GREAT PIONEERS OF TOURISM IN SPAIN… “visionaries” of service.
GREAT PIONEERS OF TOURISM IN SPAIN… “visionaries” of service.
By José Aleixandre Caballero Consultant Director of Tourism Companies and Businesses.
It’s almost true… or not… that the old days were never better than the present.
What I do think is true… is that we should not ignore that everything has a beginning, and inexorably an end… whether total or partial, for better or for worse…
I would like to allow myself a “luxury”… which after my long life of constant learning I will explain. You can call it “vanity”… to tell you that my working life began on any given day in the month of September (back then we wrote it as Setiembre) in a year that opened the doors to “another world” for me… the world of work, at an early age due to my family’s financial needs… it was in 1957.
That day, knowing nothing of the vast world outside myself… beyond my small family circle, or the classes I received in a Salesian school and the great friendship that bound me to two friends which endured as “brothers” until their recent journey to infinity…
I had no notion or contact with the technological “advances” of the time…. nor of the good and evil that happened in parallel in the world of work, where people fight without truce or compassion… some to survive and others to get rich without principles or limits.
I remember the day… my parents and my younger brother Vicente (whom I will always love beyond comprehension) sitting at lunch at home, when my father tells us that on the floor below where he works they had asked him if he knew a boy to work as a bellboy… errands and tasks in a travel agency… we all fell silent and, of course… I took the hint. Without thinking twice, having understood my father’s “suggestion”, I told him when and where I should show up.
The truth is that as a child I was as innocent as I was ignorant, and I already made up my own stories…. I began to dream… because the word Travel seduced me and thousands of adventures came to mind…
Needless to say, reality was very different… at first my monthly wages were 360 pesetas… (at today’s exchange rate something like €2.10) which seemed fine to me and I was grateful… in the course of a short period of time that Gentleman… “General Manager” decided to sponsor me and took charge of the bills for my evening education until I finished my studies… time made me feel like a grateful being who was being shaped by the wisdom of my first bosses. They took care of my training, they had infinite patience and knew how to give me the opportunities they thought I deserved at crucial moments… It was a great learning experience and in my “training” there was no shortage of satisfactions, displeasures, disappointments and setbacks that I learned to solve thanks to the examples, teachings and advice received in that environment of experienced professionals, who above all “loved” tourism in the highest sense of the expression, with a concept of responsibility that is difficult to describe…
My recognition goes to all the bosses (because they were all my bosses) especially to a “gentleman”, the general manager, for having led me by teaching me “His concept of the right path”…. notice the complexity…. “The right path”…. a concept as philosophical as was his trademark…. important, broad in a world without tourism schools or universities… you know that your future will depend on your training as a person and professional and that your ability to become a permanent good host will depend on your behavior….
That is why my childhood dreams changed with the maturity forged over time by your eagerness and the first blows… that bellboy, who became a clerk and from there assistant to a department head who, while controlling my evolution, never stopped teaching me… nor I from learning. I was always very curious and I learned to listen avidly. I knew that the more knowledge I had, the more job opportunities I would have…[meritorio]
I remember my first “setback” when after receiving a job offer from a competitor with better pay…. not yet having the necessary experience to face the situation… the harshness of my direct boss’s words made me react and analyze: “Pepe he told me…” no one is indispensable”… the decision is yours alone.”
I admit it “hurt” me but it made me wake up…
I was 17 when my direct boss was offered a promotion…. Unexpectedly the General Manager called me to his office: “Pepe… your boss has been promoted to branch director… Do you see yourself as qualified and capable of taking charge of the department???”…. it took me three seconds to understand the question… what he was offering me was an opportunity… (not a promotion) for the supposed knowledge and merits I had to demonstrate… so my answer was: yes sir, I am ready…. for me a new salary, schedules, or days off were not important, there wasn’t even any comment about it. What mattered was “the opportunity” and earning the position, so as not to betray his trust; continuing to learn to grow and advance… I sensed my future and saw what the next step could be… that would be my new challenge, to be ready for a new opportunity if it came…
You can’t imagine how hard the next two weeks were in my new position… my intuition made me think, analyze and plan the logical method of organization. From the first minute I was aware that I was only partially knowledgeable about that organization and the responsibilities it entailed… I didn’t hesitate… I spent many days and long nights examining each of the more than 230 files of circuits or group trips that were open to know their content and progress… what was missing in each of them to complete it… bearing in mind that each file corresponded to a circuit around Spain of 14 nights… reservations, preparation of payment vouchers for hotels and services en route, calculating mileage and travel times… etc. (at that time to measure distances and times between cities and intermediate stops… it was done manually on large maps printed by Michelin) restaurants en route, tour guides, visits, tickets, porters, coaches…
Etc. etc….. remember that the means of communication “were letters by postal mail” and in case of urgency… telegrams or long-distance phone calls that you had to request from the communications center and could take hours of delay even days to get connected…
Once again, the supervision carried out with constant subtle delicacy helped me to totally master the department, being aware of every move within fifteen days…
You feel the security that your knowledge gives you for control, and the support of your superior…. you realize that the general manager no longer calls you every day or every two or three days…. you are the one who calls him only for issues of budgets and policies to follow…
I had obtained his approval and trust…
Time went by including my military service, my progress in terms of work organization and problem solving, attention to clients inherent to the department and profits obtained… must have been satisfactory for that great man, who besides paying for my evening studies taught me to grow and evolve; within parameters based on humility, humanity, respect, tolerance, perseverance and work…. yes… yes… work I remember fondly a day he came to see me… it was 7:00 PM (the end of the workday) and that day my future wife was waiting for me as she left work… I was leaving and I bumped into him…. (now I laugh) Where are you going Pepe… Well Sir… it’s time to leave and I’m going to meet my fiancée…
Pepe he asked me what do you aspire to be in this company??? Well Mr. Pedro… I want to become a director!!!
Well Pepe… you’re on the wrong path to achieve that!!!…. In this business customers have no schedule and your job is 24 hours…. At that moment I bit my tongue… but I thought he was little less than crazy… no way…. 24 hours!! You know something… I myself have lost count of how many times I’ve agreed with him and still agree with him.
One fine day in June 1967 I showed up in his office and told him Mr. Pedro in January I’m getting married…. I would like to invite you and your wife to my wedding… It would make us very happy to have you there for all you have done for me since I started as a boy working under your direction…. A few days later he confirmed his attendance.
In one of the usual calls to his office in November 1967, months before my wedding…. surprise… again the question…. do you see yourself prepared and capable of taking over the Management of the Branch in….. Yes sir!!!
It wasn’t just my story, it was that of hundreds of tourism professionals!!! People who understood and conceived this business under a prism of concepts based on human values… hosts welcoming guests…. we did a lot and we are nobody; the protagonist is the client, we are only architects of a legacy that made the country and this business prosper through our philosophical dedication and work….
Without essence there is no perfume…. Tourism is human. It involves passion, dedication, and knowledge… it is a career like any other…..
José Aleixandre Caballero. By profession “permanent apprentice”.
