CULTURAL TOURISM IN A GREEK INSULAR COMMUNITY THE RESIDENTS’ PERSPECTIVE.docVIP

MunichPersonalRePEcArchive CULTURAL TOURISM IN A GREEK INSULAR COMMUNITY: THE RESIDENTS’ PERSPECTIVE DespinaSdraliandKaterinaChazapi HarokopioUniversity,EmpirikioHighSchoolofAndros November2007 Onlineathttp://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/6368/ MPRAPaperNo. 6368,posted19. December200717:57UTC  TOURISMOS: AN INTERNATIONAL MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF TOURISM Volume 2, Number 2, Autumn 2007, pp. 61-75 CULTURAL TOURISM IN A GREEK INSULAR COMMUNITY: THE RESIDENTS’ PERSPECTIVE Despina Sdrali1 Harokopio University Katerina Chazapi Empirikio High School of Andros Cultural tourism constitutes an alternative strategy of sustainable local development for improving quality of life. The main objective of this type of tourism is to transform the regions, which are characterized by cultural resources, into ideal places for vacation, residence or business. In this study the residents’ perceptions of cultural tourism were examined in a case study of a Greek island, Andros. It was found that the majority of the respondents were aware of the importance of cultural tourism and they argued that it could contribute to the island’s local development. The findings also suggested that there is a strong relationship between the respondents’ characteristics and their perceptions of the impacts of cultural tourism on the island’s development. Keywords: alternative tourism, cultural tourism, cultural heritage, sustainable local development, Greece INTRODUCTION During the last twenty years an increasing emphasis has been placed on alternative tourism, the interest of which is focused on the protection of natural and cultural environment, in an effort to solve the problems of mass tourism (i.e. low wages, seasonal employment, environmental degradation). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, cultural tourism has gained an increasing attention, with a growing body of specifi