Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Land Use in Spanish Coast: Tourism as a Driving Force of Landscape Change (1990–2018)

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Spanish Tourism Geographies

Part of the book series: Geographies of Tourism and Global Change ((GTGC))

  • 157 Accesses

Abstract

Coastal tourism is the economic activity with the greatest impact on landscape and land transformation in Spain. Coastal areas are generally associated with mass tourism, linked in turn to overtourism. The study of these territorial transformations can be carried out from different perspectives. This chapter proposes an analysis of the evolution of changes in land use on the Spanish coast between 1990 and 2018 using Corine Land Cover satellite images. The urban development associated with the construction of second homes and communication infrastructures explains the high percentage of artificial land on the Spanish coastline today. In order to gain a more detailed understanding of the evolution of the changes, four coastal areas with important tourist destinations are analysed: Alicante, Majorca, Murcia and Malaga. In conclusion, the process of coastal artificialisation accelerated at the end of the 1990s and during the real estate bubble of the first decade of the twenty-first century. The first coastal strip was saturated at the end of the 1990s and, since then, the process of urbanisation linked to tourism has expanded inland. It is important to understand the process of territorial development of tourism in order to develop spatial planning policies for sustainable and balanced tourism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barbero-Sierra, C., Marques, M. J., & Ruíz-Pérez, M. (2013). The case of urban sprawl in Spain as an active and irreversible driving force for desertification. Journal of Arid Environments, 90, 95–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2012.10.014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barragán, J. M. (1993). Ordenación, planificación y gestión del espacio litoral. Oikos-Tau.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beyers, W. B., & Nelson, P. B. (2000). Contemporary development forces in the nonmetropolitan West: New insights from rapidly growing communities. Journal of Rural Studies, 16(4), 459–474. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3902-6_13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanco Romero, A., Blázquez Salom, M., de la Calle Vaquero, M., Fernández Tabales, A., García Hernández, M., Lois González, R. C., Mínguez García, M. C., Navalón García, R., Navarro Jurado, E., & Troitiño Torralba, L. (2021). Diccionario de Turismo (389 pp). Ediciones Cátedra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blázquez, M., Murray, I., & Artigues, A. A. (2011). La balearización global: el capital turístico en la minoración e instrumentación del Estado. Investigaciones Turísticas, 2, 1–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Britton, S. (1991). Tourism, capital and place: towards a critical geography of tourism. Environmental and Planning D: Society and Space, 9(4), 451–478. https://doi.org/10.1068/d090451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryson, J., & Wyckoff, W. (2010). Rural gentrification and nature in the Old and New Wests. Journal of Cultural Geography, 27(1), 53–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873631003593232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, J. K., McChesney, R., Munroe, D. K., & Irwin, E. G. (2009). Spatial characteristics of exurban settlement pattern in the United States. Landscape and Urban Planning, 90(3–4), 178–188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2008.11.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Espejo Marín, C. (2011). Innovación para la competitividad turística en la Manga del Mar Menor (Murcia). Cuadernos de Turismo de la Universidad de Murcia, 27, 321–339.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Environment Agency (EEA). (2006). Urban Sprawl in Europe—The ignored challenge; EEA. https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/eea_report_2006_10

  • Fernández Nogueira, D., & Corbelle Rico, E. (2017). Cambios en los usos de suelo en la Península Ibérica: Un meta-análisis para el período, 1985–2015. Biblio3W Revista Bibliográfica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales. Vol. XXII, n° 1.215 https://doi.org/10.1344/b3w.0.2017.26442

  • Greenpeace. (2016). A toda Costa, Análisis de la evolución y estado de conservación de los bienes y servicios que proporcionan las costas, in: https://es.greenpeace.org/es/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/07/Informe-Ampliado.pdf

  • Guaita, N., López, I., & Prieto, F. (2008). Cambios de ocupación del suelo en España: implicaciones para la sostenibilidad. Ciudad y Territorio Estudios Territoriales, 156, 235–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurran, N., & Blakely, E. (2007). Suffer a sea change? Contrasting perspectives towards urban policy and migration in coastal Australia. Australian Geographer, 38(1), 113–131. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049180601175899

