Travel agencies in Spain during the first third of the 20th century. A tourism business in the making

Abstract

This article analyses travel agencies as tour operators in Spain during the first third of the 20th century. It gives an account of the bibliography available, the sources used and those which can be used. Thanks to the digitalized press, a Media Intensity Index of Travel Agencies is presented that approximates their activity cycles during this period. We analyse its implementation and development through these identified stages. As this work shows, from the mid-1920s onwards, travel agencies in Spain were an important part of the country’s ‘tourism industry’, of the tourist organization and of the nascent Spanish tourism system.