Mass tourism

Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12

Mass tourism
Broadening participation to tourist
consumption
Working-class increased purchasing power
and leisure time
Welfare policies including holidays among
basic needs (holiday camps)
spreading new durables consumption (cars,
appliances)

Standardization of tourist offer

Elite escape to alternative (exotic)
destinations
Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12

Tourism as service consumption

Tourism as non-necessary consumption
strong income elasticity

Engel law
necessary-consumption (food, housing,
clothing) quota as inversely proportional to
income

but social determination of necessities

> automobile becomes a necessity when
everybody uses it
> summer holidays are perceived as a necessity
since WWII
Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12

Cultural vs. economic approach to

consumption
The necessity of consumption goods is determined
by their cultural perception
and the material culture of individuals changes
very slowly.
Engel law shows to be true in cross comparisons
between countries
but it is not true in longitudinal comparisons,
following the dynamic evolution of the individual, family or
group consumption behaviour

> consumption patterns are only gradually adapted to

growing/decreasing income, trying to maintain
socially-distinctive behaviours
enriched labourers keep on spending much money in food
impoverished aristocrats go hungry in order to keep on
dressing properly

Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12

Cultural determinants of tourist mass

consumption
Short circuits in the shift to mass tourism

Urbanisation push to the spread of holidays as a

urban habit
Only with mass tourism price become a tool for
competition

(in elite tourism, prices were a signal of the

offer level more then a cost)

Universalization of popular practices

summer baths
tanning practices
decline of therapeutic baths

(contradicting trickle-down imitation)

Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12

From elite to mass tourism

1920s US tourism boom
(Florida hotels stocks, automobiles)

Inter-war decrease of tourism in Europe

monetary crisis

(jeopardizing traveler's cheques and hotel

coupons)

> oligopolistic concentration

> (1928 merger between the tour operator Thomas Cook and the
Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits)

Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12

New tourist practices

Tourist demand diversification

youth movements (scouts)

hostels
camping
holiday camps

State intervention
for economic reasons

(foreign tourism filling payments deficit)

for control and organisation of mass leisure time

1925 Dopolavoro organisation in fascist Italy

children seaside and alpine holiday homes
Volkswagen (peoples car) modeled on Ford T
effects on mass-tourist mobility

Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12

 Tourism boom after WWII

10% population on holidays in 1946

60 %

1920-45 US domestic individual mass tourism

(Florida tourism boom)
1920-45 EU domestic organised mass tourism
(totalitarian States)
1945-60 EU domestic individual mass tourism
(cultural Americanization)
1945-70 US tourists in EU
(American tourism)
1960-80 North-EU tourists in Mediterranean
(internationalization)
1970s-today US and EU tourists in other continents
(globalization)

Mass-tourism phases

in 1990

Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12

Mass-tourism industry
Macroeconomic effects of tourism depending from
context

environment (attractions, sustainability)

economy (monetary situation)
social context (paid holidays, cultural changes)
policy choices

Preconditions for tourist-destinations development

Path dependencies
tourism / industrial development trade-off
> past choices condition existing interests and choices
Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12

The Spanish case

Tourism as an engine of growth

filling agricultural backwardness in the transition to

industry

Inter-war Spain

State intervention in tourism

Paradores (State-owned luxury hotels)
1936-39 civil-war destruction

WWII neutrality of fascist Spain

Who provided manufactured goods to both sides

1950s tourism boom

mass seaside tourism (Costa Brava, Baleares)

elite sporting tourism (Basque coast)
cultural tourism (Andalusia)

1970s Costa del Sol

Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12

Tourism organisation
Tour operators are born in countries of origin of
tourist flows (UK, Germany)

Mediterranean countries backwardness

The centres of control and organisation of tourist
flows and networks are closer to customers
market preside
addressing flows
determining the success of single destinations

(Mediterranean)

Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12

Tourism business history

History of specific organisations
tour operators network building

History of strategic choices and tourismspecific innovation

mainly organisational innovation

Strong links with general historical context

trade-offs, sustainability
Storia economica del turismo, 2011/12