Workers becoming tourists and consumers: social history of tourism in socialist Slovenia and Yugoslavia

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article outlines how citizens of socialist Slovenia spent their leisure time, where and when they went on holidays, and what role consumption played during those times. It is based on the argument that tourism as a form of modern leisure is associated with consumption, wherefore consumerism and tourism are interconnected phenomena. While also arguing that labour and leisure are entwined, the article studies the mutually constructive relationship between work and leisure through the perspective of holidays and the consumption of goods and services in the form of trade-union tourism and cross-border shopping. As regards the tourism sector development process, this article also fills a gap in our understanding of the intersection between domestic and commercial tourism. This contribution to the social history of tourism in Yugoslav socialism is based on both archival sources and oral history, with semi-structured interviews conducted with interlocutors.