The tourismscape of Palanga: a seaside resort and its hinterland

Analysts of global trends in tourism development point out to the matching rise of travel possibilities, ideas, flexibility, and tourist satisfaction benchmarks (Milne and Ateljevic, 2001; Yeoman et aI., 2006). Tourists are ever more savvy, inquisitive and choosey whilst taking ever shorter and more frequent trips with multiple aims. Such a 'post-Fordist' tourism multiplicity is rooted in a fundamental ambivalence of various interests and motivations inside a person (Selwyn, 1996), which makes them pursue a diverse mix of interests and experiences while travelling.· As a result, the ..concept of tourist destination becomes ever vaguer. Such trends show 'an increased attention on territories rather than on destinations, on networks of tourism attractions rather than on the monoculture economies marking the traditional mass tourism destinations' (Conti, Perelli, 2006: 2).