Troubled sustainability: Bulgarian seaside resorts

Abstract

This article describes changes in the tourism settlement network of a highly developed travel destination in Eastern Europe — the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast —against the background of regional tourism development efforts during the severe economic crisis that accompanied Bulgaria's transition from a centralized economy to a market economy. Two levels of tourism and recreation settlement networks are identified: (1) a narrow group of 178 specialized resort communities and (2) a broader group embracing all other settlements hosting tourism‐related activities, including recreation in second homes. The specialized resort communities can further be divided into three types of settlements: large multifunction cities (Varna and Bourgas); new tourist resorts (so‐called ‘resort complexes’, of which there are two subdivisions); and small coastal towns and villages, usually of ancient origin, and in which tourism development has marginalized the older functions. Sustainable forms of tourism development are more successful in the smaller towns, largely irrelevant in the large cities, and a major problem for the large, mono‐cultural resort complexes.