That's the time to start with the General Shareholders' Meeting, and if you're okay with this, we're going to start with Constitution. The call for this meeting has been published on the Official Gazette of the Commercial Registry on the 4th of April, 2024. It was communicated as other relevant information to the National Commission for the Valley Market with number 27577, 2003, 2024, and it is available on the website of the company from the same date, including the full text of the proposed resolutions and other information that will be submitted to the General Shareholders' Meeting. Likewise, all the members of the Board of Directors are attending in person, and the Secretary of the Board of Directors, Mr. Luis María Díaz de Bustamante y Termens de Gerona, also a Secretary of the General Meeting.
The list of shareholders who are present in person or by proxy at this meeting will be read by the Secretary. The Secretary has the floor.
[Foreign language]
Many thanks, Mr. Chairman and the Board. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. Previously, and as you all know, pursuant to the provisions of Article 22.9 of the Company By-laws and Articles 19.3 and 6.1 of the Regulations of the General Shareholders' Meeting, the Board of Directors agreed that the attendance at the meeting could also be made, in addition to in person, by means of telematic attendance.
[Foreign language]
The telematic voting of the proposed resolutions, which has been the case, by enabling to descend the corresponding platform for telematic participation at the meeting, as well as the electronic shareholders' forum in order to allow the telematic exercise of the right to speak, information, proposal, voting, attendance, and delegation of vote of shareholders, promoting, as far as possible, telematic participation and attendance to the General Meeting. Having said that, the share capital of Meliá Hotels International S.A. is EUR 44,080,000, represented by 220,400,000 ordinary shares of a single class and series with a par value of EUR 0.20 each, fully subscribed and paid in and represented by book entries. Provisional quorum data at this time is as follows. We have here this meeting 71 shareholders who are holders of 122,281,738 shares and attending the meeting in person.
We have 150 shareholders holders of 55,085,018 shares and are attending the meeting by proxy. Therefore, we have 54% of the subscribed share capital with voting rights is attending the meeting, a percentage that exceeds those referred in Article 24 of the Company By-laws and Article 193 of the Consolidated Text and the Corporate Enterprises Act. The definitive quorum data will be confirmed later and during the meeting. The number of treasury shares without voting rights is 186,014 shares. Likewise, there is no record at the Secretary's Office that since the call of this General Meeting and within the periods legally established for this purpose, any request has been made for the publication of a supplement to the call notice of meeting for the submission of substantiated proposals for resolutions on the agenda in accordance with the right granted to shareholders for this purpose by law.
Accordingly, and pending final confirmation of the quorum data, which will not change substantially, the quorum necessary for the valid constitution of the meeting pursuant to Article 24 of the Company By-laws and Article 193 of the Corporate Enterprises Act has been met. Treasury shares have been considered in order to calculate the percentages necessary for the constitution and adoption of resolutions at the General Meeting, notwithstanding the fact that no voting rights are attached to them. Likewise, the Notary Public of Palma and member of the Official Association of Notaries Public of the Balearic Islands, Mr.
Armando Maceira Pereira is attending the meeting in person who, in accordance with the provisions of Article 29.3 of the Company By-laws and Article 21.3 of the Regulations of the General Shareholders' Meeting, and pursuant to Article 103 of the Corporate Enterprises Law Enforced, as the shareholders were already informed through the notice of the call of this meeting, has been required by the Board of Directors to attend the session and draw up a notarial record of this ordinary General Shareholders' Meeting according to the provisions of Article 101, 102, and related articles of the Recommendation of the Commercial Directors. According to the provisional data provided by Mr. Secretary and without prejudice to the subsequent confirmation of the definitive data, the quorum as referred to the Company By-laws and the Company Enterprises Act is at present largely met.
Therefore, the ordinary General Shareholders' Meeting is validly constituted at first call. Mr. Notary Public, please check if there are objections or protests to the above statements regarding the valid constitution and the meeting and the number of shareholders with voting rights attending the meeting in person or by proxy and their shareholding in their share capital.
[Foreign language]
The amount of EUR 0.0935 for each share of the company entitled to receive it, the maximum amount to be distributed being EUR 20,603,450.42. If the distribution were to be made in favor of all the company's ordinary shares, the dividend will be paid in July. Prior auditors of the company and group, it is proposed to re-elect Deloitte S.L. for 2024, 2025, and 2026. With regards to the director's remuneration policy for financial years 2025, 2026, and 2027, it is proposed to approve said policy, as well as to determine the maximum amount for the remuneration of the directors in their capacity as such. In addition, the annual report on the remuneration of directors will be submitted to you for an advisory vote. Likewise, you will be provided with the information on the commercial paper program.
Finally, the usual delegation of powers for the implementation of the resolutions adopted by the General Meeting is proposed. In summary, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, these are the resolutions submitted by the Board of Directors for your approval. Now, with the permission of Mr. Chairman and in accordance with the best corporate governance practices, the outgoing chairman of both committees will speak. Mr. Francisco Javier Campo García for the Auditing and Compliance Committee and successively Mr. Fernando Dornelles Silva for the Appointments, Remuneration and Sustainability Committee to report on the activities and functions of both commissions during financial year 2023. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders and Mr. Chairman.
[Foreign language]
The director, Mr. Campo, as the outgoing chairman of the Auditing and Compliance Committee has the floor. Please, Mr. Campo, you have the floor.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, and all those present. I am addressing you as outgoing chairman of the Auditing and Compliance Committee of Meliá Hotels International S.A., a committee that, as you know, is responsible, inter alia, for ensuring the monitoring of preparation and submission processes of financial and non-financial information of the company, as well as the effectiveness of its internal control systems and the management of the risks facing it. As you know, at the meeting of the board held on 29th of February 2024, Mrs. Montserrat Tàpies was appointed as the new chairwoman of this committee, and I would like to take this opportunity to wish her every success in this new phase and reiterate my full support in the performance of her duties.
With this appointment, this committee is now made up of five members, four female directors and one male director, all of them independent. During 2023, the committee held a total of eight meetings, at which the external auditor was always present, who, with the appropriate means and sufficient time, was able to directly inform the directors of this committee with complete independence of everything he considered. Likewise, at all the meetings, the directors of the internal audit and the risk and compliance areas of the company have been able to participate and directly inform this committee of the main control and monitoring recommendations that they have freely considered.
[Foreign language]
In addition, at the meetings held, the processes for preparing the financial and non-financial information presented to the market were analyzed. Likewise, the company's main executives have attended several meetings of the committee to report on relevant issues under their responsibility, as well as on the action plans established to mitigate the company's main risks. I am pleased to inform you that the annual accounts that are being presented today and which were prepared according to the international accounting standards are unqualified. Furthermore, as explained by the Chairman and CEO during his speech, the Board of Directors has decided this year and for the first time since 2019 to propose to the General Shareholders' Meeting the distribution of dividends. The Auditing and Compliance Committee has fully supported this decision, and we are confident that the shareholder remuneration policy can be consolidated in the following years.
