WHO WE ARE?
…And this is our story:
(In the beginning, we were tour guides)
We started as tour guides, passionate about our profession and in love with our land and our culture.
Then, we decided to create a small local agency with the idea of taking complete control of our work.
Gradually, other national and international agencies started noticing us and hiring our company to provide some local services. Delighted by our quality standards, they kept asking for more services, more locations, and more exclusive and customised products.
And so, year after year, the foundations of something new were laid, and it became increasingly necessary to create ABAQ DMC, the agency capable of living up to such trust and expectations.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that, to some extent, ABAQ DMC was also made by our collaborators and clients, by all those who have worked with us and have actively requested that such a project became a reality.
Today, after years of experience, we are very proud to have a team of outstanding professionals, and a solid reputation as the go-to provider for tailor-made, exclusive services for both individual travellers and corporate events throughout the Iberian Peninsula.
But we do not forget our origins, that attention to detail and great care that a tour guide displays to take care of a group, the ability to stand up for them and plan everything to perfection in order to attain excellence.
We are fully aware of how important communication is throughout a trip or any other leisure activity, and we certainly still feel that urge to keep discovering, trying, and experiencing new things, so we can share them with you with the utmost passion and sincerity.
All this has been and is today Abaq.
our team
Jago Sermasi
Co-founder, & chief marketing officer
In love with Spain and Andalusia to the point of leaving Italy, my country of birth, and having been in these lands for the last 20 years. Graduated in Political Science and International Relations, guide during my first years in the sector, and photographer by passion, I am one of the founding partners of Abaq DMC. I am also a lecturer in the Master's Degree in Tourism Management at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of the University of Granada.
I have always believed that a good planning and organization of a project allows enjoying it with relaxation and carefree once it is underway: this is one of my missions at Abaq DMC.
Paula García
General Manager & Travel Designer
I was born in Sevilla, studied there and I started my professional life in Amsterdam, working as a tour guide through the Netherlands and Belgium. Because I am an eager traveler myself, I’ve always seen tourism and culture as a way of life, not just a career, so as a travel agent and a tour guide I try to communicate the uniqueness of the destinations. At ABAQ DMC I organize trips in Andalucia; designing tailor-made experiences and showing every corner of the region, such as its heritage, traditions, gastronomy, etc. I speak Spanish and English.
Eric Zint
Co-founder & chief financial officer
After living in Honduras, Germany, and Australia and traveling all over the world, I chose the spectacular city of Granada as my home and co-founded Abaq DMC. Despite having a degree in Industrial Engineering, my passion for traveling made me pursue a career in the tourism industry. I fell in love with the beauty of Granada & Andalusia, the richness and variety of its history, the joy of its people, and of course its gastronomy, like so many tourists who visit the region every year. Despite being a destination of choice for so many, I believe in responsible tourism and am always in favor of local guides, and supporting small businesses I believe that a different kind of tourism is possible.
Beatriz Gutiérrez
Itinerary Manager & Official Guide
I was born and raised in Granada. I am in love with my city. I have studied Art History and also I have been working many years as an official tour guide. I speak Spanish, English and Italian. I am a specialist in the destination of Granada and I am in charge of designing and managing tailor-made tours for travelers visiting this city.
Juan Pedro González
Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer
Born in a small town in the countryside of Cordoba, I grew up on the shores of the Mediterranean in Alicante and for almost a decade I have had the pleasure of living in my beloved Granada. I have a degree in History, a Master in Tourism Management and Planning, and I am an official tourist guide. As one of the founding partners of Abaq DMC, I am in charge of product development and design of tailor-made experiences. I love to take care of every detail of what I do. I speak Spanish, English and French.
Marta de la Torre
Official Guide
I am from Seville and adopted from Granada. I consider myself a curious person who always wanted to explore and share unforgettable experiences. I studied Tourism and dedicated myself to travel around Europe in my adventure as a flight attendant and documentary filmmaker, learning English and the customs of each country. Destiny took me 5 years ago to Granada, where I fell in love with its history, art, and culture. Since then I have been fully dedicated to tourism. I am part of a great team dedicated to tailor-made experiences with attention to detail.
