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Tourism in the Historic Cores, Conflict Or Opportunity?

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Tourism in the Historic Cores, Conflict Or Opportunity? TOURISM IN HISTORIC CORES, CONFLICT OR OPPORTUNITY? THE STAKEHOLDERS POINT OF VIEW IN MADRID’S CASE Manuel Valenzuela and Carmen Hidalgo Universidad Autónoma de Madrid [email protected] [email protected] Abstract In this contribution Madrid is presented as a tourist destination based on its cultural appeal, most of it consisting in the museums and other similar activities (exhibition halls, art fairs, art galleries, e.g.). A point to be underlined about this issue is the highly concentrated spatial patt ern. Even so, Madrid’s historic centre keeps playing the role of major destination of tourist fl ows. It is there that a program of interviews has been car- ried out with the help of a very well selected set of stakeholders following a methodology designed to be implemented in the historic centres of Brussels and Rome as well. The outcomes obtained point out a few controversial opinions about the relation of tourism with the city’s historic centre; the tourist economic sector emphasized the role of tour- ism as an opportunity. On the other hand, the socially inspired organizations see it basically as a source of confl ict that can be counteracted by means of integrated policies for the whole historic centre. 1. Some basic features of Madrid as tourist destination Spain is a politically decentralised country with its capital Madrid situ- ated at the geographic heart of the Iberian Peninsula. The continental- Mediterranean climate has strong seasonal diff erences. Madrid’s ori- gins are quite recent in comparison with other Spanish cities. In 1561 Rivista di Scienze del Turismo – 2/2010 http://www.ledonline.it/Rivista-Scienze-Turismo/ 281 Manuel Valenzuela - Carmen Hidalgo Philip II moved the royal court, with Madrid becoming the new capital of Spain. Between 1950 and 1960 Madrid attracted a large number of migrants and therefore the population grew from 1 to 3 million in the post-war period. From 1975 to the mid nineties Madrid’s population decreased because of the economic crisis. Since 2000 an important demographic growth has taken place due to the arrival of half a million immigrants pushing the population in 2008 to 3.28 million inhabitants (16. 9% immigrants). Madrid is Spain’s main point of entry (and Europe’s as well from South America) for international air traffic. Therefore, as a tourist des- tination Madrid presents a very different profile from other parts of Spain. A considerable number of visitors in Madrid are day-trippers, tourists passing by, or simply sightseers. Taking into account only the travellers staying in the hotels of Madrid the figures increased from 2.7 million in 1980 to 8.9 million in 2009. Amongst tourists who spend the night in Madrid, the reason for the journey is mainly linked to some work related activity. Because of this there is an increase in income per traveller and the negative effect of the low season is strongly reduced. However it also reduces the average stay per tourist in comparison with other tourist destinations. 1.1. Culture as a major factor of attractiveness for tourism in Madrid Madrid stands out for its unique model for tourism. Visitors are attracted by its extraordinary historic and artistic heritage, its vigorous economic activity and its excellent advanced services. In Madrid there is an outstanding concentration of heritage, art and culture mostly in the historic centre and its surroundings. Therefore, it is one of the rich- est cities in the world for museums. Although many of them are quite specialised (e.g. railway or naval museum), art galleries are the most prominent type of museum. In fact the Prado Museum is among the best art galleries in the world. Rivista di Scienze del Turismo – 2/2010 http://www.ledonline.it/Rivista-Scienze-Turismo/ 282 Tourism in historic cores, conflict or opportunity? Madrid’s case 1.2. Museums and other linked activities, core of Madrid’s tourist offer Museums are the core element of an important cultural axis running from Plaza de Cibeles through Paseo del Prado to Atocha Railway Sta- tion including the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Gallery, The Queen Sofia Centre of Art and the Caixa Forum Culture Centre. In 1992 Madrid was nominated European City of Culture. It gave rise to many cultural events, enhanced existing facilities and created new ones as, for instance, the Museum of the City. Museums are an essential part of Madrid’s cultural appeal as shown by the figures listed inTable 1. The flagship and engine of cultural tourism in Madrid is the Prado Museum with almost three million visitors in 2008. There have been constant improvements in the surrounding area, as an extension of the museum area along the Prado Promenade, known as «Art Walk». Even more, something like a museum quarter has grown up in the area surround- ing the Prado Museum. Since the 80s Madrid´s trade in art and culture has been given a significant boost, for example, the ARCO Art Fair. A good demonstration of Madrid’s position on the world art stage is its increase in number of art galleries, mostly located around the museum district (Fig. 1). 