Travellers to dictatorship

: the subjective lived experiences of British travellers to the Spanish Franco dictatorship and the Portuguese Estado Novo, c. 1950-1975

Abstract

This project collates and analyses a combination of oral testimony of British travellers from the Iberian Peninsula and primary material drawn from the contemporary travel industries, documents produced by the Spanish and Portuguese governments, and British governmental records on travel and cultural exchange during what would become the late stages of dictatorship in both Portugal and Spain (they ended in 1974 and 1975 respectively). During this time frame, there was a vast expansion in access to foreign leisure travel which became a realistic prospect for a far higher proportion of the population, as opportunities to travel opened up to a wider variety of British people than ever before. People travelled on holiday, or spent longer residing outside of Britain, living and working abroad in some cases for years. Spain and Portugal remodelled themselves into world-leading destinations through the package tourism industry. This project contributes to the growing historiography of tourism to dictatorships, commenting on the relationship between these illiberal regimes and travellers themselves. Simultaneously, it reflects on contemporary British society and its relationship with Europe. Outsider perspectives of travellers who spent time within Spain and Portugal contribute to the study of ‘everyday life’ in illiberal regimes. Travel accounts provide an outsider’s viewpoint on aspects of everyday life, whilst also illustrating travellers’ own experience of life inside Spain and Portugal. The oral testimonies provide a fresh perspective on these societies undergoing social, economic, and democratic transitions.

Date of Award	2 Jul 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Kate Ferris (Supervisor) & Gillian Anna Margaret Mitchell (Supervisor)