Planning and developing sustainable tourism destinations: the case of Chios Island

• Autor(a) principal: Lopes, Vânia Susete Marques
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/25328
• topic: Sustainable development; Tourism planning and development; Sustainable tourism development; Definition of policies and strategies; Greece; Chios

Since Industrial Revolution, the planet is facing a moment of environmental stress reason why the sustainable development concept emerged, and a new Agenda was developed recently with 17th Goals for society to take actions towards a better development trajectory for our present and future generations. This problematic was disseminated to other sectors and sustainable tourism development concept was officialised. Despite several researches have been done to comprehend tourism impacts and its relationship with sustainable development, there is still a lack of worldwide examples of strategies for sustainable tourism development at tourism destinations. In this sense, the main goal of this Dissertation is to understand how tourism can contribute to or prevent actions that erode sustainable development trajectories and propose a planning framework for the sustainable tourism development of tourism destinations and, particularly, Chios. The Greek Island of Chios has a diverse touristic potential such as the production of mastiha. However, it is a destination which faces several challenges, in order to become a sustainable tourism destination: a small capacity airport; deficiency in infrastructure and facilities supporting the sector; lack of cooperation between stakeholders; weak public participation in tourism related decision-making processes and a lack of shared vision and strategy for the tourism sector. To accomplish such goal, the methodology is based on literature review through analysis of books, academic studies, scientific articles and journals and documents published by state institutions and it is also based on a case study approach. The empirical chapter involved a mixed methodology, combining both qualitative and quantitative tools. The first one, through direct observation, in visits to tourism facilities, informal conversations and a participative presentation of proposals carried out during an internship at the Municipality of the Greek Island of Chios. Besides, a questionnaire was developed to Chios’ tourism professionals. The second one, to collect data about the Island’s characterization, through several researches on various sources of scientific information, such as national statistical data websites and local documents. The results show that, for sustainable tourism development planning, tourism policy-makers must build an inclusive and participatory strategy, starting by collect statistical data continuously and involving stakeholders into the process. Chios is a destination with potential growth and increased competitiveness and attractiveness for visitors that would benefit from the establishment of a participatory strategy plan and manage the sector while trying to support the sustainable development of the Island.