Josep Francesc Valls

He is a Professor in ESADE¿s Department of Marketing Management. In 1990, he created the Tourism Management Centre (CEDIT), and was its Director until September 2004. After a professional life devoted the management of newspaper companies, he has spent over twenty years linked to the marketing and tourism industry as a professor, researcher, writer and consultant. As a professor, he teaches price structuring, marketing in general and tourism strategy at ESADE Business School. He is a Visiting Professor at the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, the UCA in Managua and the Altos Estudios Turísticos in Havana. As a researcher, he works in areas related to brands and prices, and is currently in charge of the following projects at ESADE: COMERTUR, on the online commercialisation of tourism, in partnership with Bancotel; ICOB, on Barcelona trade and consumption indicators, in partnership with the Fundació Barcelona Comerç; OCIOTIPOS [Leisure Lifestyles], on an analysis of the European segments, in partnership with the Intelitur (Centre for Knowledge, Intelligence and Innovation in Tourism), created by the Spanish High Council of Chambers of Commerce, and MEVAPLAYA, on the sustainable planning of seaside resorts, funded by Spain¿s Ministry of Science and Innovation. As a writer, he is the author of several books including: Reinventar el negocio para vender más barato Reinventing business to sell it at a lower price; Fenómeno low cost, impacto en el factor precio The low-cost phenomenon, impact on the price factor; Gestión de destinos turísticos sostenibles Management of sustainable tourist destinations; Las claves del mercado turístico Keys to the tourist market and Imagen de marca de los países Countries¿ brand images. He has published a large number of articles in scientific journals, including: ¿Mayor sensibilidad al precio e impacto en la gestión de las marcas¿ Greater price awareness and the impact on brand management; ¿Spanish holiday brands: comparative analysis of ten destinations¿ (Tourism branding: communities in action, Ed. Liping, Gartner & Munar, pp. 118-131, Emerald, 2010); "Tourism expert perceptions for evaluating climate change impacts on the Euro-Mediterranean tourism industry" (Tourism Review, vol. 64. n. 2, 2009), and ¿How non-low cost companies react to the low cost" (Marketing Trends, Paris, 2009). He is a regular contributor to specialised and general publications such as Harvard-Deusto and Expansión, and to prestigious newspapers such as La Vanguardia and El Periódico. As a consultant, he has collaborated with the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX), the Spanish High Council of Chambers of Commerce, the Spanish State Secretariat for Tourism, the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, the Autonomous Government of Andalusia, the Autonomous Government of Extremadura, the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI), the Commission of the Promotion of Peru for Export and Tourism (PromPerú), the National Tourism Institute of Venezuela (INATUR) and the states of NW Brazil. He is Vice-Chairman of the Spanish Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism (AECIT) and a member of its European counterpart, AIEST. He was a member of the jury for the Príncipe de Asturias Tourism Excellence Award (1996), and the Joan Sardà i Dexeus Award (2000) for personal development in the dissemination of economics, granted by the Association of Economists of Catalonia. In 2009, he received the Fundació Barcelona Comerç Award for research into the field of consumption and in favour of urban trade and a sustainable and social city model. He has lectured at ESADE since 1982, been a full-time member of the Faculty since 1990, and a Professor since 1998.