Beggars-tourists' interactions: an unobtrusive typological approach

While the perennial phenomenon of begging exists in many historical cities, where tourists tend to concentrate, the topic has not been examined in depth in the context of tourism. By using Goffman’s (1955, 1963, 1971) dynamics of public space interaction and taking as a case the historical center of the city of Heraklion (Crete), this study draws on unobtrusive research methods (written records, non-participant observations and photographing), to shed further light on beggars-tourists’ encounters by exploring not only the strategies beggars adopt to ensure almsgiving from tourists, but also to provide a typology of beggars and tourists based on their interactions

Typology of art produced by travelling artists: art-led regeneration of a historic urban environment

Taking as a case the art-led regeneration of the derelict district of Lakkos in Heraklion town (Crete), the purpose of this exploratory study is to add to the knowledge of travelling artists’ typology by offering a rich contextual analysis of the mural images they produced and giving priority to their views. It adopts three data collection methods, photographic documentation (25 mural images), observations, and asynchronous email interviews with 21 traveling artists. By applying a typology in the main theme of each mural and by using travelling artists’ narratives three main groups of traveling artists emerged, namely heritage-engaged, place-engaged and social-engaged artists. The data collected are discussed in relation to the problems accrued from the gentrification of Lakkos through mural-based development

Hosts, guests and politics - coastal resorts morphological change

Resort morphology goes through a predictable sequence of stages: from pre-tourism low through high-density development to an urbanized state. Three elements are considered essential in such coastal resorts change: hosts, guests, and politics. Using historical data from the mass-developed Greek island of Crete, ten principal characteristics are identified as determinants of the morphological change of coastal resorts. A temporal model of unplanned change is also proposed. Although the study was constrained by limited data availability, the proposed model is deemed able to represent the morphological change of Cretan mass-developed coastal resorts

Brits behaving badly: template analysis of newspaper content

This study explores the ways in which public debates about the sexual, drinking and risk taking behaviour of young British travellers, who participate in trips organized to Greek summer resorts exclusively by Club 18-30, have been interpreted, and framed, within print media (British newspapers). Using a template analysis approach four themes emerged, namely binge drinking, sexual behaviour, risk taking and host reactions. These themes are discussed in relation to the methodology adopted, and the findings of previous research, and policies for risk-taking decrease, and solutions to reduce the problems posed by young tourists’ antisocial behaviour in summer Greek resorts, are provided

Options in tourism development: conscious versus conventional tourism

Development by its nature is a process of change that may be implemented in a variety of ways. As a result, tourist receiving destinations have a variety of options to follow in developing their tourism industry. These options concern mainly the process and/or funding of development, and include the following dichotomous alternatives: capital versus labour intensive; endogenous versus exogenous; small scale versus large; alternative versus mass and enclave versus spread out. It is the aim of this paper to discuss the five alternatives by undertaking a literature review to investigate the benefits and costs associated with each of them and providing guidelines for destination tourism development. From the review it is evident the possibility of categorising the five development options into two distinctive groups, namely conscious and conventional tourism. Each group presents differences to its impacts to a tourist receiving destination, the ownership/control patterns of the industry and the numbers of facilities and tourists

Integrated resort development: the case of Cavo Sidero, Crete

Many governments have encouraged integrated resort development in an attempt to improve the well-being of the local population by generating jobs and increasing income and because of the easier control of tourism activities within their boundaries. However, most research reports various adverse environmental and social impacts. Due to the difficulty to assess the impacts that may result from the construction of an integrated resort, the majority of research has been conducted after their construction. This study is an impact assessment carried out prior to a large scale development aiming to examine whether an integrated resort proposed for development in Cavo Sidero, Crete, will result in positive impacts to the destination and the local community and to investigate whether any conflicting interests have arisen within stakeholder groups. Through a primary research of various stakeholder groups it is revealed that economic impacts are perceived as mostly positive, while social and environmental impacts, in many cases, are viewed as negative, and that conflicting interests have arisen within different stakeholder groups

Researching the development gap between the Hinterland and the Coast: evidence from the Island of Crete

Past research has illustrated that island tourism is mainly developed along the coast, and that hinterland areas face inherent disadvantages in developing their tourism industry. Peripherality; rurality; limited infrastructure and facilities; and the increasing demand of international tourists for beach holidays has shown that the alternatives of hinterland areas for ‘touristisation’ and self-sustaining growth are limited. In effect, rural population tends to leave their birthplaces and migrate to the cities and the coastal resorts in the search for better life and employment opportunities. All the above issues reported in tourism literature are evident in Crete. Through a literature review and a statistical analysis it was found that in Crete there is an unequal distribution of tourist spending and accentuated regional imbalances with the vast majority of tourism activity concentrated on the coast and economic activity in the hinterland mainly directed to agriculture. Bearing all these in mind, it is the aim of this paper to study the development gap between the hinterland and the coast and provide recommendations for bridging this gap

Early travellers to Greece and their modern counterparts

The view of tourism’s past for Greece is dominated by narratives of early travelers who recorded their experiences punctuated by reference to Greek archaeological treasures, the natural history and the population, and portrayed Greece as a place of difference. Based on these accounts, this study undertakes a typological approach as a crucial element of understanding early Greek travelers’ interests. A typological interpretation of early travel accounts has resulted in six groups of travelers, namely the antiquaries, the collectors, the philhellenists, the artists, the environmentalists, and the professional travelers. These types are compared with modern tourism in an attempt to identify similarities and differences that will help to establish continuity between early and modern traveling

From nudism and naturism tourism to "natourism": defining natourism and exploring natourists' motivations

This article reviews previous attempts to define nudist and naturist tourism, and it elaborates detailed definitions through analyzing and discussing views of numerous natourist/nudist associations worldwide. Out of this process, the term “natourism” emerged, which includes the notion of “social nudity” as a main reason for traveling as well as a wide variety of ancillary stereotypical activities. As a term, “natourism” was tested after exploring the motivations of 1,508 natourists from all over the world. Although initially this study, through a literature review, identified three general motivation groups of natourism—namely, human motivations, motivations to travel, and nudism/naturism motivations—factor analysis made it possible to identify additional factors of natourists’ motivations, which included Naturalism and Relaxation, Sexuality, Stereotypical Travel Motivations, and Personal and Family Motivations. Despite the limitations of the study, findings confirm the appropriateness of the term “natourism” to establish parameters for further research

Scale of hospitality firms and local economic development - evidence from Crete

The hospitality industry generates benefits for many host communities including employment generation and foreign exchange earnings. However, the hospitality industry often leads to external dependency contributing to a loss of local control over resources, migrant workforce and leakages outside the local economy, seriously reducing industry’s potential for generating net financial advantages and growth for the local economy. Despite the variation of size of hospitality firms, there is still limited research on how well different size hospitality firms contribute to local economic development, something which this paper addresses, taking as a case the island of Crete. The findings suggest that the smaller the size of hospitality firm the larger the benefits to the local economy