Tourism In Spain Research Articles

Spanish tourist industry during the Franco’s regime through the touristic cinema (1951-1977)

Mass tourism in Spain became one of the most prosperous economic sectors in the mid-twentieth century, collaborating in the process of convergence with Europe, using the seductive power of the media, especially the cinema. A quantitative and (to a lesser extent) qualitative analysis methodology was followed. After reviewing the academic literature, the records of the National Film Library were consulted, selecting 87 films of tourist content and of national production, during the period of operation of the Ministry of Information and Tourism (1951-1977). The results have made it possible to identify the tourist segments, the cinematographic genres, the type of tourists, national or foreign, as well as the heritage elements and the services present in the tourist product of the time, visualizing the scenarios where the plots of the films are developed. The cinematography allows showing the elements that constitute the economic tourism model of Franco’s Spain, focused on towns on the Mediterranean coast, especially on the Costa del Sol. The research translates the antecedents of tourism marketing, using cinema as a means of communication that recognizes the economic transformation of Spanish society and the new image of Spain to be projected abroad.

La reciente diversificación de los flujos turísticos internacionales hacia España

Rationale International tourism in Spain was highly buoyant in 2023, with record levels of tourist arrivals, hotel overnight stays and average spending per tourist. This article describes the recent characteristics of these tourist flows and the factors that could help explain them. Takeaways •The increase in international tourist arrivals in 2023 and early 2024 relative to the 2016-2019 period was more marked during the autumn and winter months than during the summer months. •In 2023 foreigner hotel overnight stays increased more sharply, compared with the pre-pandemic period, in the northern regions of Spain than in the islands and the south of mainland Spain. •Foreign tourist source countries also appear to have diversified in 2023, with a notable increase in the number of tourists from the Americas and a slight decrease in the number of tourists from countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom. •In 2023 as a whole international tourists appear to have chosen higher category hotels to a greater extent, thus boosting average spending per tourist.

Measuring proximity tourism in Spain after the pandemic. An Origin-Destination Matrix approach

This work aims to provide more clarity around the concept of proximity tourism giving an overview of how tourist flows changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept of proximity changed over the years in different ways. Indeed, if in the past it was understood only on a geographical or physical level, today it makes sense to talk about the different typologies of proximity such as cultural, political, and social. The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the growing importance of domestic tourism. We use an Origin-Destination (O/D) Matrix approach, considering trips made to Spain in the three years 2019-2021. The idea is to build three matrices containing the coefficients of attraction. This is the first time that this methodology is used on Spanish data to understand the dynamic behind the different Spanish regions in terms of tourism proximity. This study is relevant in terms of political decision-makers and can bring to stimulate tourism within the national territory and encourage local mobility. Proximity tourism is a different way of doing tourism than foreign travel because it allows for greater sustainability in line with the needs of the time, turns out to be a different way of vacationing, and supports local destinations that are often vulnerable.

Attraction opportunities for enotourism among international travellers to Spanish wine PDO regions

We analyze why the impact of wine tourism in Spain lags behind France and Italy. We argue that a key factor is a lack of attraction of foreign enotourists, especially among tourists who visit a wine PDO region anyway. The international tourist profiles visiting such Spanish wine PDOs are identified and segmented with the ultimate objective of fine-tuning the gastro-touristic offer in these regions. In particular, an innovative two-step Latent Class Model (LCM) with covariates is developed. The first step concerns the sociodemographic profiles of potential international enotourists, which is therefore complementary to existing segmentations of actual enotourists. The second step uses touristic activities in order to profile the possible ways of reaching different types of tourists. The daily expenditure and the tourists' valuation are included as covariates, allowing to predict the probability of class membership, and thus to define priority target profiles for market positioning.

