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Late 50's
Spain was consolidated as a tourist destination coinciding with a significant moment in the economic planning of the country. During these years, Spain was under a dictatorship. Despite this, tourism was a very useful tool for propaganda. The evolution of the European society after World War II made the continent reach a state of economic prosperity and social welfare, and as Spain had excellent and cheap conditions for the tourist offer, it became a popular destination for Europeans. -
60's.
The most popular destinations were the ones of sun and sand tourism. Avenues of small hotels were built and tourists' bookings were made in small travel agencies. Domestic tourism was important, but this soon expanded to include holidaymakers from Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands. Benidorm was the most popular destination, and the most significant development that triggered its rise was the opening of the Alicante airport in 1967.
In these years, the number of visitors exceeded 6 million. -
70's.
In 1973, tourism development stopped due to the recession motivated by the rise of oil prices, the decline of Francoism and the democratic transition. Shortly after, modern jet airplanes were continually developed, enabling an increase in air traffic for leisure reasons. The affordability of taking a flight to another country was now within reach of many families. In 1976, a new phase of sustained growth began.
Many apartments and hotels were built along the coast. Touroperators emerged. -
80's
These are the years of the Spanish tourism boom.
The main objective was the incorporation of Spaniards to sun and sand tourism and to make them buy hotel rooms or their own apartments. In 1982, PSOE, (the Socialist party) got the government power.
At a national level, there is an industrial reconversion; Spain requests entry into the NATO and into the EEC. There was a period of economic boom that lasted until the beginning of the 90's. -
90's.
After half a decade of economic boom, the Spanish economy lives a biennium of crisis due to internal factors (there is a loss of balance objectives) and external factors (there is a deceleration of the economies of our environment). This, in 1992, produced negative effects on the employment,
placing unemployment figures at 24%. -
90's (2)
Touroperators created vacation packages. They became large multinationals, with their own chain of agencies, hotels and airlines. There is an urgency to renew part of the hotels and to diversify the country's brands and to internationalize Spain, mainly in the Caribbean. -
00's
The Internet developped, and with it, social networks, online travel agencies (OTAs) and search engines appeared. More and more people started having access to Internet. Hotel establishments began to develop their own websites and low-cost airlines entered the market. Besides, the transport infrastructures improved. Society got also updated. People started to have a more liberal personality and were opened to travel to new destinations and try new tourism typologies. -
00's (2)
In 2007, Spain reached the number of 100 million visitors, although tourists themselves were 59 million. These figures placed Spain as the second largest tourist destination. Internet is used by the vast majority of the population, and tons of information about destinations can be found there. Social networks and website reviews of the destinations have a great importance among people. Today, Google, metasearchers and OTAs have an increasing impact on the tourism market. -
00's (3)
The tourism sector brings so much money to the Spanish economy, greatly favoring it. Despite all this, the current economic situation of Spain is not very good. The country suffers from an economic crisis since 2007, and today it has a 18,4% of unemployment. This has affected inbound tourism but also was the reason to create low-cost companies and many discounts (Ryanair, for example). With the growth of jihadism, although Spain hasn't suffered an attack for many years, is in danger alert.
