Tourism planning and development in Eastern Europe

Three decades ago, the hypermobility of tourists from the days before the global pandemic was truly unthinkable in Eastern Europe. The borders were closed and the region isolated from the rest of the world. Despite an extraordinary transformation of tourism in the area since, Eastern Europe remains under-explored in tourism studies. This book fills the gap by outlining contemporary strategies for tourism development in post-socialist countries, considering the opportunities and challenges as well as the initiatives and approaches to sustainability. Reviewing tourism development and planning across Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Romania, this book: - Offers a contemporary and insightful outlook of Eastern Europe tourism, with a wide range of case studies from inter-disciplinary and single-disciplinary perspectives; - Uses varied methodological approaches and research methods, including in-depth interviews, focus groups, informal conversations, document analysis, netnography, questionnaires and secondary data, to form an interesting and diverse treatise; - Considers post-COVID tourism and the significant role of tourism stakeholders in its re-development. Illuminating the various economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts that tourism has created, this book is a valuable reference for researchers and students of tourism and related disciplines, as well as anyone interested in the development of Eastern Europe.