Last Sunday (21.08) “K” opened a file about Greek tourism. worries about the future, which understandably arise in the midst of a season of record receipts, increasing incomes, but also arrhythmias.

Today, the newspaper continues to publish opinions that open a fruitful public debate about the tourism development model and what needs to be done immediately to ensure that economic expectations do not change the unique character of the Greek summer.

Ten Points to Answer Concerns

Pari Charta, Eftimia Sarandaku

An article dated August 21st in the Sunday edition of your prestigious newspaper, titled “Tourism Dossier – Reports and Fears of the Next Day”, articulates positions that, in our opinion, lead to misjudgments regarding the importance and future of Greek tourism. In particular, our counterargument focuses on the following 10 points:

1. The approach that refers to a single digit increase in demand for VIP tourism worldwide and in Greece is not linked to any data from recent or past studies, on the contrary, all data show that tourism and tourist travel – on a global scale – as a key feature is the possibility of acquisition by various groups of consumers.

2. Tourism “all year round” for our country, as for many other countries with similar excellent resources, has been and remains for many years a key task of strategic planning of all competent authorities and tourist destinations, and its achievement will make a decisive contribution to the solution of many issues and problems posed by dedication due to the dispersal of the tourist crowd in space and time.

3. Your essay underestimates the contribution of tourism to the tourism economy. It is estimated that the total consumption of tourism directly or indirectly positively affects 60% of the sectors of the Greek economy. Recent estimates (IOBE, KEPE, SETE) calculate a tourism multiplier from 2.2 to 2.65 and increase the impact of tourism on Greece’s GDP from an impressive 27.5% to 33.1% and on employment from 35% to 42% (as of 2019). year).

4. The opinion of the editors of the tribute that the growth of international tourism is a “threat” to the ability of the Greeks to enjoy their holidays, causes negative and incorrect impressions. The size of domestic tourism is primarily related to the purchasing power of the Greeks. The contribution of tourism, as analyzed above, leads to an increase in the country’s GDP and the ability of the average citizen to travel more, and not vice versa.

5. Reflection, which in many places determines a specific commitment to the accepted modern model of the country’s development (obviously, the model of mass tourism, the sun and the sea is meant), has two main problems. First, there is no single accepted model, and instead tourism supply and demand is now complex. Secondly, our country has been offering a wide range of specialty products and infrastructure over the past 30 years. These two facts explain both the viability and longevity of our tourism product.

6. The use of the terms “hypertourism” and “carrying capacity” should be based on international standards and facts. Recent studies (eg the study of the new Special Spatial Framework for Tourism) show that the vast majority of Greek destinations score low on two key tourist density indicators (places/sq.km and places/resident). High prices (between 250 and 500 seats/sq km) exist in a small number of highly specialized and dynamic tourist destinations such as Thira, Skiathos and Mykonos, or on very small islands such as Koufonisi. A remark should be made here, following from a comparison with foreign examples: tourist density is not an unambiguous factor, but their real effect – developmental, environmental or social – is a function of other factors. Among these, the level of infrastructure and the effectiveness of destination management are critical.

7. The Greek landscape is a key natural, cultural and tourism resource that needs to be protected from scattered development in unplanned areas. The few attempts to limit “unscheduled construction” (as was done in the period 2000-2003 in the Aegean islands, and also more recently) have remained unfinished, as they have proved costly for all governments. But this is a broader issue related to the long-term implementation in Greece of a policy that favors speculation in small and large property.

8. Tourism has proven over and over again during the latest extreme COVID-19 crisis that it is not a vulnerable or unsafe activity. The phenomenon of revenge tourism stems not only from what we have been deprived of during the pandemic, but also from the message that consumers are sending around the world that tourism is a right that they do not intend to give up.

9. Tourism as a complex activity concerns many interest groups, not just those who are looking forward to relaxing in lost paradises, with no other tourists or vacationers (except themselves…). We appreciate that it should be understood that in a country that has an extraordinary wealth of resources, a huge number of quality tourist destinations and a diverse product, it is important to remain competitive in the international arena, which will only have positive development results. for all.

10. The tribute reproduces old stereotypes based on questioning the contribution of tourism to the economy and/or over-emphasizing its negative impact on the social and natural environment, essentially posing pseudo-dilemmas such as “tourists or Greeks”, “tourism or the environment”. The significant revival of tourism and the belated recognition of its development potential on the political agenda during the difficult years of the economic crisis should have instead provoked a discussion on how to capitalize on the positive momentum by improving a number of real issues (in the tourism product), in terms of employment workers, spreading the benefits of tourism in the local community, protecting the environment,
in relation to tourism and climate change).

