Los mercados de temática histórica como estrategia de desarrollo y atracción turística: El caso de Alcalá de Henares

Abstract

Apart from monuments and museums of great value among their heritage, many Spanish cities celebrate throughout the year a series of cultural events that have become authentic products of cultural tourism; a clear example are the medieval markets that have been proliferating in Spanish geography in the recent decades. These markets suppose an added tourist attraction and an opportunity of development for the towns and cities since they generate tourist flows and an important increase of the income. Medieval markets tend to dominate thereof more and more sectors of the economic, social and cultural life of the city, and should be considered as a part of a wider phenomenon known as “disneyzation”, (high performances which play with emotions). In this specific case, the final objective is to create satisfactory experiences. The city of Alcalá de Henares in Madrid is one of the Spanish cities that has undergone one of the most pronounced tertiary processes during the last decades, as an answer to its very serious deindustrialization. Tourism has been a fundamental agent of this transformation and a key part of the processes of recovery and restructuring of the urban network. Beyond its declaration as a World Heritage City by UNESCO, a very specific milestone in this sense is its medieval market or “Cervantino market”. This event is the largest in Europe and has more repercussions than any other activity on the hotel trade, restaurants, and local commerce. Besides, it reinforces significantly Alcalá project as a first-class tourist city. This communication aims to analyze the case of the medieval market of Alcalá de Henares as a cultural resource capable of generating, on its own, a development strategy based on tourism, using its historical past and an important strategy of “disneyzation” of heritage.