Wine Tourism in the Valencian Community: A Comparative Analysis

Wine tourism is increasingly considered as a strategic element in the wine producing countries of the Old World. In the case of Spain, several researchers have studied the role of wine routes in boosting the competitiveness of a territory, increasing wine production, improving the quality of life of citizens and the respect for the environment. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no previous studies that have analyzed in a unified way the wine routes of the Region of Valencia, that is, the wine routes of Alicante and Utiel-Requena. To overcome this research gap, the study comparably analyzes these wine routes in terms of attracting wine tourists and the economic impact generated in the period 2017-2021, also relativizing the data to the average of the total Spanish wine routes. The results of the research show that both routes attract a lower number of wine tourists than the average of the Spanish wine routes. In addition, it should be noted that the Utiel-Requena route generated a higher economic impact compared to the Alicante wine route between 2017-2019, with this trend reversing in 2019. This study, therefore, contributes to the improvement of scientific knowledge in several ways, given that, first, the research provides new knowledge in the field of wine tourism in Spain and, second, there are no previous studies that have analyzed in a unified way the wine routes in the Region of Valencia.

Direct and moderating effects of COVID-19 on cultural tourist satisfaction

This paper proposes a model to determine the direct and moderating effects of COVID-19 on the overall satisfaction of cultural tourists with the heritage destination visited. The hypotheses put forward in the model have been tested employing non-linear structural equation models (SEM), estimated with data from the Resident Travel Survey of the National Statistics Institute (NSI), on domestic demand for cultural tourism in Spain. The data analyzed covers both a pre-covid and pandemic period, from January 2019 to September 2021. The results confirm that COVID-19 significantly impacted the decrease in cultural tourists' satisfaction with the visit. It highlights the negative relationship between cultural tourists' socioeconomic profile and satisfaction. This research provides knowledge on the impact of COVID-19 on the behavior of cultural tourists, with practical implications for the design of tourism policies for the promotion and marketing of heritage destinations through differentiated marketing that increases satisfaction for this demand segment in crisis scenarios.

The regional geographical space of tourism in Spain: bases for the interpretation of the territorial tourism system

The regional geographical space of tourism in Spain: bases for the interpretation of the territorial tourism system aThroughout this research we approach the sociological explanation of the tourist activities that are developed in the context of the state "apparatus" of Spain, from the regional singularity. The interpretation of a reality becomes relatively important in which the interpretation, from Article 2 of the Constitution, currently in force, of the Nation, Nationalities, Regions, particularism and differential facts stands out. Relationship or political-legal-social relational complex (conceptually materialized as a politically organized social community, that is, as a State), not even, when contrasted differentially and reciprocally, can it ignore the primary purpose to which this relationship aspires, which is none other than to consolidate (rather than achieve), a objectual unit that society, territorially established and politically governed, independently of any other supreme power, recognizes referentially with full sovereignty (with total residential settlement of power in the element “people”), that is, with the State. Tourist activities are greatly influenced by the fact that in the Spanish state model the fruitful territorial division of the nation (understood in its double facet, cultural and legal, where the first refers to a set of individuals related to each other through ethnic, linguistic, geographical, historical, or religious ties, among others, and, in which the second reference refers to the set of citizens subject to a contractual relationship or social control such as the Constitution or the established legal system), has served to superimpose, in the peninsular geographical space, a set of territorial entities resulting from of the collective national will (on which the nation is based in its legal sense), and of the sentimental and identity bond.

Creation of mass sun-and-beach tourism in Spain: the definition of the tourist product through architecture

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze Spain’s success in developing mass tourism between 1950 and 1965.Design/methodology/approachThis analysis will be carried out from a marketing point of view using the paradigm of the four Ps: product, price, promotion and place, but focusing on the product since, as will be seen, the three other variables had a much lesser impact at that early stage. The product, in holiday tourism, is the destination, a combination in which the main protagonist is the hotel. The authors will analyse the main characteristics of the tourist accommodation on offer in Majorca and Ibiza in two ways: by studying the general statistics on the one hand, and on the other, through the detailed description of two hotel projects focused on the same tourist market but conceptually very different. In the first, a British design from 1956, we see the seed of what could have been and was not. Spain could have been filled with enclave-type tourist destinations with little connection to the local economic network. The second hotel design, on the other hand, shows us the ideal establishment for the exploitation of mass tourism in open destinations.FindingsIn Spain, mass tourism was explosively successful because the local business community was able to offer a very attractive product.Originality/valueThe authors use the architectural designs of two hotels as the central axis of the description of the Spanish tourism product.