In conclusion, the discussion about the prospects of tourism should, in our opinion, be conducted not in contradictory terms, but in synthetic terms, as many experts in the field of sustainable tourism development, destination planning and management and tourism entrepreneurship are able to do. As a tribute to this name, one would expect their participation, because the chronic problems of Greek tourism are associated with the non-interference of specialists in the complex issues of the tourism industry. We fear that this practice will be repeated.

* Mr. Paris Chartas is Professor of Tourism Development at Harokopion University.
** Ms. Efthymia Sarandaku is Associate Professor at the Department of Spatial Policy for Tourism Destinations and Tourism Enterprises at the University of West Attica.

Running out of blue oil

Last summer, on the collapse of the Mykonos water supply network, I published a commentary called “Black Waters” on the lack of infrastructure and the islands’ progressive overcapacity for tourists, pointing to the upcoming risks of degradation of the tourism product. Today the country is intoxicated by the “success story”, the subject of daily coverage in all media and the corresponding formation of public opinion in Greece and abroad. And in front of the “alector fonsai tris” a tsunami rose.

The phenomenon of the naked tourist king is revealed in all ecological, social and economic dimensions in the appropriate tribute to the “K” on Sunday 21 August, guided by the “mark” article by Prof. Statis Kalivas. Professor without the wooden language of tourists extends to the whole phenomenon of changing the tourist physiognomy of the country and turning it into a third world tourist colony, alienated from the critical mass of domestic tourism. The one that gives the Greek direction its flavor and uniqueness. “Waiters” of Europe” recall PASOK of the first period.

The phenomenon of hypertourism horizontally permeates all Mediterranean destinations with one significant difference: Greece, in addition to mass demand, represents a serious lack of urban and environmental legislation, a lack of infrastructure and significant failures in the management of the features added to it by islandness and its geography.

So what can we do? Five suggestions:

1. Return of spatial planning/urban planning to the fore. Urban and spatial planning deals with the organization and infrastructure of the country as a whole, in contrast to tourism, which expresses an essential but individual approach to the organization of space. It ignores housing construction, city and town organization plans and, above all, other activities that operate in parallel with tourism, such as fishing, agriculture, infrastructure, carrying capacity, strategic environmental and transport impacts, in which tourism activities develop.

2. Land use. An neglected, but nonetheless important part of urban planning, the absence of which poisons and changes the nature of the built environment. The living fabric, the city or town, designed or historically developed with the main function of this place of residence, turns into a vast hotel, separating the place from its inhabitants. I’m referring to the recent comment about the remodeling of downtown and downtown Athens into an airbnb theme park for tourists without residents. Unfortunately, this also applies to tourist destinations and will certainly lead to the desolation of the island and the abandonment of traditional activities. Above all, however, it drains tourism’s source of wealth, blue oil, at the expense of the environment and future generations, dangerously narrowing the country’s future economic model to that of a tourist colony.

3. Infrastructure. Infrastructure does not follow the development of the built environment. The state budget, i.e. the Greek taxpayer, cannot support the development of infrastructure (ports, roads, drainage, waste, garbage). The funding model must change. Infrastructure cannot cost a resident of a popular area and the owner of a villa of 1000 sq.m. in Mykonos or in a hotel 1000 euros / room. Thus, the collection of cash and infrastructure fees should be commensurate with the value of the property in question.

4. Restrictive policy of hypertourism. I believe that control over arrivals is not a sustainable and effective measure. Instead, measures such as:
• Decreased construction rate of tourist destinations depending on their throughput.
• Strict restrictions on change of use with quotas and the obligation to issue a permit for short-term leases.
• Prohibition of off-plan construction when adequate infrastructure is not provided protects the tourism product in the long term.

5. Combating tax evasion and urban planning arbitrariness with tough fines so that hidden parallel development disappears.

I left the last but not the least important question that the professor raises in his article. The return of the Greeks to Greece, to their summer home, should be the priority of every nation.
politics.

The tourism industry is an important and serious activity that should be left to the frantic planning of today at the expense of tomorrow and the future.

* Mr. Thassos Homenidis holds a PhD in Civil Engineering.