Health and Leisure: The Spas of Galicia and the Discovery of a Tourist Periphery in the First Third of the Twentieth Century

Authors

  • Rafael Vallejo-Pousada Universidade de Vigo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17561/at.v0i6.2810

Keywords:

Spas, Health-care Tourism, Wellness, Leisure, Galicia, Spain, XIXth-XXth centuries

Abstract

This paper has two main objectives. One is to show the importance of the spas of Galicia during the first third of the twentieth century, using a novel source for this purpose, the Estadística Administrativa de la Contribución Industrial y de Comercio. Our second aim is to emphasize how the best Galician spas (Mondariz, A Toxa) became part of a project of the economic modernization of the autonomous community linked to the development of tourism. This shift toward tourism included an international appeal to foreign customers and business initiatives, mainly British. Galician elitist spas, this essay argues, helped to discover a pleasure periphery in the region between 1898 and 1914. The impetus came from local entrepreneurs linked to these spas, local banks, the canning industry, and the port and shipping businesses.

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Published

2015-12-30

How to Cite

Vallejo-Pousada, R. (2015). Health and Leisure: The Spas of Galicia and the Discovery of a Tourist Periphery in the First Third of the Twentieth Century. Agua Y Territorio / Water and Landscape, (6), 62–79. https://doi.org/10.17561/at.v0i6.2810