Presentation about hte opportunities to develop communist heritage tourism in Bulgaria

1. COMMUNIST HERITAGE TOURISM
Stanislav Ivanov, PhD
International University College
Bulgaria
Email: stanislav.ivanov@vumk.eu

2. DISCLAIMER
Current presentation has only scientific goals. It does not aim at proclaiming communist ideals or any communist party or persons.
S.I.

3. 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

4. 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

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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).

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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

14. Communist heritage tourism – good examples
Budapest – Szoborpark (http://www.szoborpark.hu)

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

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

17. Communist heritage tourism – good examples
Forthcoming: Warsaw – Communist Memorial Museum (http://www.socland.pl)

18. Communist heritage tourism
What about Bulgaria?

19. 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

20. 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)

21. 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”

22. 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)

39. 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

40. 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

41. A short language lesson
БЛАГОДАРЯ ЗА ВНИМАНИЕТО!
(BLAGODARYA ZA VNIMANIETO)
THANK YOU FOR THE ATTENTION!

42. 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