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Contents
Introduction
1. Tourism industry in the world
1.1 Structure of tourism industry in the world
1.2 Tourism and transportation in the world
1.3 Accommodation and catering service in the world
2. Tourism in Spain
2.1 Useful information about Spain
2.2 When to go to Spain
2.3 Eating and drinking in Spain
3. Accommodation in Spain
3.1 Classification criteria
3.2 Barcelona hotels
3.3 Madrid hotels
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
The name of my course paper is «Accommodation in Spain». But it also
contains the information on the industry of tourism both in the world
and in Spain. I think that tourism is one of the major branches of
economy, and accommodation is a part of the tourist structure. I have
chosen this topic because Spain is the important tourist centre in the
world, and it has the advanced system of accommodation. That is why this
topic is actual for today.
The purpose of my course paper is the description of structure of the
tourist industry in the world and accommodations in Spain.
Object of course paper is the industry of tourism in the world, a
subject – accommodation in Spain.
Problems of course paper:
· to give concept that what is tourism as a whole?
· to describe the structure of the tourist industry;
· to state the purposes of tourism;
· to describe the tourist industry in the world and in Spain;
· To describe the system of accommodations in Spain.
1. Tourism industry in the world
1.1 Structure of Tourism industry
Tourism has been one of the fastest growing industries in recent years.
Indeed, the growth rate of tourism has generally exceeded the growth
rate for the worldwide economy.
Tourism has become the world’s most important economic activity:
· According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), annual expenditure
worldwide on tourism is more than 3.5 trillion US dollars. In 1994,
tourism accounts for 12 per cent of the world’s Gross National Product
(GNP).
· The travel and tourism industry has become the principal source of job
creation in many countries and employs more than 183 million people
worldwide.
· The economic impact of the industry has been considerable. It is
responsible for approximately 7 per cent of global capital expenditure.
Sometimes it seems as though a new resort area springs up every day
wherever there are sun and sea. The shores of the Mediterranean and
Caribbean Seas and the Pacific coastlines of Mexico, Florida, and Hawaii
are only a few of the areas that have been intensively developed in the
past few years.
In spite of this rapid growth it is not easy to define tourism and
accurate statistics are not easy to obtain. Tourism necessarily involves
travel; a tourist is usually defined as a person who is visiting some
place other than his usual residence for more than 24 hours. A tourist
is distinguished by the length of his trip from an excursionist, who is
away from his usual residence for less than 24 hours, or most a weekend.
The question of purpose, however, also must enter into the definition of
tourism. Many people travel entirely for the purpose of recreation or
pleasure; they are people on holiday. Other people travel for reasons of
health. Originally, both the Riviera and Switzerland were tourist
destinations as health resorts. Other people travel to visit friends or
relatives, a reason that has become more important because of increased
mobility throughout the world. Still others travel in order to educate
themselves in accord with the old precept that travel is broadening.
All of these people are generally considered tourists since the primary
reason for their trips is recreation. Most tourist statistics also
include people who are traveling on business. Among them are businessmen
and government officials on specific missions, as well as people
attending meetings or conventions. Another kind of business travel is
the incentive trip. It is a trip offered by an organization, usually a
business firm, to reward successful effort or to induce on employee to
make a greater effort. A bonus or reward is given, for example, to a
salesman who has exceeded his quota. Many people among those traveling
on business often combine pleasure with their work. They also use the
same transportation, accommodations, and catering facilities as the
holiday tourists. Accommodations refer to hotels or other places where a
traveler can find rest and shelter; catering facilities refers to places
where a traveler or another member of the public can find food and
drink.
Not included in the area of tourism are people who travel someplace in
order to take up a job there. This excludes from tourism the migrants
who have been an important part of the modern industrial scene in the
more industrialized countries of North Europe or in the continental
United States. Students who travel to another region or country where
they are enrolled in a regular school are also not usually included in
tourist statistics.
The marketing approach for the two major divisions among tourists
-recreational and business travelers – is somewhat different. The
recreational travelers respond to a greater degree to lower fares and
other inducements in pricing and selecting the destination for their
trips. In a technical phrase, they make up a price elastic market. The
business groups, on the other hand, make up a price inelastic market.
Their trips are not scheduled according to lower fares, the destination
is determined in advance, and the expense is usually paid for by (heir
employers. They are looking for dependable rather than inexpensive
service. Business travelers also make more trips to large cities or
industrial centers than to resort areas, although many conventions are
now held at resort hotels. It should be noted, however, that some large
cities, such as London, Paris, New York, Rome, and Tokyo, are themselves
the most important tourist destinations in the world. Because of this,
it is difficult to separate pure recreation travel from business travel.
Tourism is a relatively new phenomenon in the world. Since being away
from home is a necessary component of tourism, its development as a mass
industry depended on modern means of rapid and inexpensive
transportation. Tourism as we know it today began with the building of
the railroads in the 19th Century. In fact, the words tourism and
tourist themselves were not used for the first time until about 1800.
The first tour in the modern sense was put together by Thomas Cook in
England in 184l, and the line of Thomas (Cook and Sons has remained one
of the prominent names in (lie tourist industry. Steamships also
increased tourism, especially across the North Atlantic, the major route
of modern tourism. The automobile and the airplane in still more recent
times have also become major modes of transportation for recreational
purposes. The greatest growth in international tourism has taken place
only since the end of World War II in 1945, and it has paralleled the
growth of air transportation.
Industrialization has produced the other conditions that are necessary
for tourism. Among them is the creation of a large number of people with
an amount of disposable income—income above and beyond what is needed
for basic expenses such as food, shelter, clothing, and taxes.
The working population of industrialized countries is enjoying increased
leisure time and more holidays. Although this is common to all
industrialized countries, there are significant differences between
nations. For example, the length of the annual paid holiday in the
United States and Japan is generally less than a month and sometimes
just a fortnight. Western European workers are entitled to longer paid
holidays. France, in particular, allows its workforce five weeks of
statutory annual paid leave. If national holidays are included, the
French enjoy up to eight weeks of paid vacation a year.
Another important condition is urbanization, the growth of large cities.
