“Dedicated to Serving the Tourist”: Environmental Management, Economic Crisis, and the Pressures of Adriatic Mass Tourism in Socialist Yugoslavia, 1980–1991

Abstract

Abstract This article examines how and why mass tourism on the Adriatic coast in the 1980s became such a dominating factor in local societies and environments. As economic crises led to decreased living standards, local municipalities became more dependent on foreign tourism. Also, previous environmental management policies ensured that tourism became entangled with the Adriatic environment, which was heavily transformed by the rapid expansion of tourism.