Exporting holidays : Bulgarian tourism in the Scandinavian market in the 1960s and 1970s

Abstract

From the early 1960s, Bulgaria pursued an ambitious program of international tourism targeting Western visitors who could contribute to the country’s hard-currency income, thus assisting foreign trade. The strategy tied the tourist sector to foreign policy and bilateral diplomacy. This chapter explores the triangular dynamics in the institutional history of Bulgaria’s tourism from the 1960s until the mid-1980s, discussing opportunities and challenges arising from this sectoral interlock in the Cold War context. It shows how tourism across the Iron Curtain was more vulnerable to geopolitical pressures and Cold War public panics than the foreign trade flows.