Now, let me briefly summarize the main activities carried out by the committee within the scope of its responsibilities, activities that are detailed in the activity annual report for the Auditing and Compliance Committee, which is available on the corporate website for all of you. During this year, the committee has maintained a regular and recurrent follow-up of all the matters relating to the management of the economic and financial situation of the company. In particular, the committee has reviewed and followed up on the equity transaction with Banco Santander, which has been published both in February and April 2024 in the CNN. The committee's relationship with the external auditor, in addition to ensuring the proper performance of its duties for the company, has focused on the development and monitoring of the selection processes of the external auditor for fiscal years, tax years 2022 to 2026.
This proposal, the proposal of which is submitted for approval at this General Shareholders' Meeting. It should also be noted that the external auditor's letter of independence has been received and the corresponding independence report has been drawn up. The external auditor's recommendation in relation to the annual accounts, the internal control systems over financial reporting, ICFR from now on, and non-financial information statement have also been followed up. The committee has been carried out a timely analysis and review quarterly, half-yearly, and annually, and the information on the description of the internal control systems over financial reporting, ICFR, prior to submission to the board for approval. The committee has also monitored the processes linked to the preparation of the non-financial information statement for its inclusion and the management report and the subsequent approval altogether with the annual accounts.
In this regard, we must highlight the attention given by this committee during 2023 in the definition and development of the internal control system over non-financial information project, a project for which the company has relied on the experience of our renowned consultant, KPMG, as external advisor, reinforcing the alignment with existing best practices and thereby ensuring the integrity of the non-financial information. With regards to the corporate governance, the committee has focused on the review of the company's updated information security policy and the new policy on the responsible use of artificial intelligence tools.
As regards to internal audit, in addition to ensuring its structure, resources, and compliance with its annual plan, the committee has continued to encourage the consolidation of this area's transformation plan, initiated in April 2021, with special attention to the digitalization of the department and the follow-up of the recommendations made and their level of resolution. Finally, in relation to risk management and compliance, it should be noted that the results of the update of the company's risk map have been analyzed and the crime prevention and detection model has been reviewed, also providing continuous monitoring of the functioning of the complaint channels and their management by the company's ethics committee.
I would like to end my speech by thanking on my own behalf, on behalf of the incoming chairwoman and on behalf of all the members of this committee, the Meliá's management team for its support and dedication during this year, firmly led by its chairman, Mr. Escarrer. Of course, both the current chairwoman of the committee, Ms. Montserrat Tàpies, and myself remain at your disposal for any clarification you may need. Many thanks.
Many thanks, Mr. Campo, and welcome to Mrs. Montserrat Tàpies as the new chairwoman of the committee. Mr. Dornelles Silva, as the outgoing chairman of the Appointments, Remuneration and Sustainability Committee, has the floor. Please, Mr. Dornelles Silva.
[Foreign language]
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am addressing you as outgoing chairman of the Appointments, Remuneration and Sustainability Committee of Meliá Hotels International. The board's committee, which is responsible, among other functions, for ensuring the appropriate composition of the board and its committees and of the company's senior management, and also ensuring that Meliá has implemented a competitive remuneration policy in order to retain internal talent and periodically review the assessment of the objectives and the parameters which are part of the remuneration scheme of the executive director and the senior management. In addition, this committee is also responsible for monitoring the strategy and practices in terms of sustainability, assessing their degree of compliance. As you will be aware at the meeting of the board held on February 29th, 2024, Mrs.
Cristina Aldámiz-Echevarría was appointed as the new chairwoman of this committee, and I would like to take this opportunity to wish her every success in this new phase and give her my full support in the performance of her duties. During 2023, the committee, which is currently made up of five members, four of them being independent directors and one proprietary director, held a total of seven meetings. Regarding the activities carried out by the committee during 2023, I would like to highlight the committee's dedication to the coordination and monitoring of the succession plan for the chairman of the board of directors of Meliá, approved by the board in December 2016. It has been a high responsibility for me and for all the members of this committee to have participated in this process and to have participated in the highly relevant process in the company's history.
Now, I will briefly summarize the main activities carried out by the committee within the scope of its responsibilities, activities that are detailed in the activity annual report, which is available to shareholders on the corporate website. With regards to appointments and reelections and following the recommendations of the Good Corporate Governance Code, and in order to proceed with the utmost rigor and transparency, the committee prepared in 2023 the report on the proposal of the appointment of Mr. Alfredo Pastor Bodner as the external proprietary director, the proposal for the reelection of Mrs. María Cristina Enríquez de Luna as independent director, and the report on the reelection of Mr. Gabriel Escarrer Juliá as proprietary director. Likewise, and within the framework of the aforementioned succession plan initiated in 2016, the committee drew up the proposals for the appointment of Mr. Gabriel Escarrer Juliá as honorary chairman and Mr.
Gabriel Escarrer Jaume as new Executive Chairman. On the other hand, the committee has also been actively involved in the process of renewal of the company's senior executive team, SET, monitoring the proposals for change that were carried out in 2023. I would also like to highlight the promotion by the committee of diversity through its participation in the drafting of the new diversity policy, as well as the follow-up, the recommendations and objectives set by the company in this area. In this regard, the committee is aware of the 40% target established in the new diversity policy and therefore wants to emphasize its willingness to continue working on the incorporation of more women on the board in future selection processes. In this sense, the board is made up of 36.36% of female directors, and both committees exceed 40%.
The Auditing and Compliance Committee is made up of 80% of independent female directors, and the Appointments, Remuneration, and Sustainability Committee of 60%. Furthermore, both committees are chaired by female directors. In terms of remuneration, the committee has reviewed and assessed the objectives linked to the short-term variable remuneration of the Executive Chairman and CEO for 2022 and has set the objectives of the short-term variable remuneration for 2023, based on the provisions of the remuneration policy for 2022 to 2024. In setting these objectives and in line with the company's strategy, relevant aspects such as the cash generation, debt reduction, growth of the management model, talent management, and sustainability have been taken into account. In this regard, in setting the objectives for the current year, 2024, the percentage of objectives linked to ESG has been increased.
In relation to the amendments to the remuneration scheme of the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, which have been included and published on the annual report on remuneration that is also submitted to vote at this general meeting, the committee has examined and assessed in depth the increase in remuneration taken into consideration that Mr. Gabriel Escarrer Jaume has not had any increase in remuneration since 2018. He had also reduced his remuneration during the pandemic, and those variable remuneration was suspended in 2020. The cumulative inflation since that date and that in June 2023, he became Executive Chairman. In addition to the position of Chief Executive Officer at this company, all this has been taken into account as well.
