communist heritage tourism

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COMMUNIST HERITAGE TOURISM Stanislav Ivanov, PhD International University College Bulgaria Email: [email protected]

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Presentation about hte opportunities to develop communist heritage tourism in Bulgaria

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Page 1: Communist heritage tourism

COMMUNIST

HERITAGE

TOURISM Stanislav Ivanov, PhD

International University College

Bulgaria

Email: [email protected]

Page 2: Communist heritage tourism

DISCLAIMER

Current presentation has only scientific

goals. It does not aim at proclaiming

communist ideals or any communist party

or persons.

S.I.

Page 3: Communist heritage tourism

COMMUNIST

HERITAGE TOURISM • A short geography lesson

• A short history lesson

• Communist heritage tourism defined

• Communist heritage tourism – good examples

• Analysis of communist heritage tourism supply in Bulgaria

• Analysis of potential communist heritage tourism demand in Bulgaria

• Perspectives of communist heritage

tourism in Bulgaria

• A short language lesson

• References

Page 4: Communist heritage tourism

A short geography

lesson

• Bulgaria – located on the Balkan peninsula,

part of the European Union

• Size – 111 000 sq km, population: 7.5 mln

• Religion – 85% Christian Orthodox, 10%

Muslim, 5% other

• Capital: Sofia (app. 1.5 mln)

• Other major cities: Varna, Plovdiv,

Bourgas

Page 5: Communist heritage tourism
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A short geography

lesson

Tourism overview:

• Number of beds: 287423 * (2009)

• Number of accommodation establishments: 3533 * (2009)

• Number of arrivals: 7.9 mln (2009)

• Major tourist generating markets: Germany, UK, Russia, Romania, Scandinavia, Benelux, France

• Major types of tourism: 3S(+S+A), skiing, rural and eco, city breaks, balneology

Page 7: Communist heritage tourism

A short history lesson

• 1848 – Karl Marks publishes the Communist manifesto

• 1867-1894 – published 3 volumes of Capital (“Das Kapital”)

• 1917 – Communist revolution in Russia led by Lenin and Trotsky

• 1922 – The Russian Empire

transformed into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

Page 8: Communist heritage tourism

A short history

lesson • 1939-1945 – World War II

• 1941 – Bulgaria joins the Third Reich’s allies

• 1944 – The USSR declares war to Bulgaria and invades. Military coup d’etat on 9th September – later portrayed as “Socialist revolution”

• 1946 – Bulgaria declared People’s Republic of Bulgaria. Monarchy was abolished

• 1989:

9th November – the fall of the Berlin Wall

10th November – the fall of the communist

regime in Bulgaria

• 1991 – the USSR ceases to exist

Page 9: Communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage

tourism defined

• Heritage “may be viewed as taking on the

identity of an interest in the past, an interest

in cultures, buildings, artifacts and

landscapes of both the past and present”

(Boyd, 2002:212).

• It includes the cultural and natural

environment that people inherit from

previous generations.

Page 10: Communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage

tourism defined

• Cultural heritage is usually associated with

built environment (Boyd, 2002) and material

artifacts but intangible elements like media

culture, religion, dances, songs, literature,

customs are also with great importance and

attract a lot of visitors (Gonzalez, 2008).

Page 11: Communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage

tourism defined

• Heritage and heritage tourism are deeply interlinked with politics (Su and Teo, 2009) and “to speak of heritage is to speak of politics” (Allcock, 1995).

• Sometimes part of the national history and cultural heritage is considered inconvenient (slavery and segregation in America or South Africa, the Nazi period in Germany or communism in former socialist countries in Central and Eastern Europe) and politicians try, successfully or not, to stay away from it.

Page 12: Communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage

tourism defined • Communist heritage tourism Red tourism

• Communist heritage tourism, as a subsegment of heritage tourism, has recently captured the interest of the academics and the available literature on the topic is very limited (compared to other types of tourism):

• Albania – Dujisin (2007)

• Bulgaria – Ivanov (2009)

• Romania – Light (2000a, 2000b)

• North Korea, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia – Henderson (2007)

• China – Li and Hu (2008), Li and Zhang (2010) – a lot of papers … but in Chinese

Page 13: Communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage

tourism defined

Characteristics:

• Ideologically overburdened / Politically

charged type of tourism

• Controversial type of tourism – Nostalgia?

• Limited period of the history

• Representations of personality cult

• Concentration of resources in places

related with communist history in the

country

Page 14: Communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage

tourism – good examples

Budapest – Szoborpark (http://www.szoborpark.hu)

Page 15: Communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage

tourism – good examples Prague – Museum of Communism (http://www.muzeumkomunismu.cz)

Page 16: Communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage

tourism – good examples Berlin – DDR Museum (http://www.ddr-museum.de)

Page 17: Communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage

tourism – good examples

Forthcoming: Warsaw – Communist Memorial Museum (http://www.socland.pl)

Page 18: Communist heritage tourism

Communist heritage

tourism

What about Bulgaria?

