For more than a year, professionals of great renown within the tourism, culture, gastronomy, and heritage industries have come together to create IBEA: the Iberoamerican Association for the Diffusion of Culture and Tourism.
The association’s board of directors is composed of Rafael Ansón Oliart as Honorific President, Charo Trabado as President, and José Carlos de Santiago as Vice-President.
All of them are professionals with extensive backgrounds and recognition within their respective disciplines. Mr. Ansón Oliart contributes his knowledge in the management of gastronomic and heritage projects; Mrs. Trabado provides her experience in the organization of international B2B trade fairs and events, and Mr. Santiago his expertise in Iberoamerican communication.
Year after year, many professionals within the culture, art, gastronomy, and tourism sectors fail to see their projects carried out due to lack of resources or support. Thus, initiatives that seek to restore, care for, or bring to light to Iberoamerican heritage are abandoned, or unfortunately, lose traction.
The catering, tourism, and culture sectors, despite this neglect, continue to work to the best of their abilities. Since March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and disrupted the routine and livelihood of everyone around the world, these sectors have contributed their time and effort within their communities.
The best chefs of each country made themselves available, lending their hands across kitchens and stoves. Museums and galleries brought art to confined homes through free visits of their collections. Destinations and tour operators collaborated on route plans for eventual reopening. Even then, the lack of resources and support for these sectors is expected to be more severe than ever.
At IBEA we refuse to believe that culture, art, gastronomy, and tourism will once again be relegated to an afterthought in budgets, promotional plans, and development. IBEA’s raison d’etre is the promotion, development, and international diffusion of culture, heritage, and Iberoamerican gastronomy, as well as facilitating, supporting, and developing synergies within Iberoamerica.
This promotion and advancement will focus on the globalization of each countries’ attractions, fostering tourism, gastronomy, and heritage through new mobility, governed by the principles of ecology, digitization, and equity.
To this end, IBEA proposes to facilitate the creation of synergies between all actors, both public and private, involved in Iberoamerican heritage, gastronomy, art, culture, and tourism. To develop twinning ties between the varied nations and peoples of Iberoamerica, supporting projects aimed at the conservation of the cultural and gastronomic heritage of Iberoamerica.
Likewise, to act as counsel to countries and destinations that wish to declare, promote, and disseminate their cultural and tourism values by promoting good practices.