As a consequence, the committee drew up this proposal on the basis of remuneration studies on the same position in other listed companies, all this with the advice of an external independent expert in the matter. In order to make this measure more transparent, the company has published this benchmarking in the annual report on remunerations itself, in line with the proxy advisor's recommendations. On the other hand, the committee has also prepared a proposal to increase the remuneration of the directors in their capacity as such, which consists of a fixed component and a variable component based on the attendance of the directors at the various meetings on the boards and committees and for the additional duties they perform on the board, secretary, committee chairman, etc., the amount of which has not changed since 2012.
In this regard, the board at the proposal of this committee has agreed to increase such remuneration by 12%, all based on the current corresponding benchmarking of similar listed companies. Likewise, it should also be noted that in the new remuneration policy applicable to the fiscal years 2025 - 2027, it is submitted as this general shareholders' meeting, which will give continuity to the previous policy and which includes improvements in terms of transparency and detail of the board's remuneration scheme. In particular, the new policy details more rigorously the remuneration elements of directors in their capacity as such and the criteria for its review and update, as well as the specific remuneration for their membership of the various committees. Likewise, and among other changes, the minimum period for long-term variable remuneration plans is modified to three years.
This modification is made in order to adapt this remuneration item to the market practice in similar companies and thus to enhance the ability to retain, attract, and engage talent, placing the company in a competitive position with respect to its similar company. As you know, this committee assumed responsibility for sustainability. During the last year, it has monitored both the tasks carried out by the Meliá Sustainability Committee during the year and the objectives and strategy in terms of non-financial information. In terms of corporate governance, the committee carried out the analysis and approval of the 2023 annual report, the 2023 annual report on remuneration of directors, and the review of the composition of the board's committees, among other issues. I have nothing more to add.
Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, these are the duties in a summarized form developed by the Appointments, Remuneration, and Sustainability Committee during the last year and until today. Of course, both the chairwoman and the committee, Mrs. Cristina Aldámiz-Echevarría and I remain at your disposal for any clarification you may need. Thank you very much for your attention.
[Foreign language]
Thanks, Mr. Dornelles, and welcome to Ms. Aldámiz-Echevarría as the new chairwoman of the committee.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. The Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Gabriel Escarrer Jaume. [Foreign language]
Good morning, everyone. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, Honorary Chairman, members of the Board, employees, and friends. Thank you for your attendance, both to those attending in person today at the Gran Meliá Victoria Hotel in Palma and to those attending by telematic means.
In particular, I am glad to welcome back my father, our Honorary Chairman and Founder. [Foreign language] That he couldn't join us last year due to a long period of convalescence. You know that your presence is an essential support for all of us and also the best sign of your full recovery. Please give him an applause. [Foreign language] In his name, thank you very much. A year ago, at this meeting, I expressed my confidence that 2023 would be a positive year for us. Indeed, I am glad to confirm that it has been a great year for Meliá and for tourism in general.
It is an honor for me to appear before you once again to give an overview of the management and results of our company in the year in which we finally overcame the disruption caused by COVID and began a new path of value creation that is reflected among other milestones in the return of dividends. Next, we will set out the strategic strengths and priorities that have enabled us to achieve these results, as well as our focus for 2024, when we will complete the strategic cycle designed for the post-pandemic phase. Finally, I would like to explain our vision and commitments for 2024.
Before starting with the above-mentioned topics and following recommendation number three of the Good Governance Code of listed companies, and as Chairman and CEO of the board of directors, I will inform you of the most relevant aspects in terms of corporate governance, where the higher level of compliance with the recommendations of the Good Governance Code monitoring the last year stands out, which, without considering those classified as non-applicable, already represents 92.6%. In this respect, the main milestones achieved since the previous general meeting can be summarized as follows. With regard to recommendation number 26 of the Good Governance Code during 2023, eight meetings of the board of directors were held, thus complying with said recommendation. Likewise, I would like to inform you that a minimum of eight meetings of the board of directors are also scheduled for this year, thus consolidating compliance with this Good Governance guideline.
On the other hand, following my appointment on 22 June 2023 as Executive Chairman, and in relation to recommendation number 34 of the Good Governance Code, the lead director has been assuming more functions and responsibilities, such as relations with the company's shareholders in matters related to corporate governance or the management of the succession plan for the Chairman of the Board, all under the amendment of the company bylaws and regulations of the board carried out in 2022, which already included this extension of powers.
Likewise, with regard to the recommendations, whose level of compliance needs to be improved, such as the one concerning the percentage of women in the board, currently 36.6%, I would like to point out that both the Appointments, Remuneration, and Sustainability Committee and the board itself are aware of the targets established in this respect by the CNMV's Good Governance Code of listed companies and the diversity directive. I would therefore like to highlight once again the firm commitment of this company to encourage and achieve in the short and medium term the presence of more women in our board, which will enable us to reach this milestone. All this for future changes in the composition of the board.
However, as proof of this commitment and its significance for the company, I would like to underline the fact that both committees, the Auditing and Compliance Committee and the Appointments, Remuneration, and Sustainability Committee, are already chaired by two remarkable and renowned professional women, as both chairmen already mentioned. On the other hand, in terms of compliance or regularity compliance in 2023, I want to highlight events such as the renewal of our UNE 1961 standard certification on best practices in management systems to prevent crimes, reduce risks, and promote an ethical and compliant business culture. We obtained second position behind Iberdrola in the ranking of IBEX 35 companies according to the Transparency and Good Governance Report on Ethics and Compliance prepared by leading entities in this matter. [Foreign language]
These achievements demonstrate the commitment of this company and that of all its management bodies in terms of regulatory compliance and contribute solidly to ensuring that all our public and private shareholders trust our management, supported by firm values of integrity, transparency, and compliance with regulations. The following is a summary of the highlights of 2023. 2023 concluded as a good year for the hotel business, driven by solid demands, whose evolution since 2022 supports the strategy we have deployed at Meliá Hotels International. These are undoubtedly the two major factors that define our 2023 results. On the one hand, a positive tourism situation with demand indicators that remain strong and show no signs of slowing down. On the other hand, a successful strategy of the company to capitalize on this demand and maximize its positive impact.