Residents of the big population centers take more holiday trips than
residents of rural areas. Anyone who has been to Paris in August, for
example, cannot help but observe that a great many of the
inhabitants—with the exception of those who serve foreign tourists—are
away on vacation.
Before industrialization, there was a sharp distinction between the
leisure class and the working class. Nowadays, however, the concept of
leisure in the form of long weekends and paid vacations has spread to
the working class. This may be the most important factor in modern
tourism. Millions of factory workers in northern European countries take
their paid vacations in sunny southern European countries. In many cases
the cost of the holiday is subsidized partly or wholly by government,
unions, or employers. This subsidized recreational travel is called
social tourism. In the western countries, an example is the incentive
trip that was mentioned previously for residents of Russia and the other
Communist countries, social tourism is practically the only kind of
recreational travel that exists.
The importance of industrialization can be seen from the fact that
approximately 80 percent of international tourists come from the
industrialized countries—Canada and the United States, the nations of
Western Europe, and Japan. Two of these countries, the United States and
West Germany, account for about half of this tourist traffic. In
addition, all of these countries generate a large amount of internal
tourism. As we have already noted, the major cities in these countries
are also major tourist attractions in themselves. They offer a great
variety of cultural, educational, and historical attractions.
Sun-and-sea areas that are near the major markets for tourists derive a
large part of their income from tourism. On the Mediterranean, Spain,
Portugal, Greece, Morocco and Tunisia all have highly developed travel
industries. Off the cost of the United States, the Bahamas and Bermuda
among others attract large numbers of tourists. It has been estimated)
that in the Bahamas an income of more than $1,500 a year per person can
be attributed to tourism.
If the tourist statistics on numbers of tourists are inexact, those on
their expenditures are even more so. Some of the figures are relatively
accurate, such as the amount of money spent on long-distance travel,
hotel accommodations, and catering services within the hotels. Other
statistics, however, present problems in analysis. How large a
proportion of the sales of stores in or near resort areas can be
attributed to tourist spending? Or how much do tourists spend on local
transportation or entertainment? Even though it is difficult to arrive
at exact figures for these expenditures, it should be noted that tourism
benefits not only airlines, hotels, restaurants, and taxi drivers, among
others, but also many commercial establishments and even the
manufacturers of such varied items as sun-glasses, cameras, film, and
sports clothing.
One of the principal reasons for encouraging a tourist industry in many
developing countries is the so-called multiplier effect of the tourist
dollar. Money paid for wages or in other ways is spent not once but
sometimes several times for other items in the economy—the food that
hotel employees eat at home, for example, or the houses in which they
live, or the ‘durable goods that they buy. In some countries the
multiplier can be a factor as high as 3, but it is often a lower number
because of leakage. Leakage comes from the money that goes out of the
economy either in the form of imports that are necessary to sustain the
tourist industry or in profits that are drained off by investors. In
some tourist areas, it has been necessary to import workers. The U.S.
Virgin Islands is one example. However, many of these workers cause
leakages in the form of remittances to their home countries.
However, tourism results not only in sociocultural benefits but also in
problems. Imagine the feelings of an employee in a developing country
who earns perhaps $ 5 per day when he or she sees wealthy tourist
flaunting money, jewelry, and a lifestyle not obtainable. Another
example might be nude or scanty-clad female tourists sunbathing in a
Moslem country. Critics argue that, at best, tourism dilutes the culture
of a country by imposing the mass tourism market. Most resorts offer
little opportunity for meaningful social interaction between the tourist
and the host community. As a rule, only the lower positions are filled
by the local people in the luxury hotels built by foreign developers.
On the other hand, proponents of the sociocultural benefits of tourism
are able to point out that tourism is a clean and green industry, that
most of hotels are built with concern for the environment and use local
crafts people, designers, and materials. Tourism brings new revenue to
the area; it also creates and maintains higher rate of employment than
if there were no tourism. It may act as a catalyst for the development
of the community because this revenue helps to provide schools,
hospitals, and so on.
Another attraction of the tourist industry for the developing countries
is that it is labor-intensive; that is, it requires a large number of
workers in proportion to the people who are served. This is a common
feature of service industries, which deal with intangible products—like
a holiday—rather than tangible products-like an electric toaster.
The tourist industry is not a single entity. It consists of many
different kinds of enterprises that offer different services to the
traveler.
1.2 Tourism and transportation in the world
Being in a different place from one’s usual residence is an essential
feature of tourism. This means that transportation companies are one
vital aspect in the total tourist industry, regardless of what other
business (such as carrying freight) they may undertake. Without the
modern high-speed forms of transportation that are available to large
numbers of people, tourism would be possible only for a tiny fraction of
the population.
During the 19th Century, railroads spread across Europe, North America,
and many other parts of the world. They formed the first successful
system of mass transportation, carrying crowds of people to such English
seaside resorts as Brighton, Margate, and Blackpool. The tourists on
Thomas Cook’s first organized tour in 1841 traveled by railroad.
Steamships were developed at about the same time as railroads, but
during the first half of the 19th Century, they were used for the most
part on inland waterways. In the second half of the century, steamships
that could cover longer distances were developed. By 1900, they were
carrying passengers and freight on all, the oceans of the world.
Historically, the North Atlantic route between Western Europe and North
America has been the most important. In the period between the two world
wars, steamships made scheduled crossings between New York and either
Southampton or Cherbourg in only five days.
Unfortunately for those people who prefer leisurely travel, both
railroads and steamships have lost much of their business in the past
twenty years. The automobile has replaced the railroad for most local
travel, especially in the United States, where the only remaining route
that,offers adequate passenger service is between New York anc1
Washington. Passenger train service is better in Europe than in the
United States, but it has been cut sharply on many routes. The New
Tokaido Line between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan is one of the few
successful passenger services to be operated in recent times.
The automobile offers convenience. The traveler can depart from his own
home and arrive at his destination without transferring baggage or
having to cope with any of the other difficulties that would ordinarily
confront him. The apparent costs of a trip by automobile are also lower,
especially for family groups, although the actual costs, including such
hidden items as depreciation (a lowering or falling in value), may be
greater than realized. A very large percentage of domestic tourism now
takes advantage of the automobile for transportation. In Europe, where
the distance from one national boundary to another may be very short,
automobiles are also used extensively for international journeys.
