Towards Sustainable Spa Tourism Activities
In Greece
Author(s)
E. Beriatos & M. Papageorgiou
Abstract
Thermal (Spa) tourism in Greece has been developed since the beginning of the
19th century thanks to numerous significant thermal springs spread all over the
country. After having reached its time of prosperity during ’50s, 60s and 70s Spa
tourism entered a period of recession and decline. For the last 20 years Greek spa
towns and especially their infrastructure (thermal installations) have been
suffering from abandonment and degradation. Parallel to these developments,
some new categories of visitors / clients of thermal springs have also appeared as
a consequence of the broader socio-economic and cultural changes.
This paper presents and comments on some results of a research conducted by
the authors in the most important spa towns of Greece (Edipsos, Kamena Vourla,
Loutra Ypatis) which represent 47% of the spa tourists. The principal objective
was to survey the basic characteristics of the users of thermal springs (by
questioning them) as well as the opinion of local authorities and managers of
companies/enterprises operating in the area. Particularly, the results concerning
the profile of spa tourists have a special scientific interest since they prove that
commonly held opinions and ideas in relation to spa tourism are often fully
mistaken. Besides the research shows the emerging structural planning problems
derived from the different needs of ‘classic’ and ‘modern’(contemporary) spausers
opposing each other and thus preventing local economies and societies to
get full profit from a special/alternative form of tourism, traditionally considered
as a comparative advantage of the country.
Keywords: spa tourism, spa towns, classic and modern spa tourists, thermal
springs, regional planning and development.
Keywords
spa tourism, spa towns, classic and modern spa tourists, thermal
springs, regional planning and development.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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