Sònia Serracarbassa

Sònia Serracarbassa heads the Catalunya Convention Bureau, the Catalan Tourism Agency's programme designed to promote and attract congresses, meetings and professional events in Catalonia. She has been responsible for the creation of the Catalunya Convention Bureau, a programme that has been running for 11 years.

With over 20 years of experience in the public and private tourism sector, Sònia has worked in different sub-sectors of the industry. Her professional experience includes destination marketing, market research, new project and business development, product creation, quality plans and tourism policy. In addition to her current position at the Catalunya Convention Bureau / Catalan Tourism Agency, she stands out in her professional career for:

• Head Office of Youth Tourism of Catalonia, reporting to the Ministry of the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya (the government of Catalonia), managing all political programmes oriented towards young people, the network of youth hostels in Catalonia, and the youth card, among other areas of action.
• Consulting work, in multinationals such as Arthur Andersen and Deloitte, and the French consulting firm AGC Consultants. Throughout her 8 years of consultancy, she specialised in projects for the tourism sector, both public and private, and for public administrations.
• The creation and management of the territorial public entity for the promotion of Turisme del Vallés Oriental.

At an academic level, she has completed courses and Masters in business management, tourism and strategic marketing. She has a diploma in Tourism, and has completed:

• InDigital Digital Marketing Programme, at ESADE
• PDD Executive Development Programme, at IESE
• Master's Degree in Business Management, at Pompeu Fabra University
• Master in European Tourism Management, between the University of Savoie in France and Bourthmout University in England, oriented towards the development of projects and tourism promotion and business policies.

Today, in her role as director of the Catalunya Convention Bureau, besides defining the MICE strategy for Catalonia and its management, she actively participates in conferences, events and different international MICE associations (ICCA, ECM, MPI, PCMA); she is a member of the Strategic Alliance of National Convention Bureaus in Europe; and she teaches at universities on MICE and its planning in destinations.