Historical background of popular cruises: the maritime excursions in Catalonia and Balearic Islands (Spain) during the first third of the twentieth century
Historical background of popular cruises: the maritime excursions in Catalonia and Balearic Islands (Spain) during the first third of the twentieth century
Antecedentes históricos de los cruceros populares: las excursiones marítimas en Cataluña y Baleares (España) en el primer tercio del siglo XX
Resumo: The Spanish tourism industry laid its foundations in the first decades of the twentieth century. Although with some delay in comparison to other European countries, Spain joined the new trend that conceived tourism as another sector of economy activity. This paper takes a historical approach to studying maritime excursions, a relevant tourism practice at the beginning of the last century. Its geographical scope is limited to Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, where coastal cruises enjoyed great popularity. After addressing the origins of maritime tourism, the study focuses on the organization, development and purposes of the coastal cruises and explores their popular connotation. Using archival and newspaper sources, mainly advertisements and maritime chronicles, it seeks to shed light on the magnitude, social scope and structural reasons that fostered this phenomenon which has practically been ignored by the tourism historiography.
