Family at Puerto de Mazarrón beach, Murcia, 1975

In the 80’s, the aggressive competition in the hotel industry triggered a big fall of rates: hotels were not a profitable business anymore. The solution came from the housing development, which satisfied the comfot demands of the new middle-class tourism. Small Mediterranean villages, which were kept safe of tourist business before, disappeared to give way to residential cities with a real tourist vocation.

To build clandestine and legalize after, become a typical practice of those years. Sometimes, when the ejecution of a building was especially shocking/scandalous there was no other way that to leave them standing because, demolishing the building and taking the compensations that it carried, was very expensive. After all, those buildings had capacity to accommodate thousands of tourists and bring money to the city.

In 1988, the new Coastal Legislation was born in order to solve the excess of previous years. This law was justified by the progressive destruction and privatization of the coast, as well as, on the need to protect and conserve its natural and cultural values. The first step taken was to define where was the boundaries/limit between public and private space (50- 100 meters from the shore). However, beyond those 50 or 100 meters from the shore, property developer and mayors were free for rise huge building.

The residential tourism business has continued growing despite restrictions imposed by the new legislation, becoming an essential part of Spanish economy. Between 1999 and 2005, houses on the coast increased in 165,400 units. This kind of tourism development is characterized by the seasonality in the occupation of houses (between 32 and 66 days per year). The main problem is that this seasonality created ghost towns during the winter. The low turnover of tourists and less spending per tourist and day, is another negative factor.

The residential tourism demand is mainly national, due to the wealth improvement of the Spanish society. In the last years, a lot of people have had access to a second home, a sign of social status highly value. This demand is a phenomenon accepted by the society. The spread of this phenomenon has been also helped by the gradual increase in retirees and people over 60 years, which have very good rents levels and time, and live the entire year in those coast dwelling. This fact is positive because slows the seasonality.
One of the last dilemmas related to the 1988 Coast Legislation is the eradication of “chinringuitos” (small bars installed on the beach, which serves meals and drinks). According to the Law, the year 2007 is the deadline given to these establishments to stop occuping the beach. The disappointment comes from the owners of these establishments, as well as, a part of the Spanish society, that considers “chiringuito” as an untouchable symbol of summer, sun and beach. Today, many “chiringuitos” still stand on the beaches and it is uncertain when they will be completely eradicated.

In short, the tourism boom was a predictable failure despite it initial success. The main problem has been the fact that urban planification depends on regional goverments (Comunidades autónomas), so they are who takes all decisions and have the last word. Land speculation, modifications on the urban planning to increase density and other kind of ins and outs between property developer and regionals governments have made the Spanish Coast the perfect paradise for corruption.

The over urbanization of the Spanish Coast has had irreversible natural consequences, and has not left quality planning, leaving architects to face a very complex scene due to its economic, political and social dimension.

Spain has played an important role in the consecration of the leisure culture. The binary sun and beach, added to weak legislation, corruption and the complete lack of natural and cultural values, have made the Spanish Coast the most dense and saturated place in Europe. Only in 50 years, hotels, resorts, restaurants and holiday residences have transformed the Mediterranean Coast into an expiration-date business, with terrible social and natural consequences.

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