The role of technological resources in the reputation of vocational education schools

Abstract The low reputation of vocational education in Spain requires schools to reconsider this type of education by taking advantage of its key resources and developing dynamic capabilities. Using structural equation modelling, this study analyses the impact of technological resources on two categories of dynamic capabilities: sensing capability and innovativeness, as well as the effect of these two capabilities on reputation, in a representative sample of vocational schools in tourism in Spain, with the key informants being the staff responsible for the degree (i.e., director, vice-director, head of studies, etc.). The results show that the use of technological resources provides vocational schools with the necessary capabilities to explore trends in social demands and the job market and reduce the gap between academy and industry. The findings also reveal that innovativeness has a direct influence on the schools’ reputation. However, the opportunities for improvement detected through the sensing capability do not directly influence reputation; instead, they require a subsequent action, innovativeness, that favours their effective implementation.

Carbon footprint of tourism in Spain: Covid-19 impact and a look forward to recovery

Tourism is very vulnerable to climate change and the disruption of Covid-19, facing two challenges: fighting climate change pursuing its carbon emissions goals, and recovering from the complex pandemic effects. We contribute to the incomplete understanding of tourism emissions pandemic impact and in different post-covid recovery scenarios. Using official data on tourists' consumption, we calculate the carbon footprint of tourism in Spain in 2019 and 2020 under different recovery pathways, including changes in consumption patterns and emissions efficiency, using a multiregional input-output model. Results show that the carbon footprint of tourism in Spain fell by 63% in 2020 compared to pre-pandemic levels, which would be aligned with the current sectoral decarbonisation target. However, the new tourists’ consumption patterns resulting from the pandemic are insufficient to increase tourism sustainability if they imply pre-pandemic consumption levels. The results provide empirical ground for the binary debate on “recovery or reform”.

Wine tourism in Spain: The economic impact derived from visits to wineries and museums on wine routes

Wine and tourism represent a perfect symbiosis, as they offer a different experience to tourists and also promote the economic, social, and environmental development of wine regions. In Spain, wine tourism is an increasingly important research field and several studies have been conducted on the role of wine routes in boosting the competitiveness of a territory, increasing wine production, improving the quality of life of citizens, and respecting the environment. However, to the best of our knowledge, the economic impact generated by these routes in Spain has not been addressed in the academic literature. To overcome this research gap, this paper aims to analyze the supply and demand of tourism activities by examining the evolution of the institutions involved in the Spanish wine routes, on the one hand, and the economic impact of these routes, on the other. The results show a sharp drop in the supply of institutions and the demand for tourist routes in 2020 as a result of COVID-19, with a decrease of 2.58% in the total number of institutions adhered to the wine routes, a decrease of 73.53% in the total number of visitors to the different Wine Routes of Spain and a decrease of 74.7% in the economic impact compared to the previous year. Likewise, the research shows the existence of differences between the Wine Routes of Spain in terms of the number of visitors and their economic impact, which could serve as a guide for managers to make investments through acquisitions and/or their own investments in wineries located on the routes with the greatest economic impact..

Форми цифровізації туристичної індустрії Іспанії

The article examines the functioning of the tourism sector in Spain, which is a competitive, highly profitable national business whose efficiency directly depends on the information database and digital technologies. It is substantiated that the accelerated digital transformation of tourism in Spain will help to stimulate economic growth, increase labor productivity and increase employment of the population. The seven most important forms of digital technological solutions used in the Spanish tourism industry are allocated: 1) mobile technologies today perform a whole range of services in the digitization of the tourism sector; 2) augmented reality (AR) has also entered the world of travel in Spain owing to the opportunities it can offer to those who wish to travel virtually; 3) the Internet of Things (IoT) promises to bring significant updates to the tourism industry and will become a major transformational factor in personalizing the customer experience over the next few years; 4) virtual assistants Siri and Alexa are being used by hotels to provide digital comfort for tourists; 5) the multiplier effect of the use of Big Data technologies in the Spanish tourism industry allows to build effective interaction between the government and business communities, improve and personalize travel services; 6) travel companies that rely on Blockchain functions to develop their loyalty and reward programs, certainly create a competitive advantage over other entities in the tourism market; 7) travel technology is becoming even more powerful thanks to the 5G networks. It is justified that in the future, the digitalization of tourism will be accompanied by a further process of squeezing the traditional companies with offline offices out of the tourism market along with the development of tour design according to the parameters individually set by each specific client.

