What works, don't touch it. In La Pineda (Vila-seca), a historic tourist center on the Costa Daurada, the formula for success is repeated summer after summer. Ad infinitum. With an occupancy success that sails happily each August between overcrowding, La Pineda's sandy beach is a clear demonstration of the strength of the debated model of sun and beach tourism.
With nearly 6,000 beds spread mainly among hotels, campsites (840 spots), and a deluge of apartments, there is a prize for anyone who finds evidence of tourism phobia here. Life revolves around tourism, seemingly in harmony, with no major conflicts between locals and outsiders. The type of tourism, very family-oriented and highly loyal, eases coexistence. A memory of when their hotels were filled with Russians.
Massification is not a problem because the followers repeat every year looking for and finding the same thing
Tranquility is a virtue here, which seems paradoxical. “We come back every summer because we know we will find what we are looking for, tranquility, a very comfortable, fantastic beach, and a hotel with all the services that we love,” explains Mari Cruz, who swaps Sabadell for La Pineda for at least two weeks a year.
Their partners agree on why they are repeat visitors. In almost everything else, they hold opposite views. “We are calm, there aren't many foreigners, and you can go swimming without worrying about being robbed,” says Antonio, husband and devout believer. The majority of tourists are from Catalonia, Aragon, and various regions of the Iberian Peninsula. There are also quite a few English and French tourists.
The beach of La Pineda, urban, central, and with all kinds of services, fine sand and clear, shallow water, flat and not too deep, is not postcard-perfect. None of its loyal tourists expect it to be. As a backdrop, at one end, the port of Tarragona and the industrial installation used by petrochemical companies.
Proximity has forced for decades to maintain a delicate balance. The debate about the forced coexistence between tourism and chemistry has gone through stages of greater and lesser tension. Both sectors strive to promote coexistence out of pure self-interest, knowing that noise is harmful to everyone.
Accidents like the Iqoxe explosion in the neighboring town of La Canonja - luckily it happened in winter - or the repeated spills of microplastics, the pellets that reach the beaches of the Costa Daurada, with a special impact on the sands of Vila-seca, have not helped peace.
The mayor, Pere Segura, has become fed up with denouncing it and demanding solutions. European environmentalists have turned La Pineda into a symbol of a global struggle.
On the sand, in the middle of August, tourists are not thinking about chemistry. The concern seems to be different. Some unfold chairs, parasols, or sun loungers and leave. The Town Hall has conducted campaigns to remove equipment with the local police. The practice, impossible to eradicate. Every effort is made for a good spot on the beach in La Pineda. Loyal devotees.