Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
The First Commers in Tourism Industry: the Balearic Islands Experience, 1960-20001
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Copyright Year | 2014 |
| Abstract | 1. The economic bases that facilitated tourism The great transformation of the Balearic economy developed between the late 1940s and the first petroleum crisis of 1973. In fact, it was the nearly thirty years spanning between 1945 and 1973 that would redefine the model for economic growth on the islands. One could speak of a genuine boom as of 1960, which was fostered and spurred by the spectacular progress of the European economy. Though indeed a determining factor, the pure economic rent of the islands could not alone account for such phenomenon. This time it was not the conventional goods from the fields or urban workshops that would prompt such a shift, but rather the industry of the outsiders, to coin the visionary phrase of the Majorcan Bartomeu Amengual, Secretary of Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation between 1902 and 1957. Europe was rebuilding itself as a result of the war. The improvement in the standard of living, together with adequate legislation, made it possible for a large part of the population to enjoy the summer holidays in other countries. Thus, a tourist demand slowly made its way to the Mediterranean, where the low cost of living offered benefits that were comparable to those of the leisure industry. The response of the Balearic Islands in the 1960s was swift and calls for careful examination by economic historians. Meanwhile, according to the information available, the initial hypothesis appears to be logical: industrial and agricultural capital, together with clever businessmen of humble and diverse origins, laid down the foundations of an infrastructure, which, built hastily and anarchically, was formed in the Mediterranean’s main tourist attraction in just a few years’ time, thanks to an endless source of labour from other parts of the world. With regard to Europe, the progress began around the mid 1950s, as the influx of passengers from the continent to the Balearics by air grew considerably in relation to the number of those travelling by sea. Yet other measures helped to consolidate this. Along these lines, the 1956-1959 period led to a critical turning point, for it was in these years that the visa and customs procedures were simplified and/or eliminated, at the same time that there was a freedom to use alternative currencies, the modification of the exchange rates and the stabilisation of prices. All of these factors had a positive impact on the massive arrival of foreign tourism. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://carlesmanera.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/first-commers.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
