- The 21st edition of the Excelencias Awards will be held on 21 January 2026 at FITUR, Madrid.
- Projects from 30 countries have participated.
- The awards recognise the best in tourism and gastronomy.
The Excelencias Awards will be held, as is tradition, within the framework of FITUR, on 21 January 2026, at 5 p.m. in the south auditorium of IFEMA, once again turning Madrid into the epicentre where tourism and gastronomy come together to recognise those who are setting the course for the sector.
This year, the awards come with a statistic that speaks for itself: projects from 30 countries have been received to compete in this edition, a figure that confirms the increasingly international, diverse and strategic nature of awards that, since 2005, have recognised those who understand excellence as a way of working and projecting identity, culture and development.
The Excelencias Awards are divided into two broad categories that reflect the major industries of happiness. On the one hand, the Tourism Excellence Awards, linked to the magazine Excelencias Turísticas, recognise destinations, projects and entities that promote tourism as an economic, social and territorial driver, with a special focus on the Caribbean and the Americas. On the other hand, the Excelencias Gourmet Awards, linked to Excelencias Gourmet, which since 2006 have been promoting Ibero-American gastronomy not only as cuisine, but also as a product, territory, culture, people and know-how.
Alongside them, the Gourmet Personality Awards recognise careers that have left their mark in key areas such as cooking, front-of-house, wine, pastry, cocktail making and gastronomic communication, because excellence is not a single moment in time, but a way of understanding the whole experience.
The international dimension of this edition is also reinforced by the Caribbean News Digital Award, presented by Grupo Excelencias’ professional tourism newspaper, published in five languages and an informative reference for the Caribbean and the Americas, which recognises the company or institution that best projects the values of excellence in the region.
One of the most special moments of the gala will be the presentation of the Excelencias In Memoriam Awards, which keep alive the legacy of great figures in the sector. Tribute will be paid to Silvia Zorzanello, a key promoter of Brazilian tourism; Ramón Álvarez, an international leader in the MICE segment; and Nicolás Muela, a champion of Ibero-American gastronomy as a cultural and economic driving force.
As every year, the excitement is heightened by the direct participation of the public. All finalists for the Tourism Excellence Awards and the Gourmet Excellence Awards are eligible for the Public Excellence Award until 14 January, through an open public vote that will recognise the project with the most votes.
The winners will be announced on 21 January during the gala at FITUR, in a format that turns the award ceremony into a high-profile media event.
Now in their 21st edition, the Excelencias Awards not only celebrate careers and projects: they chart the course of tourism and gastronomy on an international scale, turning each edition into a story worth telling.
Source: MUNKA Comunicación