For long-distance travel, the airplane has replaced the railroad and the
ship as the principal carrier. The airplane has become so commonplace
that we often fail to realize what a recent development in
transportation it really is. The first transatlantic passenger flights
were made only a few years before World War II began in 1939. Frequent
service came into being only after the war, and it was not until jets
were introduced in the 1950’s that passenger capacity began to expand to
its present dimensions.
The railroads have suffered on short-distance routes as well as on
long-distance routes. Motor buses, or coaches as they are called in
England, have replaced railroad passenger service on many local routes.
Most small towns in the United States are served only by bus.
Regularly scheduled steamship passenger service has disappeared from
almost all transoceanic routes. Ships still play an important part in
tourism, however, for the purpose of cruising. A cruise is a voyage by
ship that is made for pleasure rather than to arrive quickly at a fixed
destination. The cruise ship acts as the hotel for the passengers as
well as their means of transportation. When the tourists reach a port,
they are usually conducted on one-day excursions, but return to the ship
to eat and to sleep. A majority of cruise ships operate in the “warm
seas,” the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Wider-ranging cruises—
around-the-world, for example, or even into Antarctic waters off the tip
of South America—have been offered for the more adventurous. Many of the
liners that once sailed on transatlantic or transpacific routes have
been converted for cruising, but they are often unable to operate
economically on cruise routes. Smaller and lighter ships that are
especially designed for cruising have been built in recent years. Ships
play another part in modern tourism as car ferries. Particularly in
Europe, the tourist who wants to have his car with him on a trip can
take advantage of car ferries across the English Channel or the Strait
of Gibraltar. Car ferries even ply across large bodies of water such as
the North Sea between England or Scotland and Scandinavia. The city of
Dover on the English Channel now handles the largest volume of passenger
traffic of any port in the United Kingdom primarily because of car ferry
services.
Another travel phenomenon of recent times that has grown up as a result
of the prevalence of the automobile is the car rental agency. If you
don’t want to take your own car with you, you can rent one for local
travel at just about any tourist terminus in the world today. Many of
the agencies—such as Hertz and Avis—that began in the United States now
operate on a worldwide basis.
Because the airlines are now so prominent in the tourist industry, it is
important to remember that there are in fact two kinds of airline
operations, scheduled and nonscheduled. A scheduled airline operates on
fixed routes at fixed times according to a timetable that is available
to the public. A nonscheduled airline operates on routes and at times
when there is a demand for the service. The nonscheduled airline is, in
other words, a charter operation that rents its aircraft. The
competition between the two has been so intense in the last few years
that the media has called it the “Battle of the North Atlantic.”
The scheduled airlines aim their services primarily at business
travelers, at people visiting friends and relatives, and at others who
travel alone or in small groups. A scheduled airline flight is usually
filled with strangers going to the same destination. Until very
recently, a scheduled flight on some routes needed a load factor of only
a little over 50 percent at regular fares to assure a profit. The load
(actor is the percentage of seats that have been sold on a (light.
As seating capacity increased with the introduction of newer, larger,
and faster planes, the airlines were able to offer a percentage of their
seats for sale through travel agents or tour operators. By means of
these special fares, they were able to increase their business
substantially on such major tourist routes as the North Atlantic, the
northeastern United States to the Caribbean, and northern Europe to the
Mediterranean. The greatest growth in tourism began with the
introduction of these ITX fares, as they are called, in the 1950’s and
1960’s.
IT stands for inclusive tour, a travel package that offers both
transportation and accommodations, and often entertainment as well. ITX
stands for tour-basing fares. They are offered by scheduled airlines to
travel-agents or tour operators who sell the package to the general
public. Still another important abbreviation in tourism is CIT, charter
inclusive tour, one that utilizes a charter airplane for transportation.
The nonscheduled airlines got a start largely as a result of government
business. International crises like the Berlin Airlift and the
Vietnamese War created a need for greater capacity than either the
scheduled airlines or military transport aircraft could fill. In
addition to transporting supplies or military personnel, the
nonscheduled airlines chartered – that is, rented – entire flights to
groups that were traveling to the same destination – businessmen and
their wives attending a convention, for example, or members of a music
society attending the Salzburg Festival. Groups traveling to the same
place for a similar purpose are called affinity groups.
In Europe, entire flights were chartered to groups that were set up only
for the purpose of travel, usually a holiday on the shores of the
Mediterranean. These charter inclusive tours were sold at even lower
fares than the inclusive tours on the scheduled airlines. In the United
States, the scheduled airlines have tried to capture as much of the
traffic as possible, including taking numerous steps to restrict
chartering. At present there is a rather uneasy compromise. The
scheduled airlines are able to offer some of the services developed by
the non-scheduled carriers, while the charter lines have been allowed
more latitude concerning the kinds of groups to which they can sell
their services.
All transportation is subject to regulation by government, but the
airlines are among the most completely regulated of all carriers. The
routes they can fly, the number of flights, and many other matters are
controlled by means of bilateral agreements between different countries
in the case of international airlines. For domestic flights, most
countries have a national agency like the CAB—the Civil Aeronautics
Board in the Department of Transportation—in the United States. Because
of the importance of the United States in generating tourist traffic,
decisions by the CAB often have a great deal of influence throughout the
world, even though they concern domestic flights within the United
States.
Fares on international services are set by agreement through IT, the
International Air Transport Association, with headquarters at Montreal.
IT is a voluntary association of the airlines, but almost all the
international scheduled carriers are members. Government influence is
strong since many of the airlines are at least partially owned by the
governments.
During the 1960’s, the airlines were extremely successful, with
increased capacity, higher load factors, and, above all, greater
profits. In the 1970’s, sharply increased fuel costs and a general
business recession in the industrialized countries caused many airlines
to operate at a loss. Many of the jumbo jets that had been placed in
operation with such high hopes were withdrawn from service and placed in
storage. Fares, which had tended to decrease as capacity increased,
began to rise again.