Strategic roadmap that, as I will explain in the course of my speech, prioritizes strengthening our balance sheet underpinning qualitative growth, in particular in the premium luxury portfolio, and boosting the efficiency of our management, thus contributing to maintaining our margins despite the inflationary context that we had last year. Thus, in 2023, we were able to fully meet the commitments I made a year ago at the last general meeting, both in terms of revenues, with a record figure of EUR 1,932.2 million, which we already exceeded by 7.8% as recognized in 2019. In terms of EBITDA, with EUR 489.8 million, we once again exceeded the committed target of EUR 475 million. In addition, we achieved a net income of EUR 130 million, 8.3% of that recognized in 2022, also exceeding by plus 6.9% that achieved in 2019.
It is also great news to witness how the remarkable increase in our RevPAR, or Average Revenue Per Available Room, of 17.3% in hotels under ownership and under lease was achieved despite the fact that the occupancy levels are not yet at 2019 levels, which gives us ample room for further improvement in this respect. As you know, at Meliá Hotels International, we prioritize the value creation for our shareholders, and we also pursue the creation of social and environmental value, including all our stakeholders. Therefore, we are also proud to have succeeded in reaffirming our position among the leading companies in sustainability in our sector, according to the prestigious S&P Global ranking, maintaining our position as the most sustainable hotel company in Europe in the face of increasing competition in the sector and a regulatory requirement that is increasing exponentially.
Being aware that we still have a lot to do, recognition such as the aforementioned ranking or the Top Employer certificate that we have revalidated and extended to the seven markets that represent more than 60% of our total workforce confirm us as good employers and a good company to work for, encouraging and reinforcing our commitment and pride in belonging, which in 2023 stood at around 90%, according to the climate and culture studies carried out by the Emotiva Consultancy firm, which positions us well above the average of comparable companies. As I said, I will try to set out below the main advances shown in the four major objectives set out in our roadmap. We also call it Road to 2024. As you know, we aspire to be a larger and better managing company.
To this end, we have continued to focus on qualitative growth, prioritizing the destinations where we have hotels like the Caribbean or the Asia Pacific, as well as the more unexplored destinations where there are opportunities for a significant implementation of our brands, such as Albania, Saudi Arabia, and Malta. Among the former, I would like to highlight the strong boost to our presence in Mexico, a country in which we will double our portfolio of operating hotels in the next two years, and the strong expansion in the major destinations of Southeast Asia, such as Thailand and Vietnam, where we are already the first international hotel chain with the largest presence, and where, as we have been announcing these days, we continue to grow.
Meliá's growth formula combines organic or hotel-to-hotel growth with the strategic alliances with our partners, some of which you can see in this image on the screen. With these strategies, we are able to bring together important objectives such as growth, generation of synergies and of critical mass, and balance sheet consolidation. Since, as you know, our company decided several decades ago to focus on growth through low capital-intensive formulas, which, combined with the group's hotels under ownership, make up a unique model that we define as asset-right. Thus, our portfolio combines a balanced mix of hotels under ownership and hotels under management and franchise, and exceptionally under lease, to maximize strategic growth without compromising our balance sheet or over-leveraging. In this regard, during 2023, 100% of the 26 new hotels signed were incorporated under management, a system that also governed 11 of the 12 openings during that same year.
This formula also allows us to take advantage of the new dynamics of the hotel investment market and the growing trend towards brand affiliation by independent hotels or small chains, as we have become a suitable alternative to manage their establishments, adding value to our management and distribution know-how while maximizing economies of scale.
Of course, last but not least, this management strategy allows us to add new crown jewels to our portfolio with outstanding hotels such as the Grand Meliá Torremolinos in Barcelona and its annex, Palau de Congresos, owned by Tyris Capital Group, the Grand Meliá Palazzo Cordusio in Milan, the new Hotel Costa Brava owned by Azora, the new Paradisus Pattaya in Thailand owned by Asset World Corporation, or the Grand Meliá Nha Trang in Vietnam owned by KDI Holdings, without forgetting the fabulous Meliá Collection in Gorongoro and Serengeti, the future Grand Meliá Port La Mer in Dubai, and so many other outstanding establishments that enhance our brand, expand our business base, and put us in a position to compete for top-level assets sought after by the major international chains.
At this point, I would like to share with you a brief overview of the positive impact we have already begun to see as a result of our strategic commitment to repositioning our hotels, whether through comprehensive renovations or transformations, rebranding, or brand and segment change. As you will see in the image by areas in Spain, we have made a strong commitment to upgrade hotels in general and, in particular, to continue growing in the luxury and premium segments, which in 2019 represented 45% of the portfolio, and in 2026 will represent no less than 68% of our hotels in Spain, so it is two-thirds of our portfolio. Only in the Canary Islands, over the last few years, we have renovated three major hotels in Tenerife and Fuerteventura and upgraded another three to luxury brands like Paradisus and the Meliá Collection in Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Lanzarote.
This has contributed to the strong growth of the average rate, which has increased by 57% since 2019. In the Balearic Islands and the Peninsula Coast, the effort made to transform seven former Sol brand hotels into premium and luxury segment brands such as INNSiDE, Meliá, Gran Meliá, and Hotel Stands Out. These renovations and rebranding have also contributed to the positive evolution of the average price in the area, which grew by 59% since 2019. In urban hotels, the company has undertaken the rebranding of hotels such as Barcelona Polo, Terebosa, and Gran Vía to the INNSiDE brand, to which we are also bringing other major hotels such as Barcelona Aeropuerto, Valencia Oceanic, and Cádiz Paseo del Mar. Other major renovations in their final phase are those of Meliá Granada, Meliá Bilbao, and Meliá Collection Casa de las Artes in Madrid, among others.
Following the completion of the construction of many of these hotels, we expect to see an increase of plus 38% in the average rate in urban Spain in the second half of the year. This strategy has also been successful in the company's hotels in major European capitals like Paris, with two hotels upgraded to the Meliá Collection, Maison Colbert and Villa Marquis, which improved their average rate compared to 2019 by more than 100%, or London, with the transformation of the Meliá White House, which allowed a 57% increase. As in the Americas, with two successful transformations such as those of Paradisus Palma Real in Punta Cana, which improved its average rate by 34% from last year, and the ME Cabo in Mexico, which experienced a 55% improvement in average price.
The focus on luxury, which is reflected in the growth of these brands, has become a unique competitive advantage and a powerful lever for generating differential value, which is reflected in a high potential for improving RevPAR, as these hotels maintain average rates 80% higher than those of the group's other brands. The portfolio of luxury brands, which has doubled since 2019, increased its RevPAR by 31% since before the pandemic, and it's also the one with the best prospects for 2024. One out of every three openings of the group in the next three years will be a luxury hotel. As evidence of the boost to these brands, between 2024 and 2025, we will open six new establishments of the ME by Meliá brand.
