El turismo en Baiona (Galicia): el nacimiento del sector turístico local y los establecimientos de la Edad de Oro

Abstract

Baiona (Spain) is a coastal tourist destination located in the south-west of the province of Pontevedra in the Galician Rías Baixas. The passage of travellers through the area has been constant down through the centuries, and the town has a long history of tourism, particularly since the last third of the nineteenth century. This article examines the origins of the local tourism sector and local tourist establishments in Baiona during the period 1887-1936. Given the scarcity of information in this field of tourism research, the study uses a qualitative approach based on content analysis, family testimonies and life stories. The results of the study reveal the gradual emergence of a local tourism sector from the combined impact of social changes, advances in transport and communications, shifts in economic activities, the growth of leisure and hospitality, the increased popularity of sea bathing, and ‘advertising’ of the area’s cultural and landscape attractions, while the first modern tourist establishments began to appear in Baiona as a consequence of the tourism overcrowding crisis in the 1890s.