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hepcan, S., Hepcan, C. C., Kilicaslan, C., Ozkan, M. B., & Kocan, N. (2013). Analyzing landscape change and urban sprawl in a Mediterranean coastal landscape: a case study from Izmir, Turkey. Journal of Coastal Research, 29(2), 301–310. https://doi.org/10.2307/23353628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hof, A., & Blázquez, M. (2013). The Linkages between Real Estate Tourism and Urban Sprawl in Majorca (Balearic Islands, Spain). Land, 2(2), 252–277. https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/2/2/252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lambin, E. F., Turner, B. L., Geist, H. J., Agbola, S. B., Angelsen, A., Bruce, J. W., Coomes, O. T., Dirzo, R., Fischer, G., Carl, F., George, P. S., Homewood, K., Imbernon, J., Leemans, R., Li, X., Moran, E. F., Michael, M., Ramakrishnan, P. S., Richards, J. F., Skånes, H., Steffen, W., Stone, G. D., Svedin, U., Veldkamp, T. A., Vogel, C., & Xu, J. (2001). The causes of land-use and land-cover change: moving beyond the myths. Global Environmental Change, 11(4), 261–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0959-3780(01)00007-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, L., Zhang, J., Nian, S., & Zhang, H. (2017). Tourists’ perceptions of crowding, attractiveness, and satisfaction: A second-order structural model. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 22, 1250–1260. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941665.2017.1391305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López, I., & Rodríguez, E. (2011). The Spanish model. New Left Rev, 69(3), 5–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morales Yago, F. J. (2013). El impacto de la actividad turística sobre el paisaje de La Manga del Mar Menor (Murcia). Estudios Geográficos, 74(275), 523–556. https://doi.org/10.3989/estgeogr.201319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nepal, S. K., & Jamal, T. B. (2011). Resort-induced changes in small mountain communities in British Columbia, Canada. Mountain Research and Development, 31(2), 89–101. https://doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-10-00095.1/

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plieninger, T., Draux, H., Fagerholm, N., Bieling, C., Bürgi, M., Kizos, T., Kuemmerle, T., Primdahl, J., & Verburg, P. H. (2016). The driving forces of landscape change in Europe: A systematic review of the evidence. Land Use Policy, 57, 204–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.04.040

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prieto López, A., Duarte-Abadía, B., & Boelens, R. (2021). Territory in conflict: Land dispossession, water grabbing and mobilization for environmental justice in southern Spain. International Journal of Water Resources Development, 37(6), 996–1020. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2020.1854693

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romero Martínez, J. M., Romero Padilla, Y., & Navarro Jurado, E. (2015). Atributos urbanos contemporáneos del litoral mediterráneo en la crisis global: caso de la zona metropolitana de la Costa del Sol. Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales, 19, 500–526.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rusu, R., Bodocan, V., & Man, T. (2020). Urban Sprawl and Its Impact on Urban Tourism in Romania. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 22(4), 521–533. https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2020.1775403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Serra, P., Vera, A., Tulla, A. F., & Salvati, L. (2014). Beyond urban–rural dichotomy: Exploring socioeconomic and land-use processes of change in Spain (1991–2011). Applied Geography, 55, 71–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2014.09.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simancas, M., & Peñarrubia, M. P. (2019). Analysis of the Accommodation Density in Coastal Tourism Areas of Insular Destinations from the Perspective of Overtourism. Sustainability, 11, 3031. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11113031

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simancas, M., García, J. I., Greifemberg, C., & Peñarrubia, M. P. (2018). Strategies to improve the quality and competitiveness of coastal tourism areas: Applying tourism standards. Journal of Tourism Analysis: Revista de Análisis Turístico, 25, 68–90. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTA-02-2018-0007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, B. L., Lambin, E. F., & Reenberg, A. (2007). The emergence of land change science for global environmental change and sustainability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(52), 20666–20671. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25450958

  • UNWOT. (2005). Indicadores de Sostenibilidad para los Destinos Turísticos. Guía Práctica, UNWTO.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNWOT. (2019). Tourism definitions, https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/10.18111/9789284420858

  • Zornoza, C. (2013). Crecimiento urbanístico en la zona costera de la Comunidad Valenciana (1987–2009). Análisis y perspectivas de futuro. IIDL/PUV.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Inter-University Institute for Local Development, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    María-Dolores Pitarch-Garrido & Carmen Zornoza-Gallego

Authors
  1. María-Dolores Pitarch-Garrido
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Carmen Zornoza-Gallego
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to María-Dolores Pitarch-Garrido .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain

    Asunción Blanco-Romero

  2. Department of Geography, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma, Baleares, Spain

    Macià Blázquez-Salom

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Pitarch-Garrido, MD., Zornoza-Gallego, C. (2023). Land Use in Spanish Coast: Tourism as a Driving Force of Landscape Change (1990–2018). In: Blanco-Romero, A., Blázquez-Salom, M. (eds) Spanish Tourism Geographies. Geographies of Tourism and Global Change. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39780-6_15

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39780-6_15

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-39779-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-39780-6

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation