Planning for tourism on the coast: contributions to a change in attitude

Abstract

This article provides a brief summary of the relationship between tourism, land planning law and municipal planning in Spain. It sets out the arguments which led to a change of model in a new era of tourism in which mass tourism, while still dominating the market, coexists with other forms of tourism. A second section presents three paradigmatic cases from the author’s professional practice. Two of them are examples of plans which served to revise excessive provisions for construction on the Catalan coast (Lloret de Mar and Mont-roig del Camp), while the third was the planning of a section of the seafront in Palma de Mallorca where, despite the obstacle of private property rights, an important urban park was created. These cases are preceded by the presentation of an ultimately frustrated counter-proposal dating from the early 1980s for the protection of a stretch of coastline on the Costa Dorada.