Tourism Development of the Cyclades Islands: Economic, Social and Carrying Capacity Assessment and Consequences

Abstract

The tourist industry is one of the most important economic activities in Greece. The country receives over 32 million visitors per year. Greece has enjoyed increasing numbers of people and revenues from tourism, due to the unique environments that are both natural and man-made that make it a high-profile tourist destination; however, it is already clear that uncontrolled growth of the industry may bring serious environmental and social problems, leading to a decline in the quality of tourist product and services provided. According to the triple bottom line (TBL) philosophy developed by Elkington (1998), sustainable tourist development must be balanced at the same time with economic, social and environmental aims, from a microeconomic point of view, as tools to measure environmental impact. The Prokopiou-Tselentis model is an integrated assessment system for environmental management and impact estimation of a tourism destination. In this paper, we propose the implementation of the Prokopiou-Tselentis model as the economic, social and tourism situation demands data to estimate the development of tourism and its impact on the Greek islands of Cyclades.

Tourism and Cultural Sustainability: Views and Prospects from Cyclades, Greece

“…We proceed to present the survey findings for each research question as conducted with the aid of descriptive statistical tests. Due to their close proximity to and easy accessibility from the large urban metropolis of Athens, the Cyclades tend to attract a very high share of domestic tourism [54,56]. The majority of our respondents accordingly replied that the majority of visitors on the three islands were domestic tourists, while the second most important visitor group were international tourists arriving from the EU, followed by international tourists arriving from outside the EU.…”

“…Taken all together, such cultural attractions become a most significant pole of tourist attraction for these islands, constituting a competitive advantage versus other destinations [47,60]. Obviously, as the Cycladic islands are famous for their crystal-clear waters and beautiful beaches, enjoying the sea and sun generally remains the most important visitation motive, which also generally explains the seasonal character of Cycladic tourism [13,47,54,61]. As regards the opposite relationship, namely tourism's repercussions on and implications for local culture, on the one hand, answers tended to be more mixed, in line with other tourism research [16,50,61].…”

“…We also encounter the acknowledgment of and advocacy for the significance of culture-in conjunction with other general development interventions-towards the future achievement of local cultural and overall sustainability. Admittedly, the sustainability target for these islands ought to be a combination model of conventional and alternative/special-interest tourism development, taking into account (a) the tourist side's demands and interests, (b) the local communities' needs and aspirations and (c) the particularities of the Cycladic geography, history and culture, in order to make the most of the uniqueness of both the natural and human environment of the Cyclades [50,54,62].…”

“…They are highly competitive with other top global destinations, while offering "a truly exotic experience at a price better or equal to a holiday in Europe" [53]. Besides their strong 3Ss (sea-sand-sun) allure, they also boast striking natural/environmental assets, great landscape diversity and rich cultural traditions and heritage, dating back to antiquity [53,54]. Indicatively, foreign tourist hotel stays in the Cycladic islands have been gradually growing, reaching more than 768,000 arrivals in 2018 [55].…”

Swot Analysis of the Tourist Sector on Paros Island, Greece

“…The second group consists of four variables ( Table 2). The model was presented by Prokopiou in the European Scientific Journal [13] and in WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment [14]. The score is derived by using questionnaires about and qualitative indicators of each area.…”