We will also bring the first Paradisus to Asia and double the portfolio of the Meliá Collection hotels, in addition to continuing to expand the new ZEL brand with hotels in Madrid, Mexico, and Punta Cana. I will now summarize progress towards our strategic objective of being more efficient and digital. During 2023, we have continued to make progress in our digitalization at back office level and with regard to our customers and their experience. Our digital roadmap, called BeDigital 360, has enabled Meliá to further advance its technological development. Today, we have pursued first-class solutions to manage our own and third-party hotels more efficiently. At the same time, we are developing digital technologies based on artificial intelligence, blockchain, etc. During 2023, we have launched various tools in areas such as that will allow us to improve the environmental sustainability of our hotels.
Using these technologies in areas such as energy efficiency, water efficiency, waste management, and circularity in the measurement and reduction of the footprint while we release. Of course, we remain committed to improving our digital distribution and sales, both to our end customer, or B2C, and to the intermediary customer, or partner, B2B. The renewal and improvement of our direct-to-customer channel, Meliá.com, which now channels more than 46% of total centralized sales, has allowed us to improve our customer experience, the accessibility of our services, as well as the customization of our value proposition to them. On the other hand, in 2023, we have also renewed our direct channel specific for travel agencies, or B2B, Meliá.com, which last year included 6% more agencies into its platform and increased its sales by 15.68% compared to 2022 and compared to the 11.1% increase in direct customer sales in Meliá.com.
This increase proves our commitment to continue growing hand in hand with agencies, incorporating the maximum efficiency that digitalization allows. It is also noteworthy the contribution of our loyalty program, Meliá Rewards, which in 2024 celebrated its 13th anniversary with almost 16 million member customers, which generated 90% of the total sales of our direct channel last year. Both channels allow us to remain at the forefront of innovation in the sector and are an important attraction for independent hotels or small chains looking for a managing company. This allows us to optimize our revenues, providing a loyalty-based reservation base and diversifying our sources of business.
Before concluding this summary on our progress in digitalization and efficiencies, I would like to remind you that at all times, improvements in cost and process management have been made with the customer experience and satisfaction in mind, therefore without affecting the quality of our products and services, and also preserving our employees' experience and the working environment. I can assure you that our customers are increasingly more satisfied, as our Net Promoter Score, or NPS, reflects, which has improved by 7 points compared to 2022 and 2019 to, at the end of 2023, getting to 53.1% of the industry average, thanks to the efforts of our operations teams to maintain high levels of service quality and product standardization.
I'm also pleased to inform you of the result of the efforts made to contain the impact of inflation on our costs and goods and services by means of a longer-term negotiation strategy and by unifying areas or countries to the agreements, as well as by introducing competition through new suppliers and references. On the other hand, through investment in renewable energy, such as photovoltaic energy and in energy monitoring and efficiency, as well as by installing state-of-the-art equipment, much more efficient in all hotel renovation and transformations. As a result, we have managed to limit the average impact of inflation on our supplies to, compared to an average level of 15% for our sector, to 8.5%, which has been heavily impacted by the rising cost of food and other raw materials.
Another strategic objective of the group is, of course, being more sustainable, and I would like to summarize below the progress achieved during 2023 in this area. At the environmental level, during 2023, we managed to reduce our carbon footprint by 19.6% compared to the reference year 2018, reducing by 9.5% the average energy consumption per stay, and with 82.6% of the hotel portfolio using renewable energy sources. Another milestone is the certification of 86.64% of the hotel portfolio in sustainable tourism, a requirement that is increasingly necessary and demanded by the market, and the launch of our events program, Road to Net Zero Events, thanks to which we will be able to offset the carbon footprint generated by such an important segment as the MICE.
Regarding responsibility towards our employees, in terms of quality and quantity of employment, Meliá recovered the entire workforce with more than 45,000 employees, exceeding pre-COVID figures, and closed the year with 87.7% of permanent staff and 97.4% of full-time staff, as well as with 46.6% of total positions held by women, who also hold more than 30% of the management positions. Globally, the average salary cost for our company increased by 13% compared to 2022, also reflecting the increase in the global workforce that I mentioned before.
All this progress is part of our human resources policy with global reach, and together with our strong commitment to health and safety at work and to offer competitive working conditions and a favorable working environment, have led Meliá to get, for the third consecutive year, the top company to work for certification by the prestigious Top Employer CEO, covering no less than seven markets where it has a major presence as an employer, and that is Spain, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Germany, Vietnam, Italy, and France, representing more than 60% of the group's total workforce. In addition, the MercoSur ranking, leader in measuring reputation in Spain, has once again positioned us for another year, almost a decade now, as the best company to work for in the Spanish tourism sector and has been included in the top companies to work for prepared by the leading newspaper Expansión in Mexico.
I'm especially proud that our employees have given our company an excellent rating in the culture and commitment survey, with a spectacular score for pride in belonging and commitment, 87%. Finally, I would like to remind you that during this year, we have signed our third equality plan with the social agents, which analyzes in more detail the commitments already undertaken in all areas of work and positions us among the companies most committed to equality, work-life balance, and professional promotion, and support for victims of harassment or gender-based violence. In terms of social responsibility, I would like to share with you an indicator that best reflects the social impact of our activity. We call it social cash flow, which shows how our group's income is distributed and has an impact on the different social stakeholders: employees, institutions, suppliers, partners, and owners that sector, etc.
In the graph, you will see that together with the EUR 20 million for our shareholders, there are 21.2% of the income, EUR 621 million, that went to our employees, and 43.2% went to the suppliers of goods and services. In addition, 86.4% of these suppliers are local and kilometer zero suppliers. With regard to the most significant items, 7.8% was allocated to direct payments to public administrations, half of them in Spain, while 18% were devoted to hotel owners. It highlights our tax contribution and the importance of companies like ours for destinations and their communities. Our objective, set out in the Roadmap, more profitable, we see our commitment to go farther every year.
Now, in the end, I just wanted to mention our Roadmap to be more profitable and financially sound, a priority that has been the focus of our efforts since the deep crisis that COVID caused in our Balance Sheet. As our Honorary Chairman said, never before have we witnessed a global shutdown of our activities. We had suffered, as you know, financial crises, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, regional pandemics, wars, and revolutions, such as the Arab Spring, and we had always managed them from the strength of our globality. It allowed us to compensate some markets with others until COVID came along.
Believe me, considering the impact of this crisis, post an almost general closure for two years, our well-founded estimates that we will manage to recover our net debt levels by the end of this year without the need of a capital increase take on a greater dimension and a greater volume. Therefore, the market has received our 2023 results with remarkable pleasure, and I am happy to share with you that all analysts, without exception, have recognized that our company outperformed market consensus expectations at all levels, and that 50% of analysts recommend buying our shares, while 44% recommend holding them.
