Description

Popular with travelers since the 1960s, the Varna region of Bulgaria's Black Sea coast was considered a highly desirable vacation spot within the Eastern Bloc. Since the 1990s, the region has been increasingly integrated into the global tourism market as a mass tourism destination. This book is an ethnographic study of the transformation of Varna's tourism industry after the collapse of socialism. It examines the impact of the changing flows on the region and its population, addressing wider issues, such as the social and economic contours of post-socialist transformation in Varna, growing stratification within Bulgarian society, and the re-shaping of Bulgarian national identity between 'Europe' and the 'Orient.' (Series: Halle Studies in the Anthropology of Eurasia - Vol. 28)