8 Travelling (Western) Europe: Tourism, Regional Development, and Nature Protection
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Ute Hasenöhrl
Abstract
This chapter discusses “mass tourism” in Western Europe, the most important hotspot of world tourism in the “short” twentieth century (1918-1989). Chronologically structured in three sections, it aims to untangle tourism’s tricky relationship with regional development and nature conservation. First, the rise of a Taylorist tourism model accompanied the emergence of different forms of “social tourism” in the interwar period (e.g., the socialist Naturfreunde movement and fascist tourist organization such as Kraft durch Freude). Second, the rapid rebuilding of the tourism industry and its infrastructure from the 1940s to the 1960s, joined by the establishment of a network of conservation areas, played a vital role in promoting “landscape tourism”. Third, the 1970s and 1980s, which can be characterized by a final stage of mass tourism but also growing ecological awareness, calling for more sustainable forms of “eco-tourism”. This analysis reveals that, while (mass) tourism could be called a pan-European phenomenon, its characteristics were shaped on different levels and by a diverse set of actors with distinct, but very unequal agency.
Abstract
This chapter discusses “mass tourism” in Western Europe, the most important hotspot of world tourism in the “short” twentieth century (1918-1989). Chronologically structured in three sections, it aims to untangle tourism’s tricky relationship with regional development and nature conservation. First, the rise of a Taylorist tourism model accompanied the emergence of different forms of “social tourism” in the interwar period (e.g., the socialist Naturfreunde movement and fascist tourist organization such as Kraft durch Freude). Second, the rapid rebuilding of the tourism industry and its infrastructure from the 1940s to the 1960s, joined by the establishment of a network of conservation areas, played a vital role in promoting “landscape tourism”. Third, the 1970s and 1980s, which can be characterized by a final stage of mass tourism but also growing ecological awareness, calling for more sustainable forms of “eco-tourism”. This analysis reveals that, while (mass) tourism could be called a pan-European phenomenon, its characteristics were shaped on different levels and by a diverse set of actors with distinct, but very unequal agency.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- On the “Contemporary European History” Handbook Series IX
- 1 Introduction: Writing a European History of Environmental Protection 1
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I Conserving Nature
- 2 Counting Birds: Protecting European Avifauna and Habitats 17
- 3 Europe and its Environmental Other(s): Imagining Natures for “Global” Conservation 47
- 4 Restoring, Reintroducing, Rewilding: Creating European Wilderness 73
- 5 Protecting Eurofisch: An Environmental History of the European Eel and its Europeanness 101
- 6 Transcending the Cold War: Borders, Nature, and the European Green Belt Conservation Project along the Former Iron Curtain 129
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II Preserving Livelihoods
- 7 Transforming Woodlands: European Forest Protection in a Global Context 157
- 8 Travelling (Western) Europe: Tourism, Regional Development, and Nature Protection 185
- 9 Moving Mountains: The Protection of the Alps 217
- 10 Negotiating the Maritime Commons: Protecting the Baltic Sea in a European Context 243
- 11 Recycling Europe’s Domestic Wastes: The Hope of “Greening” Mass Consumption through Recycling 269
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III Sustaining Environments
- 12 Visualizing the Invisible: Communicating Europe’s Environment 305
- 13 Revealing Risks: European Moments in Nuclear Politics and the Anti-Nuclear Movement 331
- 14 Combatting “Acid Rain”: Protecting the Common European Sky 363
- 15 Developing Europe: The Formation of Sustainability Concepts and Activities 389
- 16 Europeanizing Biodiversity: International Organizations as Environmental Actors 419
- 17 Epilogue: The Nature of Europe 447
- List of Contributors 451
- Index 455
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Table of Contents V
- On the “Contemporary European History” Handbook Series IX
- 1 Introduction: Writing a European History of Environmental Protection 1
-
I Conserving Nature
- 2 Counting Birds: Protecting European Avifauna and Habitats 17
- 3 Europe and its Environmental Other(s): Imagining Natures for “Global” Conservation 47
- 4 Restoring, Reintroducing, Rewilding: Creating European Wilderness 73
- 5 Protecting Eurofisch: An Environmental History of the European Eel and its Europeanness 101
- 6 Transcending the Cold War: Borders, Nature, and the European Green Belt Conservation Project along the Former Iron Curtain 129
-
II Preserving Livelihoods
- 7 Transforming Woodlands: European Forest Protection in a Global Context 157
- 8 Travelling (Western) Europe: Tourism, Regional Development, and Nature Protection 185
- 9 Moving Mountains: The Protection of the Alps 217
- 10 Negotiating the Maritime Commons: Protecting the Baltic Sea in a European Context 243
- 11 Recycling Europe’s Domestic Wastes: The Hope of “Greening” Mass Consumption through Recycling 269
-
III Sustaining Environments
- 12 Visualizing the Invisible: Communicating Europe’s Environment 305
- 13 Revealing Risks: European Moments in Nuclear Politics and the Anti-Nuclear Movement 331
- 14 Combatting “Acid Rain”: Protecting the Common European Sky 363
- 15 Developing Europe: The Formation of Sustainability Concepts and Activities 389
- 16 Europeanizing Biodiversity: International Organizations as Environmental Actors 419
- 17 Epilogue: The Nature of Europe 447
- List of Contributors 451
- Index 455
