Spatial distribution of tourism supply in Andalusia

• We use GIS and ESDA techniques to study tourism in Andalusia.
• Imbalance is found between littoral and inland areas.
• We detect growth of tourism activity in mountain areas.

This paper applies Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) techniques to the Spanish Autonomous Community of Andalusia (Andalucía) to analyze tourism flows and their impacts with specific reference to the provision of accommodation and size of local population. Moran's I global index of spatial autocorrelation and LISA cluster maps are used and a persistent imbalance is found between the littoral and the inland areas. A positive spatial autocorrelation is found that is compatible with the high degree of concentration in the littoral area or, regarding the number of permanent residents, the pressure caused by tourism activity on some municipalities in mountain areas with high environmental and landscape quality. The dominance of traditional tourism zone in the Western Costa del Sol, West Almería or Bahía de Cádiz is highlighted but a more equitable territorial distribution of tourism with less pressure and more quality is found in coastal mature destinations and a special dynamism in the rural inland area is also observed. The implications for destination planning are discussed.