Destination Dictatorship: The Spectacle of Spain's Tourist Boom and the Reinvention of Difference

Examines the relationship of Spain's 1960s tourist boom to Franco's right-wing dictatorship.

When the right-wing military dictatorship of Francisco Franco decided in 1959 to devalue the Spanish currency and liberalize the economy, the country's already steadily growing tourist industry suddenly ballooned to astounding proportions. Throughout the 1960s, glossy images of high-rise hotels, crowded beaches, and blondes in bikinis flooded public space in Spain as the Franco regime showcased its s...