The airlines, both scheduled and nonscheduled, must therefore overcome
many problems in the next few years. They need to reduce their operating
costs to a level where they can continue to offer fares that will make
holiday travel attractive to as many people as possible. And they have
not solved the problem of attracting new passengers. As important as air
transportation is for the tourist industry, it is estimated that only
about 2 percent of the world’s population has ever traveled by plane.
1.3 Accommodations and catering service in the world
The word hospitality comes from “hospice”, an old French word meaning
“to provide care and shelter”. The first institutions of this kind,
taverns, had existed long before the word was coined. In Ancient Rome
they were located on the main roads, to provide food and fresh horses
and overnight accommodation for officials and couriers of the government
with special documents. The contemporaries proclaimed these inns to be
“fit for a king”. That is why such documents became a symbol of status
and were subject to thefts and forgeries.
Some wealthy landowners built their own taverns on the edges of their j
estates. Nearer the cities, inns and taverns were run by freemen or by
retired gladiators who would invest their savings in this business in
the same way that many of today’s retired athletes open restaurants.
Innkeepers, as a whole, were hardly the Conrad Hiltons of their day.
Inns for common folk were regarded as dens of vice and often served as
houses of pleasure. The owners were required to report any customers who
planned crimes in their taverns. The penalty for not doing so was death.
The death penalty could be imposed merely for watering the beer!
After the fall of the Roman Empire, public hospitality for the ordinary
travelers became the province of religious orders. In these days, the
main purpose of traveling was pilgrimage to the holy places. The
pilgrims preferred to stay in the inns located close to religious sites
or even on the premises of the monasteries Monks raised their own
provisions on their own grounds, kitchens were cleaner and better
organized than in private households. So the food was often of a quality
superior to that found elsewhere on the road.
The first big hotels with hundreds of rooms were built in the vicinity
of railroad terminals to serve the flood of new passengers. This new
hotels were more impersonal than the old-fashioned family-style inn or
hotel. Indeed, they were usually organized as corporations in what we
now consider a more businesslike manner. The cluster of hotels around
Grand Central Station in New York is a good surviving example of the
impact of railroads on the hotel business.
A wide variety of accommodations is available to the modern tourist.
They vary from the guest house or tourist home with one or two rooms to
grand luxury hotels with hundreds of rooms. Many of these hotels, like
the famous Raffles in Singapore, are survivors of a more leisurely and
splendid age that served the wealthy. A feature of Europe is the
pension, a small established with perhaps ten to twenty guest room.
Originally, pensions not only lodging but also full board, all of the
day’s meals for the guest. Nowadays, however, most of them offer only a
bed, usually at an inexpensive rate, and a “continental breakfast” of
coffee and rolls.
Many people travel to Europe because of its rich historical and cultural
heritage. As a result, many old homes and castles have been converted
into small hotels. American travel magazines often carry advertisements
for holidays in “genuine European castles”. Many old inns have also been
restored to serve people with similar romantic tastes.
The major trend in the hotel industry today, however, is toward the
large corporate-operated hotel. Many of these hotels might well be
described as “package”. A number of large companies have assumed a
dominant place in the hotel industry. The biggest is Holiday Inns, which
in 1975 had 274,000 rooms. Others that operate on a worldwide basis are
Sheraton, Inter-Continental, Trust Houses Forte, Hilton International,
and Ramada Inns.
Ownership of these hotel companies is an indication of their importance
to travel industry as a whole. Hilton International is owned by Trans
World Airlines, and Inter-Continental by Pan American Airways; Sheraton
is a subsidiary of the huge multinational corporation, ITT. Many other
airlines and travel companies have also entered the hotel business and
some of the tour operators, especially in Europe, own or operate hotels.
Some of the hotel corporations operate on a franchise basis; that is,
the hotel and its operation are designed by the corporation, but the
right to run it is sold or leased. The operator then pays a percentage
to the parent corporation. His franchise can be withdrawn, however, if
he does not maintain the standards that have been established. Other
hotel companies serve primarily as managers. The Caribe Hilton, the
first and most successful of the big resort hotels in Puerto Rico, was
built by the government of the island, which then gave the Hilton
company a management contract.
Large, modern hotels contain not only guest rooms, but many other
facilities as well. They usually contain restaurants and cocktail
lounges, shops, and recreational facilities such as swimming pools or
health clubs. Many hotels also have facilities for social functions,
conventions, and conferences- ballrooms, auditoriums, meeting rooms of
different sizes, exhibit areas, and so forth. Not so long ago,
convention facilities were ordinarily found only in large cities or in
intensively developed resort areas like Miami Beach. Nowadays, they are
more often included in resort hotels so that the people who attend
conventions there can combine business with pleasure.
Another modern development in the hotel business is the motel, a word
made up from motor and hotel. The motel might best be described as a
place that has accommodations both for automobiles and human beings. The
typical motel is a low structure around which is built a parking lot to
enable the guests to park their cars as close as possible to their
rooms. In urban areas, a large garage takes the place of the parking
lot.
Another trend in the hotel industry is the construction of the
self-contained resort complex. This consists of a hotel and
recreational, facilities, all of which in effect are isolated from the
nearby community. Examples include the holiday “villages” that have been
built by (Club Mediterranee for its members. Another example is the
Dorado Beach Hotel in Puerto Rico, built by the Rockefeller-owned
Rockresorts. Among other recreational features, the Dorado Beach Hotel
has two eighteen-hole championship golf courses on its grounds. It is
located far enough from the hotel strip in San Juan to make a trip into
the city rather difficult.
Casinos, wherever they are legal, are another feature of some hotels. In
Las Vegas, Nevada, the hotels are really secondary to gain-bling. They
feed, house, and entertain the guests, but the real profits come from
the casinos. In Puerto Rico and other places, gambling usually acts as
an additional, rather than the principal, attraction for the hotels.
Still another trend in resort accommodations is condominium
construction. The condominium is a building or group of buildings in
which individuals purchase separate units. At the same time they become
joint owners of I he public facilities of the structure and its grounds
and recreational areas. The condominium has become popular because of
the desire of many people to own a second home for vacations. Indeed,
many of the owners maintain their condominiums just for this purpose.
