The tourism revolution in the Mediterranean, 1950-2005

The explosion of mass tourism since the end of the Second World War has had a tangible effect on crucial flows of manpower, investment and production strategy towards the leisure economy in a large part of the world, with changes that take us back to what occurred two hundred years earlier in the heat of the Industrial Revolution. However, perhaps it is in particular areas (as was the case with the thrust of industrialisation) such as the Mediterranean basin, where this view can be identified more accurately. Both approaches are reflected in the key objectives of the work. In the first section of this research we discuss the major figures available on the growth of tourism since the Second World War, whilst at the same time outlining the fundamental theoretical keystones of the study: the claim with regard to a particular techno-economic paradigm in the case of mass tourism, involved in the fifth technological revolution seen since the Industrial Revolution. The second section deals specifically with the Mediterranean in its main tourism elements, based on the sources available: number of visitors, overnight stays and tourism expenditure. Finally, some conclusions are offered in order to summarise the work.