Water policies in Spain: bases for a balanced tourism development, in the context of de deglobalization

Abstract

Economic activities related to tourism need, at different scales, a policy related to water, in our case in Spain. The main objective of the present investigation is to show the guidelines that mark, or should indicate, the path for the use of a scarce resource such as water, so that the tourist activities can be developed in a balanced way, marking and favoring the growth of the different tourist destinations, contributing to the achievement of more equanimous living conditions. Thus, when analyzing the Water policy in detail, it is determined as in Spain, since the appearance in the current democratic era, of the Water Law of 1985, until approximately the presentation of the Royal Decree that approves the regulation of Hydrological Planning, it has been denoting a progressive development in terms of the issues that have had to face the different water policies. Along these lines, the legal guidelines related to water resources have been adapting to the demands of the circumstances, mainly to the community trends embodied in the renowned Directive 2000/60/EC, which essentially required that rational water availability be guaranteed, so that the various social activities were revitalized.