Elena Alabarces
Travel Designer
I was born in a village near Granada. My professional and personal career has been marked by my passion for the environment and local cultures. I graduated in Marine Sciences and Resources and worked as a researcher in this field for four years abroad, something that has given me a deep respect for nature. Later, my career took a turn towards tourism, where I am currently working at Abaq DMC Spain as a trip designer and itinerary manager. I have worked as a guide in Sweden, leading tours for Spanish and English speaking groups. My speciality is designing tourism experiences that highlight the authenticity of each destination in Spain, such as local craft workshops, food tastings and nature walks. When designing a trip I always reflect my commitment to the preservation of traditions and the natural environment.
Florencia Conzolino
Accounting Manager
Marta Sánchez
Official Guide
I was born in Granada, but if it had not been so, I would have managed to end my days here. To say that I am in love with my city is an understatement, since I dedicate 100% of my life to study the history, culture and landscape of Granada and its province, spreading the word on my social networks (Pateando Granada) and guiding the wonderful clients of Abaq DMC in monuments such as the Alhambra, Cathedral, Albaicín... and much more! My tours will not lack references to the spectacular history of the kingdom of Granada, anecdotes, curiosities and legends.
Ana María Perelló
Travel Designer
Delfina Alonso
Travel Designer & Official Guide
I was born in Ushuaia, in the extreme south of the Argentine Patagonia. When I was a child, and thanks to a teacher at school, I fell deeply in love with the poetry of Federico García Lorca and, through his books, with Granada. I promised myself that one day I would visit that magnetic city. As the years went by, I graduated with a degree in International Relations and did a postgraduate degree in Philosophy, until finally, after travelling around the world, I got to know Granada (it was better than in the books!).
Here I studied to become an Official Tourist Guide and Tourist Information Officer, a profession that I love and in which I am committed to achieving an increasingly sustainable, respectful, personalised and responsible tourism. I speak English and Italian and I am delighted to be part of the ABAQ DMC family.
our name
"The term 'Abaq' comes from the Greek words ἄβαξ (abax) or ἄβακoς (abakos), both of which refer to a flat surface. Another possible etymology of the word refers to the Phoenician term of Hebrew origin 'אבק', that nowadays is pronounced ābāq and means “dust”, even though its meaning in Biblical Hebrew was “grain”. Interestingly enough, in some Tamazight (Berber) dialects, the word ʾābāq still means “seed”.
But most of all, Abaq refers to the word abacus, the calculating tool that embodies the progress of the Mediterranean civilizations that gave birth to the current Hispanic culture, a mixture of Greeks, Romans (Latin), and Jewish, as well as Berbers, a people that had a protagonist role in the foundation and development of Al-Andalus, and whose language still associates the vocable "abaq" with a “seed”, something at the origin, the source from where new things are born.
Lastly, an abacus is also a professional tool, associated with precision and dedication, with study and wisdom.
In Abaq, we bring together the Mediterranean cultures that have forged what we are today. We are dust and seed, science and history: a journey through time and countless cultures and civilizations.
COMMITMENT
In our house, sailor rhymes with tailor, and these are 2 fields we know very well in Spain. Like professionals of haute couture, we will listen, measure, cut and sew the trip that best suits your desires.
We will carefully select landscapes and accommodations and weave them into the finest fabrics, capable of comfortably adapting to the body. We will dye them with the most crystalline waters of small Mediterranean coves, the grass of Atlantic meadows and the limestone of Romanesque cathedrals. We will decorate them with the patterns of Moorish tiles, the fantasy of Gaudi’s architecture and the strength of Goya’s paintings.
aWith them, we will make shirts adorned by Michelin stars, shoes with a private driver to move at ease, hot air balloon heels to see your journey from the sky and a coat made out of bulerías to keep you warm at night.
All aboard! Let the haute couture begin…