The first bus that Grup Julià put on the road in 1933 was to take fans to football grounds. A group of four friends came up with the idea, as at the time there was very little transport that could take people to see matches at the weekend. It was something they did alongside their regular work, as an extra.
Yet, the business did so well that they began to see a future in it. “This is when the company lost one of its founders, and he was the one who was called Julià,” says the current CEO, Josep Adell, who represents the third generation to run the company that was co-founded by his grandfather, one of the four who stuck with the project.
During the Spanish Civil War the company lost everything, but it soon recovered and by the 1940s had a fleet of 20 coaches. “Yet the key moment came with the Eucharistic Congress of Barcelona in 1952, which is when the whole transport side of things took off,” says Adell, who first heard the story from his father and grandfather as a young boy.
An old Grup Julià bus | Ceded
What helped to establish the company was offering excursions to tourists in the 1960s and ‘70s, such as the Montserrat route that they still do, and the later creation of Julià Tours and Julià Travel, the segments of the business that also define them as a travel agency. It was a decision, says the CEO, “they had to make because of the law.”
Soon, going international became vital: “They opened offices abroad because the tourist sector was starting to grow in Spain. They did a lot of trips all over Spain and Europe, many of the tourists they carried were from Latin America and so they opened delegations there to bring tourists over here. There was Argentina, Mexico, Miami, Puerto Rico… .” It is a list of places that has not stopped growing, as has their portfolio of products that have turned the Grup Julià into a leading company in the sector, so that they ended 2016 with a turnover of 309.1 million euros and a workforce of some 1,626 employees.
A story of highs and lows
If international tourism to Spain, and particularly from America, was what brought them success, today it makes up only 3% of the business. It was a model that worked well at the time, but that stalled with digitisation and took them into suspension of payments at the start of the new century.
Josep Adell, CEO of Grup Julià, with one of 40 tourist buses in Barcelona | Ceded
“Tourism has changed a lot. Hotel chains have developed their own travel agencies and work with airlines, when before that was managed by a tour operator,” says Adell. “The entry of big players, which were large companies, reduced the volume of business and we started making losses,” he adds. Moreover, the decline coincided with the September 11 attacks in the US and the financial crisis in Argentina known as the corralito.
"Some 98% of our business is our team, the people, because anyone can get coaches"
The answer, a decision taken just before the current CEO took over, was to go into suspension of payments and restructure the group: “Some 98% of our business is our team, the people, because anyone can get coaches. Putting together a hotel a flight and an attraction, and making a tourist package, needs people to do it. We heavily backed our people, we told them about the project and we kept hold of those who agreed with it and believed in it.” That meant laying off almost 400 people and ending 2009 with around 800 employees, a shortfall that the company has gradually made up, but always following the strategy of “not looking for specific profiles, skills or knowledge, but rather commitment.”
This restructuring and the implementation of a financial strategy focused on efficiency got them through the crisis. “When it struck, we were in a healthy position and were able to weather the storm,” says the executive, who from the start understood that they could not depend on one company or country and that they needed to diversify to avoid crashes.
Towards the colossal cities
Today, private transport –which includes taking staff to the facilities of large companies like Seat, trips around Europe or vehicle rental- makes up 8% of the group’s turnover and is split between Barcelona -where they can have as many as 150 buses circulating at the same time in the city’s metropolitan area on weekdays- Madrid and Malaga.
Running tourist buses makes up 22% and is the branch that has grown the most in recent years. They began in Barcelona and Madrid, and have since added over a dozen cities, including such gems as San Francisco, London and Rome.
The company invested 10 million dollars for a foothold in the United States and five million euros in Rome
Beginning in a new place can mean acquiring new vehicles for a cost of 10 million dollars, as in the United States, or investing five million euros in licences and buses, as in Rome. “It always depends on the country and whether we do it with someone else or not,” points out Adell, who acknowledges that the 150 million euros they have earmarked for expansion in the next decade will no doubt have to be increased. Yet, it is an effort that has made them the second largest tourist bus operator in the world.
London is one of the cities where you can find Grup Julià | Ceded
The remaining 70% of the business, and the core, comes from tourism under the travel agency model. Here, there are as many Spanish people travelling abroad as people from Europe and Latin America coming to visit, as well as corporate trips, for which they have won awards from the Barcelona City Council, Malaga and TV3. In all, it means that 57% of the group’s revenue comes from abroad, with the United States, Mexico and Argentina the leading countries.
This model allows them to resolve the seasonal dilemma presented in the different areas in which they operate. “When it is low season in Europe, it is high season in Argentina. And road transport is always the opposite of tourism. From November to February there is more work transporting staff or schools, while tourism is light,” he says.
If you want to make money, reinvent yourself
“We are constantly asked about our business model. We are very aware that if we continue to do everything in the same way, within 10 years our turnover will be much less. What is business one day, stops being so very quickly,” says the Grup Julià manager. He firmly defends the idea that innovation “is not a passing trend,” but rather a necessity if they want to stay ahead and for the restructuring at the start of the 2000s to mean something and not need to be repeated.
That is why the company has reached agreements with large distributors, such as Tripadvisor or Expedia. “When we were hit by the transformation of the tourist sector, we saw that we had to reach out to the individual client who finds their own flights, hotel and things to do,” he says. “We are now on platforms that we know they go to and where they can find our products when planning their trip.” This is how some 50% of consumers choose them.
"We are very aware that if we continue doing everything in the same way, within 10 years our turnover will be much less"
Moreover, Adell is aware of the importance of the final product. In their case, it is not only the buses, but also the trips and guides. “If we want to give added value, we should not only give out tickets and do specific visits, but also provide guides in different languages and at different times,” he insists. It is a service they take care of down to the last detail, so that the experience is unique.