As I said, the market has shown its confidence in us, not only because of the dynamism of demand and the particularly outstanding evolution of the business in destinations such as the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Southeast Asia, but also because of the strategy followed by the group to strengthen our balance sheet with the objective of returning in 2024 our net debt ratio EBITDA to a sustainable level of less than 2.5 times, which the analysts have considered as feasible. It is clearly very comforting to see that the priority we gave in our strategic plan to all those levers designed to help us strengthen our balance sheet and continue to grow have yielded and continue to yield significant results, as we are aware that we must keep on working hard. Finally, we'll talk about perceived or intangible value, which is increasingly important.
As you well know, I would like to remind you that the value of Meliá Hotels International brand continues to strengthen, and last year was recognized by the consultancy firm Brand Finance as the strongest brand in Spain and has been included in 2024 in the prestigious ranking of the 30 best Spanish brands that Interbrand prepares every year. I will now talk about our vision and perspectives for 2024 and the commitments we propose to undertake. We have seen how 2023 evolved, as I often say, from good to better, marking the return to full operational normality, as well as a business trend that continues to rise, with no indication so far of a slowdown in demand.
Today, I commit with all of you to take advantage of this favorable situation to further strengthen our balance sheet and return it to the healthy debt and value generation ratios prior to the pandemics. Already in 2024, we will achieve this, as we have been saying, through various means. Firstly, by maximizing revenue generation, thanks to our total revenue strategy and the group's firm focus on the most profitable and resilient segments, such as premium and luxury hotels. With this regard, Easter, as once again, demonstrated the resilience of our business models, managing to maintain revenues despite the March effect, a month in which traditionally fewer people travel compared to years when Easter falls in April, and the impact of adverse weather conditions in Spanish destinations while maintaining the trend towards a reduction in booking cancellation rates.
As for the rest of the year, based on the sales on the books of those registered for next summer, we can see that occupancy evolves very positively and is above that estimated for the same dates in 2023, while the average rate also maintains its upward trend above that of the previous year. The current rate of bookings already double-digits, plus 34%, higher than those registered on the same dates of the previous year for our holiday hotels, continues to show no signs of slowing down, while cancellation rates continue to fall. I am pleased to announce that the RevPAR, the minimum revenue per room achieved during the first quarter of 2024, has increased by over 15% compared to last year.
Our estimates to recover in 2024, the average occupancy levels before the pandemic, are particularly positive, which in 2023, they were four percentage points below those of 2019. We will see the cancellation of our balance business growth based on both occupancy and price, a trend that is registered both in the Spanish coast and in the Balearic and Canary archipelagos. [Foreign language] Registered sales show good perspective, 11% more sales for 2022 than last year with the same dates, and a confirmed turnover for 2025, which is 30% higher than that we had a year ago for 2024. In addition, requests for quotation for new events exceed those received up to May last year by 26%.
In terms of individual corporate travel and city breaks, bookings also evolved positively with a 20% growth compared to the previous year, with our direct channel Meliá Pro standing out as a channel for business, in particular to Europe and the Caribbean. Later this afternoon, we will present our first quarter results to the market, which will give us a first insight into business trends in our main markets, as well as the performance in a key period for some strategic destinations such as the Canary Islands and the Caribbean, and a snapshot of our sales on the books for the rest of the year.
A second road to growth and strengthening will undoubtedly be our expansion, with a minimum of 20 new hotels to be opened during 2024, and with the initial operation of hotels opened during 2023 that will progressively reach their full operational level, such as the Gran Meliá Palazzo Corduscio in Milan, the Grand Meliá Nha Trang in Vietnam, the Meliá Collection Marangogo in Kuala Lumpur, in Bangkok, the Meliá Durrës and Sol by Meliá Tropical Durrës in Albania, among others. Last week, we signed a new hotel in Cayo Coco, Cuba, with 566 rooms, which will operate with five-star all-inclusive category under the name of Meliá Costa Rey. As well, the company has eight new hotels in Malta. As we saw, we have a list of top-level partners with whom we can continue supporting a growth plan on solid foundations.
Thirdly, we will continue to promote as a vehicle for consolidation and growth some transactions with assets under the premise of always maintaining the majority ownership and, of course, the management of the existing hotels or those resulting from the corresponding transformation and repositioning processes. An example of that is a transaction already reported with Galata Group in Mexico amounting to $30 million, and the one that we are currently finalizing for the conversion of some assets in Punta Cana amounting to between $30 million and $50 million, including the creation of the future ZEL in Punta Cana. It will be a hotel that we expect to open its doors at the end of this year.
Before listing the main commitments we would like to make for 2024, I would like to remind you that the market's support for our management has also been reflected in the positive performance of our share price, which throughout 2023 and to date has been remarkable, increasing by 67% compared to a 35% increase of the average IBEX company. From the beginning of 2024 to date, Meliá's share price has risen 28% compared to 10% for the IBEX, making it one of the best-performing companies in the selective index, a clear sign of the market's recognition of our commitments and progress. In addition, I am pleased to confirm that the main advisory and voting recommendation agency for institutional investors, known as Proxy Advisors, have voted in favor of all the items to be approved today in this general shareholders meeting.
Dear shareholders, having outlined our strategy, I would like to renew our commitments to all of you for 2024. Firstly, in terms of expansion and openings, we are comfortable in setting a target of signing a minimum of 13 new hotels with nearly 7,000 rooms. With regard to the opening, we plan to open a minimum of 20 hotels during the year. It is a figure that could increase if new operational or ready-to-open hotels are signed. From January to date, we have already signed 19 hotels with more than 2,900 rooms, including two excellent hotels in Pattaya in Thailand and four new additions to the exquisite and unique portfolio of our The Meliá Collection brand in Asia, Spain, and Malta. As for business, I am comfortable in stating that we expect to achieve a double-digit increase in the RevPAR, the average revenue per available room.
In the financial area, as part of our aim to further improve our performance through cash generation expansion and some asset rotation, we can commit to you that we will again expect the market consensus target for the group's EBITDA, excluding capital gains, and ending 2024 with an EBITDA of at least EUR 525 million, provided that the current market trend for the season is maintained. Our projections, in line with the estimates of entities such as Excelsior or with the forecasts of airline seats, continue to improve, allowing us to aim for this objective, which, as you already know, improves on the objective I stated during the presentation of our annual results for 2023 of exceeding EUR 500 million of EBITDA this year.
At the same time, the continued improvement in our revenue management and efficiency, combined with the moderation or slight decline in inflation, allows us to state that our EBITDA margin at the year-end 2024 will already be above that achieved in 2019 before the pandemic, which will undoubtedly be another very important milestone. Here and now, I commit myself to all these objectives: double-digit RevPAR increase, EBITDA equal or higher than EUR 525 million, net debt/EBITDA ratio below 2.5 times, and recovery of the pre-pandemic EBITDA margin.
