In the 1950s, tourism became a massive and important phenomenon in Spain due to its significant economic impacts. It was this economic dimension that attracted the attention of governments and which has motivated the bulk of public actions concerning tourism (Velasco González, 2004).
On the other hand, climate change appeared much more recently on government agendas, beginning to receive attention only in the 1980s. The IPCC was founded in 1988, and in 1992 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 1992) was agreed and later reaffirmed by the Kyoto Protocol (1997). Following the latest report from the IPCC (2014a), few still deny the anthropogenic causes of climate change. The importance of this issue is increasing from local to international policy agendas. The EU has established itself as an international leader in the multilateral response to climate change (Werksman, Lefevere & Runge-Metzger, 2016), innovative policy formulation and implementation, and the promotion of policy tools and technological advances for encouraging greater energy efficiency and an economy that is less
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dependent on carbon (Delbeke & Vis, 2016). EU climate policies guide and drive national, regional and local policies.
Spain established its National Climate Commission in 1992. This was replaced in 1998 by the National Climate Council. In the early 2000s, Spain expanded its range of organisational instruments with the Spanish Office for Climate Change, the Interministerial Group on Climate Change, and the Commission for the Coordination of Climate Change Policies. At that time, Spain began to develop its basic planning instruments: the Spanish Strategy for Climate Change and Clean Energy 2007-2020 (2004), the National Adaptation Plan (2006) and its subsequent working programmes (the first in 2006, the second in 2009, and the third in 2013). More recently, the Roadmap for Diffuse Sectors 2020 was developed (2014) to accomplish the objective of reducing GHGs.
As in the EU, climate policies in Spain are closely linked to the country’s energy policies. Examples include the National Allocation Plan (2005–2007), the second National Allocation Plan (2008–2012), the Renewable Energy Plan (2005–2010), and the Energy Saving and Efficiency Plan (2008–2012). The Spanish Ministry of Public Works has drafted the Strategic Plan for Infrastructure and Transport (2005-2020). In the residential, commercial and institutional sectors, this Strategic Plan contains the following financial instruments aimed at promoting energy efficiency in the tourism sector: the State Financial Fund for the Modernisation of Tourism Infrastructures (2005) and the Renovation Plans for Tourist Facilities (Plan Renove 2009 and Plan Futures 2009, 2010 and 2011). More recently, Spain’s energy policy has included a programme (2013–2016) to aid the energy rehabilitation of buildings (housing and hotels). Since 2013, six environmental impact plans (PIMA) have also been implemented. One of these is PIMA Sol (2013), which finances actions aimed at reducing GHGs in the tourism sector.
Despite the growing presence of the issue of climate change in the Spanish policy agenda, the last two administrations (2011–2015 and 2016–present) have been characterised by attempts to hinder the introduction of renewable energy sources, as well as by increases in the emissions of GHG since 2014 (INE, 2015). Moreover, Spain still lacks a law on climate change, which may be seen as a delay in terms of tackling this issue. In fact, according to the 2016 Climate Change Performance Index (Burck, Marten, Bals, Rink & Heinze, 2015), Spain is in the "poor" category (the second worst of five) and ranks 26th among the 28 EU Member states in this regard.
On the other hand, the Spanish Observatory for Sustainability compares the political activity on climate change of the different Autonomous Communities and qualifies Catalonia as being "very active" (the best of five categories), alongside Andalucia, Valencia and Extremadura (Alfonso et al., 2016).
In 2006, the Catalan Office for Climate Change was created and its first instrument was developed: the Framework Plan for Climate Change Mitigation in Catalonia (2008–2012), which was linked to the Catalan Energy Plan 2006–2015 (2005). The latter was revised in 2009 and later replaced by the Catalan Energy and Climate Change Plan 2012–2020. Regarding adaptation, the Catalan Strategy for Adapting to Climate Change 2013–2020 was approved in 2012. Other notable instruments are the Voluntary Agreement Programme for the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (2010) and Catalonia’s Reports
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on Climate Change – a pioneering attempt to regionalise information – three of which have been produced to date (2005, 2010 and 2017). Moreover, Catalonia took a further step by approving its Law on Climate Change in 2017.
Tourism policy, on the other hand, has a much longer tradition. Its relevance to different levels of government varies. The EU’s tourism policy just serves as a complement to state and regional tourism policies. Spain initiated its public actions in tourism in 1905 with the creation of the National Tourism Commission. In 1951, the Ministry of Information and Tourism was created and a period of consolidation and promotion for the administration of tourism began (Arcarons Simon, 2010). The first National Tourism Plan was introduced in 1952. Eleven such plans have been implemented since then.
By the late 1960s, these tourism plans were already recognising tourism-related environmental problems (Velasco González, 2004). Despite the urgent need to incorporate sustainability criteria in Spanish tourism policies (López Sánchez & Pulido- Fernández, 2014), and despite the dependence of SSS tourism on natural resources, Spain’s most recent tourism plans still have limitations in this regard (Santos-Lacueva, Anton Clave & Saladié, 2017b). Some of the obstacles to incorporating environmental issues – such as climate change– in the long-term are linked to the prioritisation of matters related to short-term financial profit, short-term political conflicts and ideologies, and pressure groups that condition decision-making. This is exemplified in several Spanish coastal destinations, including: Torrevieja (Vera Rebollo & Ivars Baidal, 2003), the Canary Islands (Bianchi, 2004), Calviá (Dodds, 2007) and Mallorca (Dodds & Kelman, 2008). The maturity of the Spanish tourism policy framework is reflected in the consolidation of numerous instruments (Velasco González, 2005). Examples of organisational instruments are the Sectorial Tourism Conference (1994), the reactivation of the Interministerial Tourism Commission (1994), and the Spanish Tourism Council (2005). The latter united the Tourism Promotion Council (1995) and the Tourism Observatory. Examples of promotional instruments are Turespaña (created in 1984 but called Turespaña only since 1991) and the Spain Convention Bureau (1987). Examples of knowledge production instruments are the Institute of Tourism Studies (1962) and SEGITUR (2002).
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 grants exclusive competence for the promotion and planning of tourism to the Spanish Autonomous Communities (CE 1978, art. 148.1.18). Catalonia, therefore, incorporated tourism as an exclusive competence in its Statute of 1979 (LO 4/1979 art.9.12). In 1980, the region’s Department of Commerce, Consumption and Tourism was created. Having experienced several changes, it is now the Directorate- General for Tourism of the Department of Business and Knowledge. The White Book on Tourism in Catalonia (1983) laid out the first guidelines for tourism policy. In 1986, the Consortium for the Promotion of Tourism in Catalonia was set-up. In 1997, this became the Catalan Tourist Board (Turisme de Catalonia). Law 13/2002 on Tourism in Catalonia marked a new phase, although this was considered a late development in comparison with other Spanish Autonomous Communities (López Palomeque, 2004). Since this time, two tourism plans have been developed – the first running from 2005 to 2010, and the second from 2013 to 2016. The latter was developed as part of the 2020 Catalan Strategic Tourism Plan (2013), in conjunction with the Tourism Marketing Plan for Catalonia 2013-2015.
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