Sociology Of Tourism: What It Is And What It Studies
Spain is the third most touristic country in the world, with around 32 million visitors a year and only behind France and Mexico. It is striking that until the nineties, when Spain was the second most visited country in the world, studies did not begin to be developed around the social activity generated by tourism in our country.
The sociology of tourism aims to study the consequences that tourism has on a territory It has two main lines of work: the emergency in the face of mass tourism and its sustainability; and its research as a development factor for developing countries. The sociology of tourism in Spain was born in the last years of the Franco regime, when, with the help of Mario Gaviria, a multitude of studies were developed around the city of Benidorm, a pioneering tourist destination in Europe.
The majority of social studies on the social repercussions of tourism made reference to poorly planned or speculative growth derived from poor tourism management, alleging that these would turn against the initial generators of tourism.
In this article, we are going to discover what the sociology of tourism is and how these processes have been studied throughout history. We will also make reference to some pioneers in the study of this field, giving voice to their findings and realities. Surely you love to travel, discover other places and feel out of place in another country, but have you ever thought about what effects mass tourism has on the places where it takes place?
Although this may be a very simple concept, we are going to delimit what can be considered tourism in order to understand its meaning encompassed from the perspective of the sociology of tourism. Tourism has been defined as a manifestation of its time, of a socioeconomic reality. Basically, tourism is defined as a recreational activity that is based on traveling or touring a country or place for the pure pleasure of discovering it
Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon, and involves the movement of people to countries or places far from their usual environment for usually personal reasons, although they can also be professional or business-related. These people are usually called “travelers”, and tourism covers the entire set of activities that these people develop in this context.
The characteristic activities of tourism are those that generate the most typical products associated with tourism. This can be visits to museums, national monuments, traditional restaurants… There are many ways to experience tourism and they all have something in common: it has repercussions on the territory you are visiting.
Origin of the sociology of tourism
Prior to the development of the sociology of tourism, it is important to identify at what historical moment the first manifestations of tourism began and which most resemble what we know as such today.
1. First forms of tourism
The origin of tourism can be located in continental and industrialized Europe and the eastern coast of the United States from the second half of the 19th century.
Tourism originates from curiosity, pleasure, snobbery, illness and the search for different climates. It manages to establish itself in these territories when the first entrepreneurial people begin to appear and begin to capitalize on travel services linked to specific activities in new territories. It is important to name the figure of Thomas Cook, founder of the first travel agency, Thomas Cook & Son in 1874
The enrichment of the German, French and English bourgeoisies led to the creation of clients capable of paying for the trips offered by agencies such as Thomas Cook in the mid-19th century. However, the working class was relegated to leisure in the form of hiking until the 1930s, when union struggles in Europe won the right to paid holidays.
2. Origin of social studies
From studies focused on culture, they highlight the importance of the role of writers in the process that led to the adhesion of tourism to the collective mentality. Writers motivated the need to travel to recognize what they considered strange and unknown ; know the diversity of human realities other than and different from one’s own. Novels such as Memoirs of a Tourist by Stendhal or Viajes en mi tierra by Almeidaa Garret are referenced as triggers of tourism and the taste for discovering territorial environments different from one’s own.
Some pioneering sociologists studied the behaviors of foreign travelers taking into account their economic and cultural consequences, such as Leopold von Wise and Kurt Krapf in the first half of the 20th century. It would not be until after the Second World War, which, promoting international tourism and massification, would increase sociological studies focused on its impact.
As previously mentioned, reference is usually made to two lines of work in the sociology of tourism:
Emergency in the face of mass tourism
This current focuses on explaining the economic benefits of mass tourism for developing countries, while highlighting the need to build tourism aimed at the sustainability of the visited territory.
Understanding the phenomenon
This second vision of tourism focuses on studying the way in which the social sciences can understand this phenomenon along with the way to understand the sociocultural, economic, demographic and environmental consequences of these processes.
3. Current challenges in the sociology of tourism
Currently, we are in a key historical moment to study tourism and its processes associated with proximity and assuming plasticity and very rapid changes First of all, sustainability and climate change are absolutely current issues, so the sociology of tourism can be very useful to predict what paths to take to favor the ecology of our planet. On the other hand, at a cultural level, due to the very rapid globalization and possibility of cultural homogenization, it is interesting to study local cultural identities to preserve their individuality and question how to promote authentic cultural expressions in a context as globalized as the current one.
On the other hand, technology and digital transformation also pose new challenges in which to apply this current of thought; The rise of platforms like Airbnb and the widespread use of social media have completely transformed the tourism industry. For example, the sociology of tourism could study the influence of the viralization of a tourist TikTok and what environmental impact this may have. In relation to this example, the sociology of tourism is also focused on understanding the operating processes of mass tourism, considering its negative impact on local residents, infrastructure and natural resources.
Applications of the sociology of tourism: Mario Gaviria and Benidorm
In Spain, the sociology of tourism gained strength in the last years of Franco’s regime and the first years of the construction of democracy at the hands of Mario Gaviria, considered one of the most influential sociologists in our country. Trained in Law in Zaragoza, he was considered a disciple of the academic Henri Lefevre, noted for his ideologies focused on environmentalism and anti-nuclear. Gaviria’s contributions dealt mainly with the sociological application to the rural and urban world, leisure and, above all, tourism.
In the 70s, Mario Gaviria brought together a multidisciplinary team of more than 40 people to study the current phenomenon of the city of Benidorm, which would become the second most visited coastal city in Europe, and the first in Europe. hotel occupancy.
Gaviria referred to the city of Benidorm as “a perfect social laboratory”, defending its urban planning for its especially sustainable capacity at a spatial and demographic level, given the high and compact levels of housing density. In this sense, Mario Gaviria defended compact cities such as Benidorm or Barcelona and its Ensanche, arguing for their greater sustainability compared to the chlorophyllic model of chalets separated from each other.
Gaviria concluded that tourism was indispensable for Spain at its time and development, arguing that what the city of Benidorm generated for its tourists was something essential and irreplaceable. Benidorm could be considered, in his opinion, as the pure physical materialization of what is known as the Welfare State.
Studying tourism contributes to all types of growth
In conclusion, the sociology of tourism has close and obvious relationships with the knowledge of tourism processes, but it is important to take into account their multidimensionality. By understanding tourism and its movements, the possibility of predicting the economic, demographic and social evolution of the studied territory is generated.
Furthermore, with longitudinal and long-term studies, the sociology of tourism allows us to understand in depth the influence of this process on a specific culture or social group. The sociology of tourism should be valued like any other type of social study, and not considered “second” category when dealing with topics that may be presented as everyday or banal.
