The MSC Foundation and the Faculty of Tourism of the Complutense University of Madrid have announced the recent winner of the Award for Best Final Degree Project in Tourism, an academic award created in honor of Mr. Emiliano González, president of MSC Cruises in Spain, who passed away in March 2020.
This agreement was established with the aim of promoting and fostering development and academic excellence in the areas of responsible and sustainable tourism and commerce by creating opportunities for young professionals. The award will be presented annually for at least four years.
The jury, made up of María Luisa Sanz, wife of Mr. Emiliano González; María Francisca Blasco López, dean of the Faculty of Tourism at the Complutense University of Madrid; Nuria Recuero, lecturer, researcher and delegate of institutional communication and digital transformation of the Tourism Degree at the UCM; Frank Babinger, lecturer, researcher and advisor to the vice-rectorate of employability and entrepreneurship of the Tourism Degree at the UCM; Fernando Pacheco, general manager of MSC Cruises in Spain; and Daniela Picco, executive director of the MSC Foundation; selected the four finalists and, finally, the winner Janna Schurmann.
This Tourism student has received the Emiliano González Award for her work, “A Theoretical Approach to Dark Tourism and Analysis of the Belchite Case.” This award includes a cash prize and the opportunity to complete a professional internship of at least six months at one of MSC Cruises' European offices.
MSC Cruises is a family-owned company with over 300 years of maritime heritage, where concern for the oceans where it operates and the people who work there are part of its DNA. For this reason, the company wanted to pay tribute to Emiliano González, who was president of MSC Cruises for more than 20 years and a leading figure in the Spanish tourism industry.
