Balnearios y política turística en España1940-1960

Abstract

After the Civil War, spa activity, the traditional basis of health tourism in Spain, went from stagnation to precariousness in a few years. The article makes a diagnosis of the Spanish spa situation between the end of the conflict and the 1960s, when tourism becomes a mass phenomenon. Likewise, using various contemporary written sources, the insertion of these establishments in the tourism policy of the dictatorship during the selected period is analyzed. The main conclusion drawn is that there was actually no spa policy in the strict sense; there was no strong support from the public sector during the 1940s and 1950s. In fact, the inclusion of spas in the tourist plans of the new political regime was practically non-existent until the 1960s. The spas resumed their activity after the war but enter a phase of lethargy from which they will not awaken until democracy