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Spain: Mariano Dima, a former global chief marketing officer at Vrbo / HomeAway, has been named as the new chairman to the board of directors at guided tours and activities marketplace, Civitatis.
The appointment strengthens the company’s strategy in Latin America, which is the main objective for the coming years for Civitatis.
Dima will bring over two decades of executive and board experience at firms including Expedia Group / Vrbo / HomeAway and Visa, as well as serving as an adviser, chair, and board member to several high-growth marketplaces and financial services companies.
The news comes shortly after international investment fund Vitruvian Partners announced an additional $50 million investment in Civitatis through the sale of secondary shares, having originally invested in 2022. The funding will be used to cement Civitatis’ position as a leading brand for tours and activities for customers across Spain and Latin America, with a particular focus on Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.
Alberto Gutiérrez, the founder and CEO of Civitatis, has confirmed that he will continue to lead the company.
Gutiérrez said: “We welcome Mariano as the new Civitatis chairman. I am thrilled and fully convinced that he is the ideal person to take Civitatis to the next level, allowing us to exploit the enormous potential of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries as a region, and of tours and activities as a category.
“Much of the market remains offline still but we’re changing that rapidly thanks to our technological platform that is committed to quality and constant innovation,” he added,
Dima replaces Sophie Bower-Straziota, a Vitruvian partner for more than ten years who had been Civitatis chairman since June 2022 – the year when the Vitruvian Partners fund first joined the company – and now will remain in the board of directors.
The Madrid-based company offers over 90,000 activities in 160 countries, with over 10 million customers in 2023.
