Tourism, modernization, and difference: a twentieth-century Spanish paradigm

Visit Spain: The image of Spain in the state’s tourist poster (1928–1975)

“…'Regeneration' and 'Europeism' aligned with the interests of the power elite who, as Sasha D. Pack (2008) observed, soon started to think about tourism as a regenerative force from the economic and social perspective. Spanish entrance in the European tourist routes was perceived as a means for integrating it in the continent and modernizing it, on a programmatic attempt to overcome the national decadence, either real or perceived.…”

A double life cycle in tourism arrivals to Spain: Unit root tests with gradual change analysis

“…The statistical sources on tourism and passenger movement to Spain, the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) and the Institute for Tourist Studies provide only estimates for the number of non-resident visitors from 1950 to the present, but Pellejero-Martínez (2002) gives the numbers of arrivals from 1946 to 1949. 1 Prior to this, in the first three decades of the twentieth century, the number of foreign tourists to Spain was already on the rise and tourism companies were already in existence ( Pack, 2008 ). However, the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) brought about a decline in transport and accommodation infrastructures.…”

“…After the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, tourists began to arrive again although in very low numbers compared to previous years ( Pellejero-Martínez, 2002 ). Spain was offering a sea and beach tourism at low prices compared to other mature Mediterranean destinations like France and Italy ( Pack, 2008 ). In addition, in 1951 the Ministry of Information and Tourism was created to coordinate all tourism activities and in 1953 a National Tourism Plan was proposed with the aims of promoting tourism, improving infrastructures and intensifying advertising abroad ( Pellejero-Martínez, 2002 ).…”

Constructing National Identity Through Galician Homeland Tourism

“…Through this image constructed by tourism, Spain "carefully orchestrated and promoted its re-entry into the European family" (Olins 2003, p. 162). While this narrative of the birth of a modern European Spanish image and a new tourist industry is overstated and simply incorrect (Pack 2008), the reality of this representation is that it continues to overemphasize the unity of a single image of the Spanish nation resting on tired stereotypes. Over the decades, tourism in Spain has presented a very narrow image of the nation, reproducing a cliched exotic orientalism invented by outsiders while also catering to the 'sun and sea' demands of the tourist market (Storm 2017).…”