The Autocares Julià fleet will display the anniversary logo
Founded in 1933, it has become one of the reference companies in the incoming tourism and passenger transport sectors.
Grupo Julià, one of Spain’s leading business groups specialised in global tourism and mobility services, celebrates its 90th anniversary this year. Its origins date back to 1933, when Autocares Julià was founded thanks to the entrepreneurial drive of four young men who saw a business opportunity in the difficulties faced by football teams and their supporters in travelling to opposing grounds, as well as by schools and cultural organisations to cover their mobility needs.
In the 1940s and 1950s, after the forced cessation of activity due to the Civil War, the company gradually became a leader in occasional passenger transport in Catalonia, with routes and excursions that were a great success, such as the visit to the Monastery of Montserrat.
In the 1970s, the boom in tourism in Spain prompted the creation of new companies, leading to the creation, in 1968, of Julià Tours, a brand specialising in long-distance holiday travel services; Julià Central de Viajes, specialising in the organisation of corporate and business trips, in 1973, and Julià Travel, specialising in incoming tourism services, in 1978. During this period, the company also strengthened its presence, notably in Argentina and Mexico, countries that still represent a significant volume of turnover in the group’s tourism activity.
After professionalising the company’s management structure in the 1990s, the turn of the century brought with it the Group’s second major phase of internationalisation. With the creation of the tourist coach division, City Tour, which already operated nationally in Barcelona, Madrid and since 2013 in San Sebastian, its international activity extended to Mexico (since 2001 under the Turibus brand), San Francisco (2014), London (2015), Rome (2016) and Tangiers (2018).
Currently, Grupo Julià ─a family company with headquarters in Hospitalet de Llobregat─ is established in more than 20 cities in 8 different countries (Spain, Andorra, United Kingdom, Italy, Mexico, Argentina, Morocco and the United States), employs 1,400 people and has 12 million customers internationally.
To celebrate this anniversary, the entire fleet of Autocares Julià will be branded with the 90th anniversary logo, which will also be incorporated into the different websites and information and promotion tools of the group’s brands.
José Adell Antonio, president of the group, recalls that “in these 90 years, Grupo Julià has evolved as the country has progressed and has had to face significant difficulties, but it has been able to adapt to the new needs of society and of a sector in continuous transformation. This anniversary is a source of great pride that we would like to celebrate and thank the entire team that forms or has formed part of the company”. For his part, José Francisco Adell, CEO, added that “Grupo Julià reaches this anniversary positioned as one of the leading companies in the incoming tourism and passenger transport sector, faithful to its founding challenges: the safety of its customers, the quality of the services offered and constant innovation”.
Some of the company’s latest operations include the adjudication to UTE Monbús & Julià of the urban transport line between Sant Boi de Llobregat and BCN (2021), the union with City Sightseeing and Stagecoach Group, the largest bus operator in the UK, to achieve leadership of the tourist bus in London (2021), the acquisition of the This is Med brand for yacht rental and organisation of corporate events in BCN, Costa Brava and the Balearic Islands (2020) and the purchase of Autocares Padrós (2019).
