Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
because there are no funding measures dedi-
cated solely to it. Instead, those destinations
looking for EU support for tourism projects must
look to instruments designed primarily for other
purposes. Project managers therefore need to
think creatively and laterally about how tourism
meets the aims and objectives of programmes
such as the European Social Fund, the Frame-
work Programmes, INTERREG, and eEurope
(Coles and Hall, 2004; European Commission,
2004b). Formerly, the LEADER community
development programme had been important
for rural tourism development in such countries
as Ireland (Roberts and Hall, 2001).
Clearly, in the shorter and longer term
there
coastal locations. Foreign direct investment in
major infrastructure, accommodation and attrac-
tion projects may also leave new member states
vulnerable to the power of transnational corpo-
rations and the vagaries of global market condi-
tions, reinforcing trends experienced to varying
extents in the previous decade and half (e.g.
Behringer and Kiss, 2004).
The introduction and growth of flights
operated by budget airlines from West
European markets to regional airports in the
accession states is a notable short-term impact.
These are generating both advantages and
disadvantages for destinations. The desire to
attract the perceived benefits of such operations
may lead to dependence and inappropriate
markets for some destinations, while providing
a useful market entry and image builder for
others. Certainly there is no shortage of (ex-)
military airfields that can be exploited as second
or third tier airports with possible local benefits
accruing from the diffusion effects of gateway
development in hitherto marginal locations.
The accumulated media imagery of clubbing
and stag/hen weekends for youthful West
Europeans has been instructive for the promo-
ters of Dublin and Prague. Negative destination
images can swiftly be generated to confound
what may have been years of careful nurturing
by national and regional authorities (Attard and
Hall, 2004; Hall, 2004a). Profile and market
positioning is a key consideration and requires
careful, long-term management by all the 2004
entrants (Hall, 2000c).
Distinctions between tourism and other
forms of temporary mobility, migration and
cross-border activity have long been blurred,
particularly in Central and Eastern Europe
(Hall, 2000a; Williams and Hall, 2000; Hall
and Williams, 2002; Coles
et al
., 2004). Use
and meaning of the term 'tourist' will become
increasingly ambiguous. Experience suggests
that migration and temporary mobility will settle
down to being relatively constrained in the
longer term. Some commentators note that
basic economic conditions are likely to generate
more short-term than long-term stays. Until
living standards are equalized, the costs of stay-
ing in a Western country may be too high for
many citizens of accession countries pursuing
legal employment. None the less, warnings of a
'brain drain' from the accession countries were
will
be
winners
and
losers
from
EU
enlargement:
spatially, at a number of levels from com-
munity level to global relationships, and
●
structurally, in terms of policy priorities and
successful interdependencies, for example
between culture and tourism policies - see
Chapter 3.
●
The dynamics of capital and labour mobility
and knowledge transfer will modify the condi-
tions of tourism production and consumption
across the new EU and beyond.
The 2004 accession countries enjoyed a
high travel media profile as an immediate con-
comitant of EU entry. But just as in the wake
of political change in the region in 1989, the
novelty of a newly accessible 'playground' can
soon wear off (Hall, 1991). One central tourism
challenge for the new entrants is to communi-
cate their products and attractions with greater
visibility, to continue to invest in them and,
where necessary, to reinvent them in order to
anticipate and respond to the fickleness of
dynamic tourist market demand (NIT, 2004).
Social costs of tourism may arise from the
promotion of foreign investment opportunities.
Media publicity highlighting low property values
has led to an increased awareness among
Western Europeans of attractively priced poten-
tial second homes in selected locations and
regions, as emphasized by Marin Bachvarov in
Chapter 19 in relation to Bulgaria. One conse-
quence of this may be that, as elsewhere in
Europe, local residents find themselves priced
out of their own local housing markets, whether
in desirable urban sectors, rural regions or
