Beyond Fordism and Flexible Specialization in Antalya’s Mass-Tourism Economy

Abstract

In political-economic literature on tourism, it is widely argued that the Fordist model of mass-tourism has gradually been transformed into one of flexible specialization. This paper argues that the tourism economy of Antalya, a Sun-and-sea mass-tourism city par excellence, does not fit the model of Fordism and only partially fits the model of flexible specialization because it is too crude. Although more refined typologies as successors of Fordism are found in political-economy literature, the paper concludes that it does not make sense to find out which of those types fits a tourism economy of one place. It is better to make an in-depth analysis by what mix of modes of economic coordination (market, hierarchy, association, network, community, and state) all the different economic activities that form together the ‘tourism industry’ are coordinated.