Others, however, make arrangements whereby they can rent their space
when they are not occupying it. It is an obvious attraction for someone
who has only a month’s vacation a year to be able to make an income from
his property for the remaining eleven months. Many owners make enough
money in rentals to pay for the purchase price and the maintenance costs
of the condominium.
Caravanning and camping reflect another trend in modern tourism, thanks
in large part to the automobile. Cars variously called caravans, vans,
or campers come equipped with sleeping quarters and even stoves and
refrigerators. They are in effect small mobile homes, or at least hotel
rooms. Many people also carry tents and other equipment with which they
can set up a temporary home. Facilities are now offered in many resort
areas for camping. The operator may rent only space, but he may also
provide electricity and telephone set vice.
A similar kind of arrangement exists for boat owners who wish to use
their boats for accommodations while they are traveling in them. This
involves the marina, a common feature of resort areas on waterways. The
coast of Florida, for example, is dotted with marinas.
A few resorts that contain a mixture of several different kinds of
accommodations have been built in recent years. Probably the most
spectacular example is the Costa Smeralda development, constructed on
the Italian island of Sardinia by a syndicate headed by the Aga Khan. It
contains hotels of varying price ranges, residential areas, marinas,
elaborate recreational facilities, and even some light industry. The
syndicate’s own airline flies passengers to the island from such points
as Nice and Home. The Costa Smeralda is the largest and most expensive
example in the world of developing not just a resort but an entire
resort area. Careful planning included not only mixture of facilities,
but also the architecture and the preservation natural landscape.
Some resort areas do not reflect this careful planning Miami Beach, for
example, is a monument to tourism and the accommodations industry that
serves it, but the beach now is hardly visible because of the hotels
that form a wall along the oceanfront. The Condado Beach section of San
Juan in Puerto Rico is very similar There are also intensive hotel and
apartment developments on the Mediterranean, at Torremolinos on the
Costa del Sol in Spain, for example and along much of the coastline of
the French Riviera.
In spite of the growth of these and other examples of resort areas
blessed with sun and sea, cities like New York, London, and Paris still
contain the greatest concentrations of hotels, in 1975. New York had
approximately 1OO.OOO guest rooms to 40,000 in Miami Beach. This once
again reinforces the fact that the large established cities are still
the most important destinations. They can absorb tourism more easily and
less conspicuously than areas in which tourism is the principal
business.
The hotel business has its own load factor in the form of tin occupancy
rate. This is the percentage of rooms or beds that are occupied at a
certain point in time or over a period of time. One of the hazards of
the hotel business is a high occupancy rate during one season and a very
low one during another. For instance, Miami Beach essentially a winter
resort. Hotels there try to increase occupancy in the summer by offering
very low rates. On the other hand, many summer resorts—like those in New
England — have built winter sports facilities to attract people during
then off-season,
Catering, providing food and drink for transients, has always, gone
together with accommodations. Food services are a feature of hotels. The
typical modern “packaged hotel” includes a restaurant, a coffee shop for
quicker and less expensive meals, and a bar cocktail lounge. Many larger
hotels have several restaurants, often featuring different kinds of
foods, as well as different prices. Hotels also normally provide room
service- food and drink that arc brought to the guest’s room. In
addition, catering service is usually provided in the hotel’s
recreational areas. The poolside bar and snack bar, for quick food, are
normal parts of the service at a resort hotel.
Restaurants, bars, and nightclubs outside the hotels are a standard
feature of the resort scene. Indeed, many resorts could not really
operate without them. They provide not only catering, but also some kind
of entertainment for the tourist who is bored with the limits of hotel
life. In some areas, like Miami Beach, they have sprung up without any
apparent design, but in others, like the Costa Smeralda, they are
carefully coordinated features of the total plan. In cities like New
York, London, or Paris, restaurants and other catering establishments
that serve the resident population obtain additional business from the
tourists who flock to those cities.
Food, in fact, may be one of the reasons why people travel. Many people
go out of their way to visit France, for example, because of the gourmet
meals that are served there. Similarly, the excellent restaurants of
Hong Kong constitute one of its principal tourist attractions.
It should also be pointed out that many grocery stores, delicatessens,
and liquor stores make money from tourism. This is true in large tourist
cities like New York and in resort areas like Miami Beach. There is
usually a food store at or near most marinas and camping areas. The
accommodations and catering service industries employ large numbers of
people. According to the United States census of 1970, more than 733,000
people were working in hotels, and more than 3.3 million in restaurants.
Of course not all of these depend on the tourist trade, but the figures
are indicative of the amount of labor involved in these businesses. At a
luxury hotel, there may be as many as two or three employees for every
guest room. At a large commercial hotel, there are usually about eight
employees for every ten guest rooms.
This intensive use of labor is one of the reasons why tourism is so
attractive to developing countries. Furthermore, many of the hotel and
restaurant jobs are semiskilled work, so only a small amount of training
is necessary to fill them.
2. Tourism in Spain
2.1 Useful information about Spain
If you are coming to Spain for the first time, be warned: this is a
country that fast becomes an addiction. You might intend to come just
for a beach holiday, or a tour of the major cities, but before you know
it you’ll find yourself hooked by something quite different – by the
celebration of some local fiesta, perhaps, or the amazing nightlife in
Madrid, by the Moorish monuments of Andalusia, by Basque cooking, or the
wild landscapes and birds of Estremadura. And by then, of course, you
will have noticed that there is not just one Spain but many. Indeed,
Spaniards often speak about Spain in the plural.
The cities – above all – are compellingly individual. Barcelona, for
many, has the edge: for Gouda’s splendid modernista architecture, the
lively promenade of Las Ramblas, and not least, for Bara – the city’s
football team. But Madrid, although not as pretty, has the advantages.
The city and its people, immortalized in the movies of Pedro Almodavar,
have a vibrancy and style that is revealed in a thousand bars and summer
terrazas. Not to mention three of the world’s finest art museums. Then
there’s Sevilla, home of flamenco in southern Spain; Valencia,
Levantine, city with the vibrant nightlife to equal any European rival;
and Bilbao, due to Frank Gehry’s astonishing Guggenheim museum, is the
most visited tourist place of «Basque’s country».
