Beach of Sardinero, Santander, 1925

Promising future of tourism business in Spain was stopped by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). After the war, Spain became an autocratic goverment under the dictatorship of General Franco. By this time, intenational tourism fell down and was submit to strict police controls and rationing of food and fuel, as well as tedious procedures for obtaining visas. Throughout the decade of the 40`s, tourist flow was mainly domestic, only affordable for upper classes and focused on traditional festivals and religious celebrations.
In the early 50’s, Europe started to overcome the ravages of World War II and the phenomenon of mass tourism was born. The new middle class in Western Europe quickly began to travel to the South during their holiday periods. The Mediterranean Coast was the most popular destination. During those years, Spain increased in visitors:
from 1 million tourist in 1951 to six million international visitors in 1959. However, infrastructures (hotels, roads, highway …) were deficent and there wasn’t enough national budget to this effect, so those first tourism businesses started to borrow abroad for the construction of hotels and other services.

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