Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
an Overview
HabibAlipour and Derek Hall
Introduction
powers of Germany, Sweden, Poland, Lithua-
nia and Russia. Of the other five CEE accession
states, all but Slovenia had been part of the
Soviet bloc since World War II, all but Hungary
have Slav cultures, and all, with the partial
exception of Poland, had been part of the
Hapsburg Austro-Hungarian empire up to
World War I. Climatically Central or Northern
European, with distinctly cold winter continen-
tal components, many of the basic characteris-
tics of the CEE entrants are thus far removed
from those of Cyprus and Malta.
Indeed, although a maritime heritage is an
element that the Mediterranean entrants may
be said to share with the Baltic States, Poland
and perhaps Slovenia, that is certainly not
the case with the other three, land-locked
CEE members (Hungary, Czech Republic
and Slovakia). The characteristic of a small
population figure (see Table 1.1) is certainly an
element Cyprus and Malta share with Slovenia
(a nation state only since 1991), Estonia and
Latvia, although all three CEECs are much
larger in terms of land area. Notably, Malta's
population density is far greater than any other
EU or Mediterranean country (Table 16.1; see
also Table 1.1 and Chapter 17).
Three key and interrelated characteristics
link the two Mediterranean entrants while acting
to contrast them with the CEE8: a history of
British colonial occupation, and the linguistic
and tourism heritage flowing from that.
This Mediterranean overview chapter has a
number of objectives in supporting its overall
aim of contextualizing the following two chapters
on Malta and Cyprus:
to briefly highlight common and contrast-
ing elements between the Mediterranean
and CEE accession states;
●
to highlight common and contrasting ele-
ments between Malta and Cyprus themselves;
●
to
exemplify
this
through
aspects
of
●
tourism-environment relationships; and
to consider the wider Mediterranean impli-
cations of the EU accession of Malta and
Cyprus.
●
Contrasts Among the Accession
States
It might seem simplistic, but none the less
largely true, to argue that few points of compari-
son exist between the Mediterranean and Cen-
tral and Eastern European (CEE) 2004
accession states. Of the CEE entrants, Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania had been incorporated
within the Soviet Union, had distinctive
non-Slav majority cultures, a largely Baltic mari-
time tradition, and a history embracing the wax-
ing and waning Northern European imperial