Touring Castile and Lean, you confront the classic Spanish images of
great cathedrals and reconsquista castles. Andalusia has the great
mosques and Moorish palaces of Granada, Sevilla and Cordoba; Castile has
the superbly preserved medieval capital, Toledo.
The best places for rest in Spain are undeniably its beaches. Long
tracts of coastline – along the Costa del Sol, in particular – have been
developed into concrete hotel complexes. On the Costa Brava, the string
of coves between Palamos and Begur are often overlooked, while in the
south there are superb windsurfing waters around Tarifa and some
decidedly key resorts along the Costa de la Luz.
Wherever you are in Spain, you can’t help but notice the Spaniards
infectious enthusiasm for life.
2.2 When to go to Spain
Overall, spring, early summer and autumn are ideal times for a Spanish
trip – though the weather varies enormously from region to region. The
high central plains suffer from fierce extremes, stiflingly hot in
summer, bitterly cold and swept by freezing winds in winter. The
Atlantic coast, in contrast, has a tendency to damp and mist, and a
relatively brief, humid summer. The Mediterranean south is warm
virtually all year round, and in parts of Andalusia positively
subtropical, warm enough to wear a T-shirt by day even in the winter
months.
In high summer the other factor worth considering is tourism itself.
Spain plays host to some thirty million tourists a year – almost one for
every resident – and all the main beach and mountain resorts are packed
in July and August, as are the major sights. August, Spain’s how holiday
month, sees the coast as its most crowded and the cities, by contrast,
pretty sleepy.
2.3 Eating and drinking in Spain
There are two ways to eat in Spain: you can go to a restaurant or
commodore (dining room) and have a full meal, or you can have a
succession of tapas (small snacks) or raciones (larger ones) at one or
more bars.
At the bottom line a comedor – where you’ll get a basic, filling,
three-course meal with a drink, the menu del dia – is the cheapest
option, but they’re often tricky to find, and drab places when you do.
Bars tend to work out pricier but a lot more interesting, allowing you
to do the rounds and sample local or house specialties.
3. Accommodation in Spain
3.1 Classification criteria (According to internationally accepted
standards)
Hotels are classified from five to two stars. Aparthotels and tourist
villages are classified as two, three or four star. Guest houses are
classified as ‘comfort’ – denoting the highest grade – and ‘standard’,
the lowest grade.
Five stars – fully air-conditioned accommodation; all rooms must have a
private bath and shower, a telephone, a radio and TV’ set; 24-hour room
service; a bar, restaurant and a coffee shop; a lounge area; dancing
facilities; a swimming pool and sports facilities; the front office must
be manned 24-hours; the property must also offer a laundry, pressing and
dry-cleaning service and have shops and a hairdresser.
Four stars – fully Mr-conditioned accommodation; all rooms must have a
private bath or shower, an ‘internal or external’ telephone and radio;
room service from breakfast to midnight; a bar, a restaurant and a
lounge; a swimming pool or a private beach facility; the front office
must be manned 24-hours; the property must also offer a laundry,
pressing and dry-cleaning service and have shops and a hairdresser.
Three stars – all rooms must have a private bath or shower and an
‘internal or external’ telephone; a bar, a restaurant and a lounge; the
front office must be manned on a 24-hour basis; the property must also
offer a laundry, pressing and dry-cleaning service.
Two stars – at least 20 per cent of rooms must have a bath or shower;
all rooms must have a wash-hand basin and a mirror plus a telephone or
service bell; breakfast facilities must be available; the front office
must be manned during the day, at night a porter service must be
available.
3.2 Barcelona Hotels
1. Barbara Hotel – 2 stars
Barbara Hotel is located in the heart of Barcelona, near the famous Las
Ramblas and El Raval (Barcelona’s vibrant red light district). The hotel
is within walking distance to the Gothic District, Plaza Catalonia,
Montjuic, Olympic Port and Palace of Fairs and Congresses. The beaches
of Barcelona can be found at about 15 minutes walking distance. The
nearest metro stations are Liceu and Parallel (Green Line L3).
Hotel facilities: Breakfast room; Bar; Disabled facilities; Room
facilities: Private bathroom; Hairdryer (on request); direct dial
telephone; Heating; Television; Radio.
2. Bona Nova Park Hotel – 2 stars
The Bona Nova Hotel is situated in a very quiet and residential area of
the city close to the business area of the Avenida Diagonal. It is also
close to the fair grounds and attractions. The city centre can be
reached in ten minutes by taxi. The nearest metro station to the hotel
is Maria Cristina, which is a five minutes walk away.
The hotel’s guest rooms are spacious and comfortably decorated.
Hotel facilities: Room service; Group dining room; Car rental
facilities; Laundry facilities; Conference facilities;
Room facilities: Television; Direct dial phone; Mini bar; Automatic
wake-up call; Voltage: 220v.
3. Alexandra Hotel – 3 stars
Alexandra Hotel Barcelona is situated in Mallorca Street, very close to
the main cultural sites of the city, the business centers and the most
important shopping and leisure areas. The location of the Alexandra
Hotel, between the Paseo de Garcia and the Rambla de Cataluna, as well
as its interior design, evoke the modernist style of the city. The
hotel’s restaurant serves Mediterranean cuisine, and cocktails and
snacks are available at the bar.
Hotel facilities: Business/meetings facilities; Car parking (at cost);
Safety deposit box; Laundry/dry-cleaning service; Room service;
Restaurant;
Room facilities: Air conditioning; Satellite TV; Direct dial telephone;
Minibar; Bathroom; Hairdryer.
2. Gran Hotel Catalonia -3 stars
The Gran Hotel Catalonia is located in the heart of the Eixample
district in Barcelona. The hotel is strategically located close to the
key Gaudi Modernist buildings, in the best shopping and services area of
the city.
All 84 rooms provide guests with everything they need to feel
comfortable. The Gran Hotel Catalonia is both known for its exquisite
international restaurant and its local cuisine de marche.
