The growth of mass tourism in the Mediterranean, 1950-2010:

Abstract

The explosion of mass tourism since the end of the Second World War has had a tangible effect on crucial flows of manpower, investment and production strategy towards the leisure economy in a large part of the world, with changes that take us back to what occurred two hundred years earlier in the heat of the Industrial Revolution. However, perhaps it is in particular areas (as was the case with the thrust of industrialisation) such as the Mediterranean basin, where this view can be identified more accurately. Both approaches are reflected in the key objectives of the work. as a fundamental phenomenon which transformed the evolution of mankind from the 18 th century onwards. The process, understood here as a long path which responds wholly to drastic, ground-breaking factors (according to the latest research undertaken by economic historians), has however emphasised the importance of extreme changes in the fields of technology, demography, economics, sociology and culture. In spite of the different interpretations of the issue, a common link between them all would undoubtedly be the turnabout resulting, albeit gradually, from the emergence of this Great Transformation, in the sense used by K. Polanyi, in the composition of the employment market and of the economic structure of nations since 1770. In short, the growth in assets, both personal and generated by income, allocated to the secondary sector. This is the idea presiding over this research, in two specific directions. On the one hand, the explosion of mass tourism since the end of the Second World War has had a tangible effect on crucial flows of manpower, investment and production strategy towards the leisure economy in a large part of the world, with changes that take us back to what occurred two hundred years earlier in the heat of the Industrial Revolution. However, and here is the second element to be considered, perhaps it is in particular areas (as was the case with the thrust of industrialisation) such as the Mediterranean basin, where this view can be identified more accurately. Both approaches are reflected in the key objectives of the work. The research is based on statistics provided by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), existing with certain gaps since the 1940s until the present day; and materials from Spains National Statistics Institute (INE), Spains Government Department of Tourism and the resources of the Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Shipping of Palma de Mallorca (COCIN). All of this documentation, supported by the corresponding bibliography, has made it possible to reconstruct and systemise the data required in order to meet the two fundamental objectives mentioned above. To this end, the research is arranged into the following sections. The first section will discuss the major figures available on the growth of tourism since the Second World War, whilst at the same time outlining the fundamental theoretical keystones of the study: the claim with regard to a particular techno-economic paradigm in the case of mass tourism, involved in the fifth technological revolution seen since the Industrial Revolution. The second section will deal specifically with the Mediterranean in its main tourism elements, based on the sources available: number of visitors, overnight stays and tourism expenditure. Finally, some conclusions are offered in order to summarise the work. II. From economic history … to the future? Mass tourism as a new techno-economic paradigm Tourism is one of the most important and dynamic economic activities of our times, with significant growth since the immediate post-war period, as shown in table 1 and the accompanying graphs. They confirm the following. Firstly, the striking increase in the number of tourists between 1950 and 2000: from 25 million to 687 million, with a clear European predominance. This -and here is the second element-, combined with the development in America, always consists of a percentage higher than 75 per cent in the worldwide attraction of tourists, an outstanding piece of data. Thirdly, the neglected destinations, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East, show delayed progress, but with a clear strength in the first of these: from 0.79 per cent in 1950 it increased to 16.77 per cent in 2000, and it can therefore be stated that, in the long term, this is the area which, relatively speaking, is attracting a greater share of tourism in the international markets. This fact infers a change in the tourism geography of the world, especially in the forthcoming years. In 2002, the ten main tourist destinations received half of the international arrivals of visitors, who accounted for more than 50 per cent of