Dear shareholders, as I said at the beginning of my speech, 2023 has been a year of remarkable achievements for Meliá Hotels International, not only for the results obtained but also for the impact of our activity on society, and I am sure that we will continue to move forward to surpass them and consolidate the progress achieved since the drastic disruption of COVID. This is the last general meeting at which we still have to talk about the effects of a pandemic that we have already erased from our hearts and which now we must erase definitely from our balance sheets.
I'm confident that this will be the case thanks to the strength of the fundamentals of the tourism industry, which is becoming increasingly important in the priorities and spending decisions of individuals and families, but above all, thanks to our winning strategy and the best team in the industry. None of this would be possible without the work of the more than 45,000 people who make up Meliá, whom I would like to thank for their professionalism, their effort, and their strong commitment to our values. Of course, without our management team, partially renewed in 2023, as you all know, and it's a team of whom I'm so proud. Following the renewal undertaken during the summer of 2023, the senior executive team has been strengthened, retaining our Chief Operations Officer, Andrea P.
Gerondeau, and our Chief Human Resources Officer, Gabriel Ganaves, in office, and modifying the position of Juan Ignacio Pardo, who has become the new Chief Real Estate Officer. In order to fill the remaining key positions in the senior executive team, we have once again relied on internal talent and commitment, promoting three: Mariano Pérez de Cáceres, who did an excellent job by leading, and he was a VP in charge of the legal department. He's the new Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Carlos González, who was involved in the SET as the leader of the Strategy and Digital Transformation Office, and he's the new Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer. Last, but obviously not least, our former VP of Portfolio Management and Joint Ventures, Ángel Luis Rodríguez, he's the new Chief Financial Officer.
I would also like to appreciate the support of our female and male members of the Board of Directors, as they are part of a team that has demonstrated extraordinary commitment and solvency. Women and men, most of them independent, as we have seen, whose criteria always provide us with certainty and key support at the most important moments and in the most important decisions. I sincerely thank all of them, and I would especially like to highlight the work of the two directors who have completed their time as chairmen of the two board committees: Francisco Javier Campo García, firstly, who has been chairman of the Auditing and Compliance Committee, and Fernando Dornelles Silva, who has held the same position in the Appointments, Remuneration, and Sustainability Committee.
At times that, as we know, have not always been easy, two extraordinary chairmen, without a doubt, whom we thank for their generosity and extraordinary contribution to this house. [Foreign language] I would also like to welcome today female directors who since February have been chairing the two committees: Montserrat Tàpies, chairwoman of the Auditing and Compliance Committee, and Cristina Aldámiz-Echevarría, as chairwoman of the Appointments, Remuneration, and Sustainability Committee. Of course, I would like once again to thank Juan Arena, our dear advisor of the committee. He left a mark in all of us.
Of course, I would like to again thank all of you, our dear shareholders, for the trust that you have placed in our company this year and to assure you that we look forward to continuing to grow and respond to your confidence by creating value and continuing the trend of share price increase. As you know, during the last few years, it was not possible to approve the distribution of dividends for two compelling reasons. One of them was mandatory since we benefited from the aid for maintaining employment that governments such as the Spanish one granted during the pandemic in the form of temporary employment plans known as ERTES to companies in view of the disruption of their business, which limited our capacity to distribute profits up to and including last year.
The second reason has been our responsibility as managers, given that, as we already stated, our priority is to protect your investment, strengthening our balance sheet to ensure continued value creation and essential market confidence. The importance of these arguments, however, places greater value on the fact that today, thanks to the progress outlined above and our plan to complete the recovery to the pre-pandemic levels during this year, widely supported by the market, we can announce the return to dividend distribution. Specifically, EUR 20 million will be distributed with a payout of 17.5% of profit and with a dividend yield above the average for international hotel companies. Furthermore, you have our commitment that as we continue to improve our indicators, we will continue to improve the remuneration of our shareholders in the following years until we return to pre-COVID payout levels.
We believe this is an important step, but certainly not the last one in the new path that, as I explained at the beginning of my speech, we have embarked on during 2023 with our strategic roadmap, which is already bearing important fruits and which allows us to be frankly optimistic about the future of our company: a larger and more managerial company, more efficient and digital, more sustainable, and a better employer, without any doubt, a more profitable company. Hold no doubt that during 2024, we will continue to work to create value for our shareholders and for all our stakeholders, being aware of the importance of our work and of the responsibility we have assumed before all of you. Thank you all. [Foreign language]
Our Chairman is saying that at the end of this event, we will hold a cocktail. We still have to pass several items on the agenda. We have to approve them, and after that, we will end the meeting, if I may be allowed. Continuing with the development of this meeting, the definitive list of attendees and forum is as follows. We have 71 shareholders here, holders of 122,281,738 shares represented in the share. 179 shareholders with 75,500,000 shares, 54% of share capital, a percentage that we had already indicated that is over what has been indicated in Article 24 of Social Bylaws and Articles 193 and 194 of the text for the law of capital companies. Therefore, there has not been a substantial change to the data previously given.
Considering this quorum as definitive, the valid constitution of the general shareholders' meeting at first call is confirmed. Mr. Chairman. Many thanks, Mr. Secretary. Therefore, it only remains to start the deliberative phase of the meeting and to open the floor to the shareholders. Therefore, the floor is open for those attendees or shareholders who have expressed their wish to take the floor or have requested verbally or by telegraphic means information or declaration or any matters included on the agenda and the publicly available information provided by the company to the National Commission of the Value Markets since the last general meeting or the auditor's report. According to the list that we have created, the chairman with the secretary will give the floor to the shareholders that have requested, or we will reply to those questions received telematically. You have the floor. [Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
Good morning, everyone. My name is Irene Lafuente. I am working for the first time in this Q&A on behalf of my family, the family Lafuente. It is closely linked to this company, not only for professional ties but also true friendship ties. [Foreign language] I am very excited to be here. [Foreign language] I would like to give a special acknowledgement to the honored chairman and founder of this company, Mr. Gabriel Escarrer Juliá. Thanks to his effort and his work. This company has been settled, has been created on foundations that allow us to consolidate with complete success our work for the future. I would also like to acknowledge all the team of professionals that together with Mr. Escarrer Juliá allow this company to be a number one in this sector.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Irene. Indeed, the ties between the two companies come from a long time ago. In fact, Irene's grandfather was the first secretary in the board of advisors when the company was listed, and he was a pillar on the foundation of the company, and he was a lawyer of reference, an excellent lawyer, and of course, someone who's an expert in commercial fields as any other. Thank you very much for your words, and I'm sure the Honorary Chairman will receive them pleased. [Foreign language] If there is no further question. [Foreign language] We are going to read the resolutions that are permitted for the approval of the general meeting.