Hotel facilities: Restaurant; Cafeteria; Bar; Car parking; Laundry and
dry-cleaning service; Conference and banquet facilities; Fax service at
reception desk;
Room facilities: Air conditioning and heating; Satellite television;
Radio; Direct dial telephone; Minibar; Safety deposit box; Fully
equipped marble bathroom.
3. Catalonia Hotel Berna – 4 stars
Catalonia Hotel Berna is located right in the centre of Barcelona. Being
so close to the emblematic Paseo de Gracia and just a step away from
Avenida Diagonal, any visitor is within reach of shops and shopping
centers with the best names, and also the famous “La Pedrera” building
by Antonio Gaudi and the Antoni Tapies Foundation. A short walk away is
Plaza de Catalonia and from there, Las Ramblas, the Gothic Quarter and,
finally, the new part of the city opening to the sea, a place for
leisure and fun: Port Vell and the Mare magnum. The hotel, housed in the
historic building, opened in March 2003.
Hotel facilities: Restaurant; Coffee bar; Car parking; Conference rooms;
panoramic lift;
Room facilities: Air conditioning; Direct dial telephone; Minibar;
Internet connection; Interactive satellite TV; Pay-per-view movies;
Safety deposit box; Complete marble bath room.
4. Aristol Hotel – 4 stars
The Aristol Hotel is situated only a few streets from Sant Pau Hospital.
It is a modernist gem that is the work of Domenech i Muntaner. It
possesses a plethora of small details that have the objective of
guaranteeing the client’s comfort.
The hotel offers 25 guest rooms.
Hotel facilities: Reception; Lobby; Car parking; Direct internet access;
Laundry; Hairdresser; Lift; Safety deposit box;
Room facilities: Private bathroom; Hairdryer; Air conditioning; Heating;
Direct dial telephone; Television.
5. Astoria Hotel – 4 stars
Occupying a building of that eclectic style so characteristic of
Barcelona’s centre, the Hotel Astoria has also benefited from a
perfectionist spirit. Recently renovated while maintaining all the
original materials, the latest technical advances have been
incorporated, making it possible to enjoy modern comforts in an all-time
favorite hotel.
Hotel facilities: Room service; Restaurant; Bar; Car parking; Sauna;
Fitness centre; Laundry and ironing service; Meeting rooms;
Room facilities: Air conditioning/heating; Satellite television; Direct
dial telephone; Fax modem connection; Safety deposit box; Minibar.
6. Claris Hotel – 5 stars
The Hotel Claris was built in 1992 keeping the facade of the former
Palacio Vedruna. All rooms have been decorated with a mixture of modern
contemporary and classic styles, using only the finest quality
materials. To complement the sophisticated decor there are over 100
antique kilims, 17th and 18th century English and French furniture, and
many sculptures from the 2nd to 7th centuries.
Hotel facilities: Restaurants; Car parking/Car rental facilities; Small
sized lobby; 24 hour porter age; Outdoor swimming pool; Solarium/Sauna;
Gymnasium; Baby sitting; Laundry facilities; Conference facilities;
Room facilities: Air conditioning; Satellite television; Radio; Direct
dial phone; Mini bar; Hairdryer; Automatic wake-up call; Voltage: 220v;
24 hour room service.
7. Grand Marina Hotel – 5 stars
The Grand Marina Hotel is located in unique surroundings, on the
Mediterranean Sea, in Barcelona’s Old Port (Port Vell), near the famous
Ramblas Boulevard and the Maremagnum shopping and entertainment centre.
The World Trade Centre complex is an international business centre with
a unique architectural style, a large open-air plaza, and an exterior
design reminiscent of the bridge of a large ship. The hotel building,
with a total area of more than 200,000 square feet, occupies the Western
side of the World Trade Centre, with views of the city. The complex
includes numerous meeting rooms, offices, a VIP Club and various cafes
and restaurants.
The hotel has 273 fully appointed rooms, including 37 suites. Decoration
is elegant, with subdued and relaxing colors, light tropical woods and
fabrics of the highest quality, providing a luxurious, well-balanced
atmosphere.
Hotel facilities:Restaurants; Lobby lounge; Piano bar; Outdoor swimming
pool; Fitness centre; Sauna; Jacuzzi; Concierge; Conference facilities;
Banquet halls;
Room facilities: Private bathroom; Television; Internet access; Safety
deposit box; Minibar.
8. Princesa Sofia Intercontinental Hotel – 5 stars
One of Barcelona’s finest, the Princess Sofia Intercontinental, now
completely refurbished, offers the ultimate in five-star luxury. The
hotel is bright and airy from the spacious marble-floored lobby to the
soft hues and tasteful furnishings in every room. In keeping with the
ethos of the hotel, there is an exquisite choice of local and
international cuisine at Contrast restaurant with romantic terrace
dining during the summer months
Hotel facilities:24-hour room service; Restaurant; Bar; Car parking;
Fitness centre; Outdoor and indoor heated swimming pools; Sauna;
Jacuzzi; Beauty salon; Concierge; Business centre; Laundry and valet
service;
Room facilities:Satellite TV; Pay-per-view movies; Nintendo; 2-line
direct dial telephone; Voicemail; Data port; Minibar; Safety deposit
box.
3.3 Madrid Hotels
1. Tryp Washington Hotel – 3 stars
Tryp Washington Hotel stands on Gran Via, in the heart of the city,
close to the Plaza de Espana and Puerta del Sol. The major historical
attractions and commercial areas are located a few minutes from the
hotel. The hotel offers 120 rooms with modern amenities.
Hotel facilities: Restaurant; Bar; Parking; Room service;
Room facilities: Air conditioning; direct dial telephone; Satellite
television; Hairdryer; Safe; Sound proof.
2. High Tech Prime Cliper Hotel – 3stars High Tech Prime Cliper Hotel is
located in the very centre of Madrid, only minutes away from famous
shopping centers and tourist attractions, such as Prado Museum, Museum
Thyssen-Bornemisza, Royal Palace, and Museum of Contemporary Art, as
well as 3 just minutes away from 3 underground stations and bus routes.
