Author(s)

DIMITRIS PROKOPIOU, KONSTANTINOS GIANNOPOULOS, KONSTANTINOS ANAGNOSTELLOS, BASIL TSELENTIS, GEORGE MAVRIDOGLOU

Abstract

The tourism industry is one of the most important economic activities for Greece. Over 25 million tourists per year visit Greece. This means that at the peak of the season, July and August, the number of visitors equals the number of people in the country’s population: about 10 million. One of the most famous tourist destinations in Greece is Paros, in the Cyclades island archipelago. Tourist development requires a multi-disciplinary approach, because it is a function that includes a wide range of actors, such as: the natural resources; ecosystem management; and the effects of human activities on fauna, flora and the coastal zone; as well as economic and social parameters. For the Greek islands, the environment, especially that of the coastal zones, plays a crucial role in keeping the tourism industry. This is reflected in the volume of scientific research that focuses on the study of the environmental impact of tourist development, as there are many entrepreneurs in the tourist industry that are trying to enlarge the tourist product. The purpose of this paper is to examine the present and the future of tourism in Paros, according to environmental indexes, living conditions and the condition of the tourist product itself.

Keywords

carrying capacity, coasts, coastal zones, Cyclades, economy, ecosystems, environment, environmental impact, Greece, islands, Paros, tourism, tourism marketing