The Impact of Tourism in Greece Essay Example

one of the top 15 preferred destinations worldwide. http://www. p-rigas. gr/05_detail. php? recordID=195, 14/02/2008).

Even though tourism has been expanded over the last years, major changes had been performing to the sector of supply and demand: new destinations, new forms of touristic activities, new experiences, whereas the international market is expanding and the competition is being more intense: the emphasis is been in value for money services, the perception of tourism is changing, even the age groups are changing, since more and more elderly people are traveling.

What makes Tourism a unique sector is the fact that different products and services are very often supplied by different small or medium enterprises owned by local people, which will improve their earnings, since there is a steady growth over the years. The future challenge is to manage the future growth in the way that the negative effects will be minimised, whereas at the same time the benefits will be maximised by supporting the local industries, the local culture and at the same time by reinforcing the protection of the environment.

Tourism is one of the most promising factors of socio-economic life worldwide. It unifies people, cultures, societies and civilizations contributing to the social and civil development. The World Trade Organization estimates that the total international arrivals are going to overcome 15 million people for 2008, whereas especially for Greece the tourist activity will raise up to 4%-5% accordingly.

Based on the differentiation of tourists needs and wants, as well as the economic crisis which diminished the buying behaviour, new trends have already been defined: • More and more travellers prefer to visit close

to their home, destinations, using their car. • People prefer to make a break down to their holidays into Week ends, three day- vacations. • Business trips last vey few days. • The individual tourism is rising, whereas the massive tourism, as well as the organized tour packages are diminishing.

Based on the above points, tour operators, cruises and airlines, are going to be influenced, due to tourists change of behaviour. Nevertheless, there is already a trend showing that in the United States as well as in Western Europe, there is a tendency in satisfying the most demanding tourists needs and wants. As far as Greece is concerned, the last two years, there was a record in arrivals, since the growth has come up to 34% , whereas there is a 13,5% raise for tourists, due to the new entry of American airlines, which directly or indirectly link Athens to big American cities.

Based on World Trade Organization of Tourism and Travel, there is an estimation of 15 million international arrivals, in Greece, over the next few years. Based on that trend, the key success factor, will be, for Greece to rebuild the tourist product. More specifically, tour operators, organizing tourist packages in cheap competitive prices are some of the strong points of the competitive tourist activity. As far as hotel sector is concerned, the demand for higher quality and better price is one of the most important factors, in order for the visitor to decide the best solution possible.

Nevertheless, today’s trends deal with cheaper hotels and cheaper packages of business trips. More tourists are interested in family accommodations, in better

locations for women who travel alone or even for bed and breakfast hotels. (Lickorish L. J,Jenkins C. L. ,2004:327). In tourist activity, the most important players are tourist agents, who try to dominate the market, through other activities as well, such as tourist organizations, or by unifying their activities, in order to obtain economies of scale. (Page S. 2006: 419). Greece need to be in line to the worldwide trends for the tourist activity, mentioned above, in order to become more competitive and to be in the top of mind preference for tourists. During 1998-2005, touristic investments had reached 1. 3 billion €, focusing on renovations, small hotels construction, camping and hotel modernization. ( Money and Tourism, Vol. 113,126). Hotel chains such as Grecotel or Aldemar, are investing in many Greek touristic regions, in order to attract as many visitors as possible.

Their competitive key factors deals with luxury accommodations, offering all kinds of services, providing well organised all inclusive holidays for families. The most preferable family holidays must be to a hotel near the sea . The beach has to be sandy, to have an organized playground, has to provide baby-sitting services, as well as swimming pool for small children, nearby the swimming pool for adults. The most preferable family destinations are mostly the big islands, such as Rhodes, Crete or Mitilini, because they include a wide range of services, such as hotels, shops, medical centers.

There are destinations providing safe and well organized holidays and they provide easy access, hotel and shallow beaches which are very easy going for families. (Unknown author, Family holidays for ever, June 2007, The Tourism Report,

Vol. 42, 36-40). Another very important element deals with the heavy advertising promotion Greece needs to do in order to attract worldwide as many tourists as possible and to this direction the Greek government has invested a signifantly amount of money.

Greece has a lot of competitive advantages: in order to attract as many visitors as possible it has to implement a strong marketing plan, with the proper price policy as well as an organizing business plan in order to attract tour agents, will reinforce Greek tourism. In late years, Greek tourist policy aims at entering in new markets such as Russia, China, Germany, Japan and the United States of America.

The new tourist trend in the European towns. The new trend is city tourism for a short period of time. The multiple needs of the daily life, the high cost of life as well as the dynamic changes in people needs, had defined a new dynamic and well developed tourist market. Based on the statistical data, city tourism has already a 38% market share, since travelers have been drawn away from the long lasting summer vacations, because of the high cost, they prefer to make short trips close to their homes. Another very strong point deals with the fact that during 2005, city tourism has raised up to 20%, whereas sea and sun tourism had raised only 3%. ( Manolarakis C. ,City Break, May 2007, Tourist Market, Vol. 02, 46-48. ).

The most preferred destinations for this kind of tourism are the European capitals and its second big cities. The trend of city break tourism, which is going to be expanded during

next years, has a lot of advantages. Firstly it is a very important resource for the main European big cities. The number of tourists is rising respectively, since city hotels are becoming very competitive. City break tourism has a lot of economic implications since it implicates all sectors of society’s life, and its expansion become more stable, since tourists visit the city all time year, by seasonality.

Athens as, a competitive city break. Greece has already realized the importance of this new tourist trend since Athens can be one of the most prominent competitive cities. Athens has the presuppositions to be a very promising city break, but it has to be well developed and organized. In order to be one of the most competitive city breaks, worldwide, it has to develop a communication program by promoting city’s advantages, such as the nice climate, the well known historical and civilized background.

Other very strong advantages for Athens as a city break are the possibility of having day trips, since the sea and the islands are very close and tourists have the opportunity to visit them whenever they want to. Points taken into account are the connection to low cost carriers in order to attract visitors from the Western Europe, the cooperation between the private and public tourist sector as well as a strong marketing program.

Tourist activity claims its position to the economy and the society, worldwide. It is a fact that globalization influences all sectors of socio-economical life as well as the tourist activity. To that direction, Greece has to develop the tourist product, which will be different for every destination. More specifically,

investments for ports and airports as well as investments for services such as improvement of transportation system or medical insurance will define a more attractive image for Greece. However, importance will be given to a well organised marketing plan, which will enhance Greece’s tourist advantages, by stopping the sprawl, in order to lengthen the tourist period by promoting alternative ways of tourism, such as sports tourism, walking tourism, as ell as making investments for golf courts, marinas , hotel constructions.

During last years there is a tendency towards alternative ways of tourism, by specializing the touristic product in order to cover specific needs of different people. All countries are trying to make an attempt in order to propose new products and services: to this direction Greece must be a part of the continuous effort of improvement. One has to bear in mind that for Greece tourist activity is one of the most well established sectors of the society, in terms of employment and income raise.

Based on World’s Organization Tourism and Travel(WTTC), Mediterranean is going to host over 30 million tourists in 2010, Greece as one of the top destinations, must be ready to be at the leading position. This can be only achieved by investing on the alternative forms of tourism, by implementing a heavy marketing plan, with strong advertising expenditure, promoting its natural beauties. New accommodations, renovation of the old ones, as well as services upgrade in order to obtain value for money services are some of the key success factors that Greece must take into account, in order to be more competitive over the years to come.