breath-taking landscapes, beautiful coastlines, a rich history … and a vibrant and friendly atmosphere.
The Spanish Tourism Board will focus on running campaigns to the general public in order to increase awareness and for the tourism industry it will focus in increasing the knowledge about the destination.
“I have been here just about two months,” he says, “and my first exercise is to learn the market and gain insights.”
For starters, the tourist board is going to promote areas that are popular in the region, for instance, Madrid, Barcelona and Costa del Sol, explains the tourism veteran.
But when people from the Middle East travel there, they just go to the cities. The first challenge that he has set for himself is to widen the lure of travel outside these cities and promote the whole region: Cordoba, Granada, Seville and so on and so forth.