Author(s)

A. Aledo & T. Mazón

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to apply the Tourist Area Life Cycle theory to the analysis of Torrevieja, a tourist town located in Southern Alicante province, which represents a paradigmatic example of a residential tourist destination. We will describe its tourist evolution and its present tourist and environmental state. At Torrevieja, the residential tourists reach more than a half a million in August. We will show that the last stages of the TALC are related to the exhaustion of the main offered resource: urban land. Environmental and landscape degradation, urban infrastructure and social service deficits, lacking of complementary offers, declining urban quality of life, and increasing of urban insecurity are also linked to the decline stage. This research has been financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Techno

Keywords