If you think of a resort town in Spain, you probably think of the famous Marina d’Or resort in Oropesa del Mar (Castellón), which was recently sold to the Magic Costa Blanca. But in reality their business model was based on: Three Union Holiday City Built during the Franco regime Perlora (Asturias), Tarragona and Marbellawas intended for employees of public companies of the time. Sixty years after its inception, the three summer residences have taken different paths, from abandoning and forgetting their apartments, to a complete renovation to extend their use to the present day.
Also known as Education and Recreation Resorts or Holiday Union Cities, it was not Franco’s original idea. In the early 1930s, fascist Italy sought to provide workers with affordable holiday accommodation in privileged areas by building ‘sea colonies’, which were soon copied by the Germans during the Nazi regime. country, always in coastal areas. This innovative tourism model reached Spain at the hands of then-Delegate of the National Unity, José Solís Ruiz. As a result of the intense industrialization phenomenon between 1951-1957 The aftermath of the war and the accumulation of immigrant populations attracted by the major industrial centers.
Antonio explains that Obra Sindical de Educación y Descanso (OSED) will be the body responsible for designing “a social tourism assistance programme, first associated with transport and affordable accommodation in tourist housing, and then a program for the construction of resort cities.” Ruiz Montesinos. , Digital Arts specialist from Pompeu Fabra University. This is how three complexes were built in Costa Dorada, Costa del Sol and Costa Verde Cantabrica de Perlora, with “three locations more or less equidistant from the peninsula coast, allowing the cost of transport to be minimized”. public enterprisesLike Ensidesa, savings banks, Hunosa or hydrographic confederations, they distributed the houses according to “family needs” in 15-day periods They offered a 20% discount in the dining hall to large families.
All they had a personal architectureare related to their region. For example, the resort town of Tarragona, now known as Ciutat de Repòs, hosted 1,200 guests every fortnight in 200 small bungalows and provided its guests with a number of essential communal facilities for daily living, such as a dining room. or a laundromat, as well as a church and a sports field to keep up with Christian obligations during the summer months. The design of the Asturias summer residence was entrusted to the Somolinos brothers, who opted for a complex of 273 chalets, some of which were inspired by the traditional horreos of Asturias, sharing a space with bars, a nursery and even a theatre. The Marbella project, on the other hand, used lime and rounded shapes to blend in with the terrain. Its most relevant building was the church, which was built in a spiral, leaving much of its interior open to the air.
Forgetfulness and lack of protection
The emergence of these holiday homes coincided with a phenomenon that would revolutionize the Spanish economy: sun and beach tourism. Thousands of foreigners came to Spain’s shores, fueling the real estate boom that would fill the shores with hotels and tourist apartments. In addition to these, the public holiday model proposed by the State rotting and leaving homes abandoned until then there were long waiting lists to get into them.
Tarragona was the first to be forgotten. Deterioration in the center of the resort escalated from the end of the dictatorship until 1993, when all the apartments were demolished. The complex has been closed since 2011, and discussions about how its facilities will be used in the future have only resurfaced for the past two years. After some rumors that it could open as a center for unaccompanied foreign minors or youth with psychosocial problems, in March 2022 the Government, together with the Tarragona City Council, presented a plan to transform the city into a youth hostel affiliated with Xarxa d’. For 2026 Albergs de Catalunya (Xanascat) with an investment of 15 million euros.
His residence in Asturias was this. The residential complex has been closed since 2006, when the building serving as a hotel was demolished upon detection of alumina. Since then, the project has been closed and its facilities are in an advanced stage of deterioration. There are currently no renovation or conservation projects, but the maintenance of green spaces and the patrol of the Civil Guard to prevent illegal invasions cost the Asturian Government 1.4m euros per year. Some groups, such as the Río Espasa de Perlora Neighborhood Association, occasionally send letters to the regional government denouncing the lack of an alternative plan to the current decline.
Only Urbanization of Marbella managed to progress. Cartagena Polytechnic University professor Ricardo Carcelén develops that the tourist complex “continues to be exploited within the Andalusian Junta Leisure Housing network for workers and the autonomous community in question,” and they are offered accommodation at a heavily discounted price. after passing a public lottery process.
An alternative to mass tourism?
Related news
Settlement cities, given the overcrowding of Southern European countries can be brought to the agenda as a more sustainable solution. “This model can be considered positive if it leaves its brainwashing aspects,” Montesinos confirms, “because it will offer a management model for the right of leisure, supported by institutions and free from real estate speculation.”
But he agrees with Carcelén: it is not possible to repeat this model of public holiday residences. “These Education and Recreation groups arose in a unique and privileged context where the almost virgin Spanish coast was hardly ever occupied,” says Carcelén; It’s a very different scenario than the current one, where private tour operators share space with major tourism promoters with special offers. The best tourism for the middle class. Not only was it impossible to copy a similar system from the public, it was also impossible to compete with private companies. As a result, two other Union Vacation Cities complexes projected by OSED for Guardamar del Segura (Alicante) and Punta Umbría (Huelva) were decommissioned when faced with the tourism boom we are currently experiencing.