Willemsen, J. (2010). Mass tourism: shaping the urban landscape of small or medium sized towns : underlined by a case study in Nesebar/Bulgaria [Diploma Thesis, Technische Universität Wien]. reposiTUm. https://resolver.obvsg.at/urn:nbn:at:at-ubtuw:1-39150
Tourism has proven to have a significant impact on local environments and on local social and cultural traditions (urban identity), often resulting in the loss or damaging of particular local features that had hitherto determined the urban landscape. The arguably 'adverse' implications of tourism, without prejudice to the self-evident economic benefits of tourism, beg for increased awareness by local authorities and tourism organizations of the need for sustainable tourism management that aims to control and channel the impact of tourism development on the urban environment. But the ambitions set out in the concepts of sustainable tourism prove sometimes difficult to realize in practice; most notably in the context of large-scale tourism development, i.e. mass tourism destinations, in small or medium sized towns. The inherent characteristics of mass tourism, e.g. high numbers of travellers, profit orientated businesses etc., together with the often essential need for economic development, considerably pressurizes local culture and social traditions. This implies a great influence of tourism upon the urban development process of towns and cities, which more and more seems to revolve around conspicuous modes of consumption rather than the living quality of local residents (images vs. urban identity). With images increasingly becoming important for towns and cities in their chase for the tourist, the human actions and perceptions of local inhabitants seem to pale into insignificance and with that, the notion of urban identity dwindling; strongly begging the question what happens, if the so called other culture is just a stage for capitalistic structures of exploitation?