The hotel is well equipped to cater for any traveler, whether visiting
for business or for pleasure.
Hotel facilities: Breakfast room; Bar; Business corner; Internet
connection;
Room facilities:Air conditioning; Television; Radio; Minibar; Computer
connections; Direct telephone; Safe deposit box; Iron and ironing board.
3. Hotel Opera -4 stars
Hotel Opera is located right in the very heart of the historical centre
of Madrid, in front of the Teatro de la Opera and only a few metres from
the Royal Palace. It is in the centre of the shopping area, and only a
few minutes walk from the Palace de Oriente, the Senate, the Puerta del
Sol, the Plaza de Espana and the Gran Via. Dine in the hotel’s
restaurant, “Cafe de la Opera”, where the waiters are lyrical singers!
Hotel facilities: Restaurant; Cafeteria; Conference and banquet rooms;
Public parking; Laundry facilities;
Room facilities: Private bathroom; Air conditioning; Satellite TV;
Radio; Mini-bar; Direct dial telephone; Safety deposit box; Hairdryer.
4. Abba Castilla Plaza Hotel – 4 stars
Near the famous ‘Kio Towers’ in the business district on the Paseo de la
Castellana, just a few minutes from Barajas Airport and Chamartin Train
Station, is the hotel abba Castilla Plaza. The hotel has excellent
connections to the IFEMA trade fair grounds and the Palacio de Congresos
conference centre on the Paseo de la Castellana.
Hotel facilities: Restaurant; Cocktail bar; Car parking; Concierge;
Porterage; Laundry and ironing services; Conference facilities; Banquet
hall; Non-smoking rooms available; Disabled facilities;
Room facilities: Air conditioning; Satellite interactive TV; Music
channels; Direct dial phone; Internet connection; Mini-bar; Safety
deposit box; Work desk; Hairdryer.
5. Gran Melia Fenix Hotel – 5 stars With 215 comfortable guest rooms
providing every one of the services and facilities that are expected
from a luxury hotel, makes the Gran Melia Fenix the ideal place to stay
in Madrid for the most discerning and distinguished visitors to the
Spanish capital.
The hotel is located in the heart of Madrid, close to all points of
interest such as the National Archaeological Museum, art galleries and
stylish stores.
Enjoy the traditional local cuisine of the Spanish island of Majorca in
the Bendinat restaurant or relax in the Piano bar.
Hotel facilities: Restaurants; Bar; Conference facilities; Business
centre; Parking (fees may apply);
Room facilities: Private bathroom; Direct dial telephone; Television;
Mini-bar; Writing desk; CD player; Internet access.
6. Crowne Plaza City Centre – 5 stars
The Crowne Plaza Hotel is located at the Plaza de Espana, in the heart
of Madrid. Its privileged situation in Madrid’s historic, cultural and
shopping centre, combined with the building’s imposing structure has
played a major role in the hotel’s appeal. It is less than a kilometer
from the main cultural attractions like the Royal Palace, Royal Theatre,
Plaza Mayor, and “Madrid de los Austrias”, among many others.
The Crowne Plaza Madrid City Centre offers 306 elegantly decorated
rooms. The hotel also invites you to its Mirador de la Plaza de Espana
Restaurant, with its tempting regional and international cuisine.
Hotel facilities: 24 hour room service; Car parking; 24 hour porterage;
Gymnasium; Sauna; Shop; Beauty parlour; Baby sitting; Laundry
facilities; Conference facilities. Room facilities: Air conditioning;
Minibar; Direct dial telephone; Private safe; Satellite TV; Radio;
Trouser press; Bathroom; Hairdryer.
7. Hotel Ritz – 5 stars
A few blocks away from the Prado and the Thyssen Museum, the Hotel Ritz
is frequented by the crowned heads of Europe. Here you will find the
world’s most powerful decision makers and members of the show business
community. The standard of its service and unrivalled prestige have
earned it a place among the world’s ten best hotels.
It is the small details that, year after year, place the Ritz amongst
the best hotels in the world. Pure linen sheets, exclusive decor in each
room, hand-woven carpets, 18th-century tapestries, a fresh rose in the
bathrooms every morning, peaceful gardens, a warm smile on every
employee’s face… The Ritz has but one ambition: to make their guests
feel even better than they do at home. The only way to achieve this is
by paying special attention to those details that make the
difference.The hotel offer 137 guest rooms and 30 suites, all
individually decorated. Embroidered linen, exclusive handmade carpets,
marble bathrooms with golden faucets.
Hotel facilities: Restaurant; Bar; Terrace; Garden; Lobby; 24-hour room
service; 24-hour reception and concierge desk; Babysitting service;
Bellman and porter; Business centre – interpreter and secretarial
services; Car rental desk; Currency exchange; Doctor on call; Fitness
centre; Fax machine; Free outdoor parking – valet available; Health spa
with saunas and whirlpool; High speed Internet access; Laundry and
dry-cleaning; Twice-daily maid service;
Room facilities: Private bathroom; Direct dial telephone; Color TV;
Safety deposit box; Internet access; Fax; Minibar; Balcony (suites
only).
Conclusion
Tourism is a travel away from a person’s usual place of residence for a
period longer than twenty-four hours, primarily for pleasure or
recreation, and frequently to multiple destinations.
Tourism statistics, however, usually include people traveling for
business, health, religion, or to visit friends and relatives. The
person traveling is a tourist. Thanks to its location, climate and
geographical features Spain is the one of the most important world
tourist centers.
There is a great variety of accommodation in Spain nowadays.
In my opinion, Spain is one of the most useful tourist destination.
Indeed, the systems of accommodation, transportation, catering service
are very highly developed in Spain. Therefore tourists want to visit
this beautiful country.
I think that all problems of course paper were solved and aim was
achieved.
Bibliography
1. Eugene J. Hall. The Language of Tourism in English. – USA. 2002
2. International tourism an economic perspective – London, GB, 2005
3. Internet
Http: // www. Best hotels. Ru/ Spain/
Http:// www. Spain-on line – hotel/ – reservations. Com/
Http:// www. Hotels – Madrid. Ws/
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