Mateo Estrella-Durán currently serves as Advisor to the Ministry of Tourism in the legal, connectivity and investment areas. He is a member of the Civil Aviation Council of Ecuador. Mateo is a full professor at the University of Cuenca, which he joined in 2004 and since then has served the School of Hospitality Sciences as its founder, first Dean, Professor and researcher in several areas.

He is a Lawyer, with a degree in Tourism Administration, has a master’s degree in Tourism Destination Management from the Universidad Oberta de Cataluña-Spain, a master’s degree in Planning and Sustainable Tourism Management from the University of Jaen-Spain and a Master's Degree in Anthropology from the University of Cuenca. He was a Humphrey Fellow at Pennsylvania State University in the USA and a DAAD Alumni in Germany.

Is the Director of TurisConsulting Ecuador, a consulting firm dedicated to developing and executing projects for the tourism and hospitality industries in Ecuador, as well he is the general manager of Ecuaresorts a hotel company who is developing and managing hotels. Additionally, he serves as Advisor of different real state companies. He is the Vice-President of the Ibero-American Society of Tourism & Law and serves on several boards for private companies and non-profit organizations.

He is the co-author of several books and academic articles on tourism. He has directed and participated in several tourism consulting and research projects, both in Ecuador and abroad, especially in tourism destination management and competitiveness.