Page 19: Communist heritage tourism

Analysis of communist heritage

tourism supply in Bulgaria

Resources related to communist leaders and partisans

Birthplaces of

communist leaders

Kovachevtsi (Pernik district) – Georgi Dimitrov

Pravets (near Botevgrad) – Todor Zhivkov

Gabrovo – Mitko Palauzov (the youngest partisan)

Monuments,

commemorating the

demise of partisans

and communist leaders

Sofia – the place where the Georgi Dimitrov’s Mausoleum was

located before its demolition in 1999

Yastrebino – a place where 6 children were killed by the police

during the partisan movement in Bulgaria in 1943. A national

children complex is established and still functional

Eremia – the “Tulip” monument, dedicated to the partisans killed

by the army in 1944

Sofia and Pleven – Bratska mogila monument, dedicated to the

partisan movement

Statues / busts / low

relief of communist

leaders and partisans

(outside the places of

their birth or death)

Varna – Alley of the antifascist heroes in the city’s sea garden

Bourgas – monuments of partisans in the sea garden

Belovo, Bratsigovo

Smaller sculptures in nearly every city and town in Bulgaria

Page 20: Communist heritage tourism

Analysis of communist

heritage tourism supply in

Bulgaria Resources related to the Bulgarian Communist Party

Monuments,

commemorating specific

moments in communist

history of Bulgaria

Buzludzha – a complex on the mount

Buzludzha in the Balkan mountain on the place

the socialist movement in Bulgaria was

established in 1891

Stone engraved inscriptions commemorating

the establishment of a local Communist Party

organisation (e.g. Koprivshtitsa)

Stone engraved inscriptions and monuments

commemorating the Socialist revolution on 9th

September 1944 (e.g. Strelcha, the Liberty Arch

on Goraltepe peak near Troyan)

Monuments, commemorating the communist

uprising in September 1923 (e.g. Maglizh,

Pazardzhik)

Page 21: Communist heritage tourism

Analysis of communist

heritage tourism supply in

Bulgaria

Communist architecture and iconic buildings

Specific architecture of the

buildings in the town centre

Dimitrovgrad – “Stalinist baroque”

Sofia – the “concrete blocks”

architecture – Mladost and Lyulin

quarters

Sofia – the buildings of the Presidency,

Council of ministers and the former

Communist Party house (now hosting

offices of the Parliament)

Former Communist Party houses in

every major city – Varna, Plovdiv,

Bourgas, Russe among others

Other monuments and iconic

buildings related to communism

Sofia – Assembly “Flag of peace”

Page 22: Communist heritage tourism

Analysis of communist

heritage tourism supply in

Bulgaria

Resources related to the Soviet Union

Red Army / Russian soldier /

Unknown soldier monuments

Sofia, Plovdiv, Bourgas, Pleven,

Russe, Sliven

Monument, dedicated to the

Bulgarian-Soviet friendship

Varna

Memorabilia

Memorabilia Coins, Medals, Military uniforms,

Photos, Posters, etc.

Arts and media culture

Arts and media culture Songs, poems, novels, films, paintings

devoted to communism, communist

leaders and heroes, and the Soviet

Union (the Red Army)

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Page 39: Communist heritage tourism

Analysis of potential

communist heritage tourism

demand in Bulgaria

Potential market segments of communist heritage

tourism in Bulgaria

Age in 1989

Unborn-<6 7-18 19-45 46-55(60) 55(60)+

Bulgarians A1 A2 A3 A4 A5

Foreigners (former

socialist countries in

CEE)

B1 B2 B3 B4 B5

Foreigners (Western

countries)

C1 C2 C3 C4 C5

Page 40: Communist heritage tourism

Perspectives of

communist heritage

tourism in Bulgaria • Inclusion of communist monuments in the

itinerary of currently offered tours

• Dedicated half-day tours

• Museum of communist heritage of Bulgaria – Sections: Bulgarian communist party, Youth, Communist culture, Communist economy, Science and technology, Common people, International relations, The dark side of communism, Communist memorabilia

Page 41: Communist heritage tourism

A short language

lesson

БЛАГОДАРЯ ЗА ВНИМАНИЕТО!

(BLAGODARYA ZA VNIMANIETO)

THANK YOU FOR THE ATTENTION!

Page 42: Communist heritage tourism

References

• Allcock, J. B. (1995) International tourism and the appropriation of history in the Balkans. In M.-F. Lanfant, J. B. Allcock and E. M. Bruner (eds.) International Tourism: Identity and Change, pp. 101–112. London: Sage Publications

• Boyd, S. (2002) Cultural and heritage tourism in Canada: Opportunities, principles and challenges. Tourism and Hospitality Research 3(3), pp. 211–233

• Dujisin, Z. (2007) Forget communism … or sell it. Global Perspectives, August-September 2007, p. 19. Available online at URL: http://www.global-perspectives.info/download/2007/pdf/ausgabe_08-09_07.pdf (Accessed on 08.02.2009)

• Gonzalez, M. V. (2008) Intangible heritage tourism and identity. Tourism Management 29(4), pp. 807–810

• Henderson, J. C. (2007) Communism, heritage and tourism in East Asia. International Journal of Heritage Studies 13(3), pp. 240–254

• Ivanov, S. (2009) Opportunities for developing communist heritage tourism in Bulgaria. Tourism 57(2), pp. 177-192

• Li, J., E. Zhang (2010) Red Legacies in China. China Heritage Quarterly, No. 22, June 2010, URL: http://www.chinaheritagenewsletter.org/scholarship.php?searchterm=022_conference.inc&issue=022 (Accessed on 17.11.2010)

• Li, Y., Z. Hu (2008) Red tourism in China. Journal of China Tourism Research 4(2), pp. 156–171

• Light, D. (2000a) An Unwanted Past: contemporary tourism and the heritage of communism in Romania. International Journal of Heritage Studies 6(2), pp. 145-160

• Light, D. (2000b) Gazing on communism: heritage tourism and post-communist identities in Germany, Hungary and Romania. Tourism Geographies 2(2), 2000, pp. 157–176

• Su, X.., P. Teo (2009) The politics of heritage tourism in China: A view from Lijiang. Abington: Routledge