The full text of the proposed resolutions to be put into vote has been made available to the shareholders at the beginning of the session, as well as facilitating its download through the QR codes present in the room or their constant access on the company's website. It is not necessary for Mr. Secretary to read aloud the literal content, but an extract thereof, unless any shareholders so request for any or any of the proposed resolutions. After the presentation of each item, Mr. Secretary will indicate whether there are sufficient votes to approve the resolution in question. In addition, given that the meeting is pre-transmitted in streaming, the results of the votes will be shown on the screens for your convenience.
This is without prejudice to the publication at the end of the general meeting of the definitive data on the quorum and the details of the votes in favor, against, and abstentions for each item on the agenda, which will also be included, recorded by the notary public in the minutes of the general meeting. Secretary has the floor. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. The resolutions proposed by the Board of Directors to the Ordinary General Shareholders Meeting for approval, and which full text will be recorded in the notarial minutes of the meeting since these have been handed over to the notary public and to the shareholders at the beginning of the general shareholders' meetings, and according to the above, and have also been available to the latter to the call notice, are as follows.
First, resolution regarding the first item on the agenda on the annual accounts, allocation of results, and management of the company. To approve the individual annual accounts, balance sheet, profits and loss accounts, statement of changes in the equity, cash flow statements, and notes on the annual accounts, and the individual management report of Meliá Hotels International for financial year ended the 31st of December 2023, which have been audited by the company's auditor, Deloitte S.L. Is it approved? [Foreign language] it is approved by a large and sufficient majority of the shareholders in attendance with voting rights. 1.2.
To approve the consolidated annual accounts, balance sheet, profit and loss account, statement of changes in equity, cash flow statements, and notes to the annual accounts, and the consolidated management report, including the IAGC and the IAR to the Meliá Hotels International for a financial year that ended on the 31st of December 2023, which have been audited by the company's auditor, Deloitte S.L. Is it approved? [Foreign language] it is approved by a large and sufficient majority of the shareholders in attendance with voting rights. 1.3. To approve the consolidated statement of the non-financial information of Meliá Hotels International for the financial year 2023, which is part of the consolidated management report. [Foreign language] Is it approved? [Foreign language] it is approved by a large and sufficient majority of the shareholders in attendance with voting rights. 1.4.
To approve the management of the company by the Board of Directors of Meliá Hotels International S.A. for the financial year 2023. Is it approved? It is approved by a large and sufficient majority of the shareholders in attendance with voting right. 1.5. To approve the allocation of the results for the 2023 financial year, which, as it transpired from the approved income statements, amounts to a positive result profit of EUR 8,383,919.46, as follows. To offset negative results from previous financial years, EUR 8.3 million. Is it approved? [Foreign language] It is approved by a large and sufficient majority of the shareholders in attendance with voting rights. 1.6. To distribute with a charge to voluntary reserves, a dividend to the amount of EUR 0.093 gross for each share of the company entitled to receive it. The maximum amount to be distributed being EUR 20,603,450.42 gross.
If the distribution were to be made in favor of the company's ordinary shares, the agreed dividend distribution is made in accordance with the provisions of Articles 273 to 276 to the Capital Companies Act. That dividend will be paid on July 9, 2024, acting as a payment agent entity designated by the company's board of directors, the entities participating in the [Foreign language] SAO, be very clear, and in accordance with its regulations. Is it approved? [Foreign language] It is approved by a large and sufficient majority of the shareholders in attendance with voting rights. As for the second resolution, the second item on the agenda, on the re-election of the statutory auditor of the company and its group for the financial years 2024, 2025, and 2026, the extract of the resolution is as follows.
To appoint, according to the proposal made to the Board of Directors by the Auditing and Compliance Committee, the firm Deloitte S.L., with its company data, as external auditor for the auditing of the annual accounts and the management report of the company and the consolidated group for the financial years 2024, 2025, and 2026, and delegating to the Board of Directors the broadest powers for this purpose. Is it approved? [Foreign language] It is approved by a large and sufficient majority of the shareholders in attendance with voting rights. Regarding the third item on the agenda, on remuneration, to approve for the purposes set forth in Article 529 of the Capital Companies Act and Article 37 of the company's bylaws, upon proposal of the Appointments, Remuneration, and Sustainability Committee, the director's remuneration policy for financial years 2025, 2026, and 2027. Is it approved?
[Foreign language] It is approved by a large and sufficient majority of the shareholders in attendance with voting rights. 3.2. To approve in accordance with the provisions of Article 37.1 of the company's bylaws, the remuneration of the board members in their capacity as such for an overall maximum amount of EUR 1,400,000, 1 billion maximum amount that will be applicable to the remuneration corresponding to the financial year 2025 and subsequent years that shall remain in force until the general shareholders' meeting resolves to modify it. The termination of the remuneration of each director in his capacity as such shall correspond to the board of directors, which shall take into account the functions and responsibilities attributed to each director, the membership of committees and the board, and any other objective circumstances it is relevant. Is it approved?
It is approved by a large and sufficient majority of the shareholders in attendance with voting rights. 3.3. To approve by means of advisory vote the annual report on directors' remuneration prepared by the Appointments, Remuneration and Sustainability Committee, which was approved by the Board of Directors of Meliá Hotels International at its meeting held on February 29, 2024. Is it approved? It is approved by a large and sufficient majority of the shareholders in attendance with voting rights. Regarding the seventh item on the agenda, on informative items, 12.1, information regarding the Euro Commercial Paper Program.
It is informed that during the term of the Euro Commercial Paper Program, which was approved under the authorization granted by the general shareholders' meeting on July 10, 2020, and by the resolution of the board of directors at its meeting held on May 11, 2023, several issues have been made amounting to a total of EUR 92,600,000. For these purposes, the board of directors has prepared and made available the relevant informative document. This is thus informed, and this item is not put to the vote since it's merely informative. Resolutions regarding the eighth item on the agenda, on the delegation of powers. 5.1, delegation of powers to interpret, correct, supplement, develop, formalize, and execute the resolutions adopted by general shareholders' meeting and delegation of powers were appropriate. Is it approved? It is approved by a large and sufficient majority of shareholders in attendance with voting rights.
Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, with regards to the approval of the minutes of the meeting, the notarial minutes have been drawn up by the notary public, Mr. Armando Maceira Pereira, in attendance at the request of the board of directors. Will be considered the minutes of the meeting, and in accordance with the legislation in force, they do not require the approval by the general shareholders' meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, the meeting is closed. Thank you all for your attendance, and I'm aware that our Honorary Chairman wants to address you.