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Tourism Governance for Reaching Sustainability Objectives in Insular Territories – Case Study Dodecanese Islands’ Complex, Greece

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Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2023 Workshops (ICCSA 2023)

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Abstract

The steadily increasing number of people, travelling around the world for leisure purposes, has raised concerns as to their impacts on sustainability of destinations, affecting the quality of life of local population and the quality of visitors’ experience. The higher the volume/seasonality/mass type of tourist flows and fragility of the destination the greater the impacts these flows cause, leading – under certain circumstances – to the “overtourism” phenomenon, i.e. surpass of destinations’ carrying capacity in environmental, social, cultural, etc. terms. This phenomenon appears recently as a noticeable trend in several Mediterranean insular destinations; and calls for tourism governance – both horizontal and vertical – and policy interventions that: prioritize long-term sustainability objectives to the benefit of islands’ communities and visitors; and engage local communities as integral parts and safeguards of destinations’ assets. In this context, this paper explores the potential for sustainable tourism practices to grow in the Greek islands’ ecosystem, using as a case study the Dodecanese Islands’ complex. Towards this end, it draws upon an innovative methodological approach that integrates quantitative / qualitative research and policy analysis, while cross-cutting all spatial levels. Through this study, weaknesses of tourism governance structure in Greece are highlighted, while challenges and opportunities faced at the local level are also unveiled.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography and Regional Planning, School of Rural, Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Dionisia Koutsi & Anastasia Stratigea

Authors
  1. Dionisia Koutsi
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  2. Anastasia Stratigea
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Correspondence to Dionisia Koutsi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    Osvaldo Gervasi

  2. University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy

    Beniamino Murgante

  3. University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Ana Maria A. C. Rocha

  4. University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Chiara Garau

  5. University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy

    Francesco Scorza

  6. University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA

    Yeliz Karaca

  7. Polytechnic University of Bari, Bari, Italy

    Carmelo M. Torre

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Koutsi, D., Stratigea, A. (2023). Tourism Governance for Reaching Sustainability Objectives in Insular Territories – Case Study Dodecanese Islands’ Complex, Greece. In: Gervasi, O., et al. Computational Science and Its Applications – ICCSA 2023 Workshops. ICCSA 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14110. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37123-3_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37123-3_22

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