Abstract
Tourism geography has studied the evolution pattern of tourism areas on a regional and local level through theoretical models and empirical analyses, which have been widely discussed. These research issues are still valid regarding the new trends in the tourist markets that have created a new scenario that makes it necessary to reopen the debate around the sun and sand tourism model. The mature coastal destinations with an economy that is fully dependent on tourism, or on the tourism-real estate relationship, face difficulties adapting to the tourism scenario created by the new demand trends linked to the cultural change in the era of post-modernism and the evolution towards a post-Fordist model. In this context, some theoretical models, such as Butler’s tourist area life cycle theory, present mature tourist destinations in the Mediterranean as doomed to an irreversible decline. The significance of the changes, as well as their effects on the tourist areas, justifies a research project that is being developed to give an answer to some controversial questions: how can the decline of a tourist destination be defined and how can we measure it? How do we distinguish a critical crisis from a structural decline? How valid is the Tourism Area Life Cycle model as a theory to describe and predict future situations? What role do tourism planning and management play to avoid the decline of a tourist destination? What are the most convenient strategies and the most appropriate planning and management tools that can be used to renovate tourist destinations? The present paper precisely seeks to answer the last question, analysing the recent tourism policies developed in Spain on a national, regional and local level and focusing on the renovation of mature coastal destinations. It is with this aim that policies, programmes and current actions are explored not only within a context characterised by the maturity of many destinations in their life cycle, but also in a scenario of global economic crisis.