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The Crumbling of Francoist Spain’s Isolationism Thanks to Foreign Currency Brought by European Tourists in the Early Years of the Golden Age

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  • Cirer Costa, Joan Carles

Abstract

The ‘Golden Age’ refers to an era of rapid economic growth which led to dramatic changes within European society. The steady rise in income coupled with recently introduced paid holidays encouraged the new middle classes to emulate the lifestyle of the glamorous and privileged trendsetters of the Belle Époque and the 1920s. The outward trappings of this included the purchase of a car and annual holidays in the Mediterranean, amounting in the 1950s to a sort of yearly pilgrimage. In the Balearic Islands and the Costa Brava an ample tourist sector flourished against a political background that was essentially in opposition to it – the autarchic stage of the Franco regime. Tourism, in the end, became one of the determining factors which provoked radical changes to this regime, leading eventually to complete abandonment of its militant isolationism.

Suggested Citation

  • Cirer Costa, Joan Carles, 2019. "The Crumbling of Francoist Spain’s Isolationism Thanks to Foreign Currency Brought by European Tourists in the Early Years of the Golden Age," MPRA Paper 95578, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:95578
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • L8 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • N7 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services
    • N74 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Europe: 1913-
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

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