Mass tourism in Spain became one of the most prosperous economic sectors in the mid-twentieth
century, collaborating in the process of convergence with Europe, using the seductive power of the media, especially
the cinema. A quantitative and (to a lesser extent) qualitative analysis methodology was followed. After
reviewing the academic literature, the records of the National Film Library were consulted, selecting 87 films of
tourist content and of national production, during the period of operation of the Ministry of Information and Tourism
(1951-1977). The results have made it possible to identify the tourist segments, the cinematographic genres,
the type of tourists, national or foreign, as well as the heritage elements and the services present in the tourist
product of the time, visualizing the scenarios where the plots of the films are developed. The cinematography allows
showing the elements that constitute the economic tourism model of Franco’s Spain, focused on towns on the
Mediterranean coast, especially on the Costa del Sol. The research translates the antecedents of tourism marketing,
using cinema as a means of communication that recognizes the economic transformation of Spanish society and
the new image of Spain to be projected abroad.
