This book addresses tourism and its development in the post-communist context of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Although it has been over 30 years since many countries of Central and Eastern Europe embarked on the path of transition from state socialism to capitalism and liberal democracy, the ongoing atrocious events in Ukraine bluntly remind us that the perception of CEE as a ‘transition’ region may have been done away with too early and that the legacies of communism continue to influence the reality of the region. Tourism is no exception here. While on the one hand, tourism has significantly contributed to the post-communist restructuring of CEE, on the other, the communist heritage has played (and still plays) an important role in shaping the tourism geographies of the CEE region. The book consists of 14 chapters (divided into two sections), a new introduction and a reflective concluding section. All 14 main chapters in this book were originally published in the Tourism Geographies journal. The aim of the book is two-fold. First, it summarises, distils and highlights the important and often ground-breaking contributions Tourism Geographies has made over the years to the debate on tourism in CEE. Second, it lays foundations for further research on tourism in the post-communist states of CEE. This book will be of great interest to upper-level students, researchers, and academics in various disciplines – human geography, politics, sociology, and tourism studies in general.

Former communist countries face unique issues in developing and marketing tourism businesses, communities, and attractions because of centralized polices that discouraged international influences. While soviet economies relied on state policies to facilitate community development, the success of capitalism lies in access to a variety of resources, such as the environment, fiscal services, infrastructure, and market knowledge at the local level. Moreover, communal societies potentially possess social capital that can provide unique economic development opportunities. This book incorporates a regional perspective that widens the tourism development debate to include theoretical analyses, applied research, and case studies that document the broader successes and challenges that affect tourism stakeholders and addresses the necessary elements that facilitate a comprehensive tourism development strategy in emerging and transitioning former communist countries.

The Iron Curtain was not an impenetrable divide, and contacts between East and West took place regularly and on various levels throughout the Cold War. This book explores how the European tourist industry transcended the ideological fault lines and the communist states attracted an ever-increasing number of Western tourists. Based on extensive original research, it examines the ramifications of tourism, from sun-and-sea package tours to human rights travels, in key Eastern European locations including East Berlin, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Albania. The book’s analysis of the politics, culture, and history of tourism to the East offers important new perspectives on European tourism in the twentieth century. The Introduction of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.