Increase Wine Tourism in Spain from Chinese Tourists

In recent years and especially after the world pandemic COVID-19, the tourism sector is undergoing great changes as a result of travelers looking for unique and outdoor products to enjoy different experiences, involving new trends in tourism, especially in non-traditional destinations, and changing the needs and attitudes of tourists. In this sense, the tourist is currently more and more motivated by sensations in the search for new experiences. In this context, in which the experience is a fundamental objective, some tourist modalities such as wine tourism, already emerge as practices aimed at satisfying the new demand after the 1990s world widely. Nevertheless, this paper is present the current Chinese tourist flows after the pandemic and their relevant motivations in the growing demand for slow tourism, breaking the traditional stereotype of what we think are their demands, and presenting the possibility of wine tourism in small and middle-scale places like Priorat of Catalunya and Ribeira Sacra of Galicia, both situated in Spain. The main objective of this study is to research the development of a friendly campestre and natural wine and food local supplies, their interesting up-downs historic paths, their impressive "heroic" geographic sceneries such as the big contrast of mountains against rivers in these two still developing their international names wine regions of Spain: Priorat and Ribeira Sacra, also analyzing the high acquisitive power and potential demands of wine tourism for Chinese outbound tourists for this two regions, to identify the adjustments that must be made in the plannings and applications in these two specific wine regions, and serving as examples for others still not well known international wine regions to be developed for Chinese tourists or even Asian tourists for Europe and the rest of the world.

The Carmen Plot and the First Tourism in Spain

La invención de la España tópica en el siglo XIX se ha estudiado desde una perspectiva exclusivamente cultural y con una cronología muy amplia, cuando se produjo en los años 1840-1848, un período muy concreto de la evolución histórica española y de las relaciones con Francia y el resto de Europa. Los relatos de viajeros extranjeros por España proliferaron después de la guerra civil carlista de 1833-1840, pero no desencadenaron por sí solos la afluencia al país de una minoría de viajeros. Se necesitó para ello la intermediación de personajes de la realeza y la muy alta nobleza, que formaron cortes en las que también se integraron algunos escritores destacados. Esta trama áulica se desgarró durante el período 1865-1875, presidido por los conflictos políticos y las guerras a ambos lados de los Pirineos. Solo tras ese nuevo paréntesis, arraigaría en España el turismo de elites, que ya consumiría una imagen folclórica consolidada del país.

Evaluating the efficiency and determinants of mass tourism in Spain: a tourist area perspective

Tourism is one of the fastest-growing economic sectors. This has piqued increasing interest in the evaluation of the performance of the sector. This paper joins this line of research by providing a potential framework for measuring efficiency in the context of a country such as Spain, where sun-and-sand tourism, usually associated with mass tourism, predominates. Tourist areas located on the coast provide the units of reference. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is applied to determine the efficiency score and a Tobit-type model is employed to analyse the factors that determine efficiency. The results show that the impact of mass tourism on labour efficiency is geographically unequal, with the most efficient of the tourist areas located on the peninsular archipelagos. The analysis of the contribution of each input to the efficiency score reveals the pre-eminent role of tourism infrastructure as a lure for sun-and-sand tourism.

Tourism stock price and COVID-19: medium-term relationship with passenger transport, hotel, and tour operator subsectors

ABSTRACT COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on tourism in Spain, one of the world’s biggest tourist destinations and also one of the first countries to face the consequences of the pandemic. Tourism stock prices showed high volatility at the beginning of the pandemic. However, we do not yet know whether this relationship has remained throughout the pandemic and the effect it has had on the main subsectors of tourism. Quantifying this relationship in the medium term makes it possible to predict the effect of the pandemic on the tourism sector stock market and to compare the impact on its different subsectors. A dynamic regression model has been developed to predict the stock price of the hotel, passenger transport, and tour operator subsectors in Spain, based on the evolution of COVID-19. Cumulative COVID-19 deaths have been confirmed to be a good predictor of abnormal stock price in the main tourism subsectors, affecting passenger transport more intensely than hotels or tour operators.

