Spain is Different: The Arrival of Tourism

The densification of the landscape with the arrival of tourism

Beginning in the late 1950s, the opening of Franco’s regime to international tourism fuelled rapid urbanization and densification of the Spanish coastline, especially during the 1960s and 1970s. This massive growth, driven by permissive urban planning and the promotion of tourism as an economic driver, transformed traditional towns into tourist enclaves dominated by high-rise buildings, residential developments, and new infrastructure, without adequate environmental planning. As a result, there was a significant loss of coastal ecosystems and an alteration of the landscape, along with the social impact, including gentrification and the loss of cultural identity, the generation of a strong economic dependence on tourism, and fragmented urban models, especially on the Mediterranean coast and the islands.

Major Urban Development of the Spanish Coastline

The tourism boom from the 1950s through the 1970s cemented an extensive, mass urbanization model along the Spanish coast, which radically transformed the coastline, often without proper planning or sensitivity to the natural and cultural environment. Although the construction was mainly repetitive and speculative, there were also some notable high-quality architectural projects, such as the state-run network of inns (Paradores), which integrated tradition and modernity while respecting the landscape, and private luxury hotels like the Gran Meliá Don Pepe and the Hotel Don Pancho, which combined modern design, functionality, and adaptation to the Mediterranean climate. Some developments of holiday apartments or second homes for the working class also stand apart amid a panorama in which the expansion of tourism transformed the coastal landscape with little regard for its scenic or environmental values.

Roger subirà/Fundación Docomomo Ibérico