La influencia del turismo en el patrimonio construido. Un caso paradigmáticoLa Red de Paradores de Turismo

Abstract

The network of Paradores Nacionales de Turismo, [National Paradores of Tourism] was established in the early decades of the twentieth century with the purpose of providing the country with an infrastructure of hotel establishments in order to fill the gaps of a sector that was virtually non-existent at that time. The opening of the first establishment, in 1928, has given way to a long list of establishments placed on natural landscapes of special relevance and historic/artistic monuments, which are now around a hundred-years old. This paper is proposed as an analysis of the impact tourism has had as an incentive for the rehabilitation of built heritage. What is interesting from the art history�s point of view is that the use of historic properties for this aim will be one of the basic lines of action of this State-owned hotel network, a pioneering model of management worldwide that continues to be operative and profitable nowadays. The recent crisis we are experiencing has given rise to new approaches but has also made us ask ourselves certain recurring questions at the research level: Is it possible to make profit from our heritage? Can heritage be the driving engine of economic development? The existence of the Paradores Network shows us that the answer is positive, although, from an art historian�s perspective, there are some specifications in this regard we will try to clarify during the development of the conference.