Archaeological tourism in Greece: an analysis of quantitative data, determining factors and prospects

Abstract

For many decades now, Greece has invested a lot in tourism which can undoubtedly be considered the country’s most valuable asset and “heavy industry”. The country is gifted with a rich and diverse history, represented by a variety of cultural heritage sites which create an ideal setting for this particular type of tourism. Moreover, the variations in Greece’s landscape, cultural tradition and agricultural activity favor the development and promotion of most types of alternative types of tourism, such as agro-tourism, religious, sports and medicinal tourism. However, according to quantitative data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority, despite the large number of visitors recorded in state-run cultural heritage sites every year, the distribution pattern of visitors presents large variations per prefecture. A careful examination of this data shows that tourist flows tend to concentrate in certain prefectures, while others enjoy little to no visitor preference. The main factors behind this phenomenon include the number and importance of cultural heritage sites and the state of local and national infrastructure, which determines the accessibility of sites. An effective analysis of these deficiencies is vital in order to determine solutions in order to encourage the flow of visitors to the more “neglected” areas. The present thesis attempts an in-depth analysis of cultural tourism in Greece and the factors affecting it. Using GIS software, quantitative data were analyzed, visualized and interpreted. The most popular prefectures are, in most cases, those that present a large number of cultural heritage sites open to the public. Moreover, visitor preferences seem to concentrate in sites included in the World Heritage List by UNESCO. Also, the most visited prefectures enjoy a high level of accessibility by airplane, road or railroad. On the contrary, the least visited sites present either a shortage of available archaeological sites and museums, or are difficult to access. Most interesting are the cases of prefectures featuring a large number of open cultural heritage sites, but a low number of visitors, like the prefecture of Aitoloakarnania. For these cases, the possible solutions include the planning of mixed touristic packages, which combine visits to the sites with alternative activities, according to the potential of each prefecture.