From real estate tourism to nature related tourism. Change of model or a shift in the discourse? The case of Noja (Cantabria, Spain)

This article studies a relationship, which a priori appears incompatible, between so called residential tourism (a name under which real estate interests lie) and tourism related to nature in coastal areas. After establishing a theoretical and methodological framework, a case study is analysed: the municipality of Noja in the North of Spain. This case combines most of the features that define this area type. On the one hand, strong real estate growth, a high level of urban sprawl and speculation, and limited control and adjustment of the model to environmental conditions. On the other hand, it is an ecologically valuable, protected, natural area. Moreover, this particular case study has specific or distinctive qualities, such as a geographical location on the Cantabrian coast where few studies have been carried out, unlike the Mediterranean coast, and proximity to the influential metropolitan area of Bilbao. Following a review of all of the above characteristics, we analyse whether the implementation of tourist values in a protected space represents a major change in the residential and real estate model pursued to date or whether these changes are just a gradual adjustment to new market conditions.