The New Democracy of Hedonism

written by Silvia Banchini, Luis Falcón

 

Over the last five years, both Spain and Europe have experienced an accelerated change in the supply of and demand for the products of mass tourism. The new tourist, traveling more often but staying a shorter time, enjoys leisure that used to be reserved for the social elite. We live in a time that Louis Turner dubbed Age of Leisure. Skiing, golfing, gastronomic and cultural trails or seven-day Mediterranean cruises are within everybody's reach. But such products and programs take up space in different ways. The new democracy of hedonism is creating new landscapes: tourist topographies.