Corporate Social Responsibility in the Tourism Industry : Some Lessons from the Spanish Experience

Tourism has been, and still is, a very profitable industry in Spain. But the Spanish model of tourism development, following a pattern set in the 1950s, is now in crisis. The crisis is apparent in the widespread overdevelopment of tourist resorts and residential facilities in coastal areas, generating high environmental, social and economic costs. In this paper, we describe the Spanish model of tourism, the results it has achieved, the reasons for its longevity and the obstacles facing any attempt to change it. Given the failure of individual, collective and political action to solve the problems of overdevelopment, we ask whether corporate social responsibility and its theoretical foundations and instruments offer a solution