1.3. Problems of the wealth of cultural offe in Madrid’s city centre The huge density of visitors in the city centre, around 5 million per year, causes many impacts: traffic congestion, environmental degrada- tion, etc. However, there is no real plan of museum decentralization toward other districts of the city. Nevertheless, there are many initia- tives for new expositive facilities, mostly along the north-south axis. Besides that, a new urban project is being developed for the el Prado Promenade devoted to reducing the area´s environmental problems and to reinforce its cultural function. Many agencies, both public and private, are involved in the process of intra-urban museums and in the decentralization of exhibition facilities. Rivista di Scienze del Turismo – 2/2010 http://www.ledonline.it/Rivista-Scienze-Turismo/ 283 Tab. 1 Visitors to Madrid’s main museums (1991-2006). Variation 91/08 Absolute Museums 1991 1997 2004 2006 2008 values % Museo del Prado 2.043.864 1.709.771 2.001.500 2.166.000 2.759.000 25,9 715.136 Palacio Real 567.425 768.096 720.700 883.000 958.000 40,7 390.575 C.A. Reina Sofía s/d 858.341 1.445.200 1.422.000 1.769.000 51,5 910.659 Museo Thyssen s/d 538.200 683.500 737.000 753.000 28,5 214.800 Museo de la Ciudad s/d 185.000 182.000 185.000 148.000 -25 -37.000 Museo Arqueológico 233.604 203.400 251.800 220.000 159.000 -46,9 -44.400 Museo Sorolla 34.822 46.688 85.400 88.000 102.000 65,8 55.312 Museo Cerralbo s/d 23.442 34.900 17.000 s/d -37,0 -6.442 Museo de Bellas Artes 31.337 46.007 61.800 93.000 129.000 75,7 97.663 Museo de las Descalzas 75.103 66.812 56.500 56.000 57.000 -31,7 -9.812 Museo de la Encarnación 15.374 16.189 18.200 19.000 19.000 19,0 3.626 Museo Municipal 30.304 44.368 39.600 46.000 36.000 15,8 5.696 Museo de América s/d 61.217 69.400 69.000 54.000 -13,3 -7.217 Panteón de Goya s/d 43.846 s/d 61.000 71.000 38,2 27.154 Rest 606.846 1.142.000 2.762.200 1.539.000 2.092.000 70,9 1.485.154 Total 3.638.679 5.753.377 8.414.704 7.601.000 9.106.000 60,0 5.467.321 Source: Instituto de Estadística de la Comunidad de Madrid. Anuario estadístico. Fig. 1 Madrid museum quarter (source: own elaboration). Manuel Valenzuela - Carmen Hidalgo Among the private interest groups the financial sector stands out (banks and saving banks, insurance companies, etc.). Regarding the public sector, all the responsible administrations, and above all the local and regional ones, are taking part in this process: the central govern- ment is developing a project for the creation of the Museum of Virtual Arts; the regional government is involved in an exhibition hall in a dis- used water supply facility and the local government in a culture centre called «Proyecto Matadero». 2. The case study: an overview of Madrid´s historic centre 2.1. Urban historic centres as tourist destinations This issue has involved a wide range of scientific approaches since the 80’s (Jansen-Verbeke 1988). The issue of tourist and historic cities as places with a high potentiality of being sold with the help of marketing techniques has been analyzed, among others, by Ashworth and Voogd (1994). From the point of view of demand some authors have under- lined how the cities of art are excellently gifted for leisure and recrea- tion, in some ways because their attractiveness is stimulated by tour operators in order to enhance incoming tourist flows (Van den Borg 1994). Many contributions, under focus of the «world heritage cities», are paying special attention to the tourists’ and visitors’ impact and how it can be managed in places as Amsterdam, Bruges and Venice among others (Van de Borg and Gotti 1995). According to the Span- ish tourist cities, the idea that all the components should be gathered together in an integrated tourist destination is widely spread (Calle 2002). Rivista di Scienze del Turismo – 2/2010 http://www.ledonline.it/Rivista-Scienze-Turismo/ 286 Tourism in historic cores, conflict or opportunity? Madrid’s case 2.2.
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