Travel Culture in Yugoslavia: An Analysis of Tourism Propaganda

Abstract

The paper is an overview on Yugoslav seaside tourism propaganda and mass tourism of the working class. The analysis is based on the archival material analyzed so far in the field of the history of tourism development and published scientific papers related to travel culture in Yugoslavia. The research aims to look at and analyze the tourist propaganda in Yugoslavia during the 20th century from a sociological aspect, when one of the main characteristics of tourism was its mass occurrence. Despite the development of the economy and the rise of tourism, the citizens of Yugoslavia had a short vacation, during which they went to the sea, spas, mountains, most often making their own travel plans, and used the services of travel agencies the least. Numerous catalogs, brochures, newspaper advertisements represent important segments of tourist propaganda and a signpost for domestic tourists to popular destinations. The difficult position of workers who struggled to preserve the idea of going on vacation was also visible through some of the slogans about summer vacations: "Those who have money bathe in the sea, and those who do not have money bathe at home in the washbowl." The standard of living of the people dictated their decisions about travel, and only in 1964 was the decision made that the annual vacation should last for six days and be paid, which gave tourism the epithet of social tourism. The results of the overview provide insight into the everyday life of the inhabitants of Yugoslavia, their possibilities for going on vacation, tourist propaganda which was very lavish in its beginnings, but also the most common destinations they travelled to.