Seaside resort-hinterland Nexus: Palanga, Lithuania

This paper examines the ordering process of a seaside resort tourismscape and its hinterland. In this study we argue that the increasingly mobile, savvy and discerning post-mass tourists require an increasingly ‘fluid’ ordering of the tourist actor-networks. This is the key prerequisite for the rejuvenation of a seaside resort. The multiplicity of the ordering modes strengthens the durability and reinvention potential of a seaside resort-hinterland nexus that caters to the needs of the post-mass tourists. The analyzed obligatory passage points of Palanga, the pier and the rustic mega-inn, demonstrate the obsolescence of the conventional notions of centrality in the seaside resort development.

Graphical abstractA seaside resort-hinterland nexus of Palanga, Lithuania is presented.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideResearch highlights► Results show the obsolescence of spatial centrality in seaside resort development. ► ‘Fluid’ ordering is the key to the post-mass rejuvenation of a seaside resort. ► Ordering mode multiplicity strengthens the reinvention potential of a seaside resort. ► Actor enrolment intermediaries must be made congruent to the resort ordering modes. ► Only a strong center of calculation can hold such a ‘fluid’ tourismscape together.