COVID-19 as a stimulus for growth? The Spanish journalistic treatment of tourism during confinement

COVID-19 has had a negative effect on tourism activity, highlighting the dependence that many places have on it. Planners and managers have denounced the situation and have addressed it according to their interests: for or against regrowth as a means to overcome this crisis. The academic debate is focused on this polarisation and the possibility that this crisis constitutes an opportunity for change towards a degrowth approach in tourism. However, this approach is not adopted by politicians, entrepreneurs or the media. To confirm this hypothesis, we conducted a study focused on Spain, as it is an important international destination. We have used qualitative analysis tools in order to measure frequencies and construct semantic networks. We have analysed 2,440 written press articles on tourism in Spain, published in newspapers between 1st March and August 31st, 2020. The results confirm that the news items provide an x-ray of the events and constitute a means for transmitting the economic and reactivation discourse pro-re-growth defended by the interest groups.

The Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak on Camping Tourism in Spain: A Spatial Approach to Tourist Destinations

The COVID-19 health crisis has wreaked devastation on the world economy, especially on the tourism sector. The camping sector has been little studied despite its high economic impact and participation rate. Moreover, the observable effects of phenomena such as the COVID-19 pandemic have received little research attention. Consequently, the objective of this paper is therefore to analyse the effects of the pandemic on camping tourism by characterising the factors that determine it. The study is carried out by providing a geographical perspective of the sector by tourist areas, whereby two types of tourist destinations are considered: campsites located in coastal areas, and campsites located in natural areas. This is the main contribution of the work, as the proposed geographical analysis studies smaller territorial units than those usually used in tourism research. For the study, Multivariate Analysis techniques are applied, specifically Factor Analysis and Cluster Analysis. The results show that there is a balance between supply and demand in the sector, with a significant economic impact, especially on employment and the performance of the sector. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to nature tourism gaining greater popularity, and shows an evolution in travellers' preferences for tourist destinations in favour of campsites located in natural areas over those located in coastal destinations. The geographical location of the tourist destination, therefore, plays a key role in the characterisation of Spanish campsites. This has practical implications for both camping companies and institutions, as the fact that some areas are more attractive than others is a decisive factor in deciding on the location of new campsites.

Sustainable thermal tourism destination competitiveness: A multistakeholder perspective

The present study explores thermal tourism destination competitiveness from the stakeholder viewpoint, with the purpose of offering guidelines to decision makers to make their decisions in line with a sustainable perspective. Using qualitative research, data were collected through semistructured interviews and from secondary sources. The empirical framework is set on the city of Ourense, an outstanding reference of thermal tourism in Spain.
 The results show that thermal destination competitiveness is a complex three-dimensional concept due to the existence of interactions between its determining factors. They emphasize that the design of strategies to improve the competitiveness of thermal destinations must consider not only the greater or lesser importance of the determinants of competitiveness but also the interactions between them, as well as their heterogeneous influence on each dimension of thermal destination competitiveness. Moreover, the destinations' characteristics and position within the tourism area life cycle condition the relevance of the factors.

Olive oil tourism experiences: Effects on quality of life and behavioural intentions

Gastronomic tourism experiences are revealed as a response to a rural environment that needs to bet on economic diversification and to meet an evolving tourist demand. This new tourist does not only seek to enjoy himself/herself when travelling, but also find personal enrichment. In addition, the olive oil culture represents an important diversification opportunity for the Spanish tourist offer. Therefore, the objective of this work is focused on analysing how motivational factors, involvement with the gastronomic product and the intention to engage in related tourist experiences can generate positive impacts on the tourist's perceived quality of life and on their behavioural intentions. This study is applied to the analysis of the potential of olive oil tourism in Spain. From an online survey, a sample of 690 individuals has been obtained. The results of this study confirm that the proposed model has a great capacity to predict the behaviour of the market in relation to the realisation of trips for the practice of experiences related to olive oil tourism. 77.9% of the behaviour of this variable comes from the influence of motivational factors, engagement and quality of life.