Konstantinos Kouskoukis
Professor of Dermatology, Professor of Law, President of the Hellenic Academy of Medical Medicine, President of the World Academy of Chinese and Complementary Medicine, Vice President of the World Hippocratic Institute of Physicians, t. Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Vice Rector of the University of Thessaloniki.
Modern tourism specialises and develops in a wide variety of specific and alternative forms, aiming to satisfy the multiple and differentiated needs of the modern tourist-visitor, who seeks to have experiences on his travels for greater contact with nature, culture and the local community.
In Greece, in recent years, special and alternative forms of tourism (SOT) have been developing, characterized by dynamic demand, as a response to the change in the motivations and priorities of tourists, while they require the development of a different model compared to organized mass holiday tourism (OMDT), as well as the change of targeting the strategic planning of our tourism policy.
Winter Tourism – Ski Tourism – Winter Sports Tourism – Management Tourism
They are exclusively related to the winter months, during which tourists wish to visit areas, mainly mountainous, where the main activities are skiing or winter sports. Overwintering as a tourism product concerns the part of visitors who are interested in living for a large part of the year in a destination other than their place of residence and which presumably has better climatic conditions. To meet this need, it is proposed to develop tourist residences as an integral part of larger tourist complexes in order to stimulate tourist demand. This development should be gentle, controlled, of high standards and value added and geared towards attracting tourists from affluent income groups.
Mountain – Mountaineering Tourism – Geotourism
It includes any tourist event practised in a mountain environment throughout the year, contributing to the extension of the tourist season. As Greece has a rich mountainous terrain full of mountain peaks, activities may include, among others, hiking, skiing, caving, climbing, cycling, horse riding, gorge crossing, rafting, canoeing, kayaking, observation of rock morphology, volcanoes, geology, etc., which require the active participation of the tourists-visitors. In the beautiful mountains of Greece there are about 30 mountaineering refuges and 18 ski resorts managed by mountaineering clubs, municipal enterprises, the General Secretariat and the EDF.
“the development of Special and Alternative Forms of Tourism in Greece,
can contribute greatly to the upgrading of Greek tourism”
Each of them could also be a centre of alternative mountain tourism as centres of 12-month activities that achieve a real lengthening of the tourist season, mitigating the peak summer season created by the tourist model and acting as levers of sustainable development of the surrounding mountain area.
Ecotourism (Ecological) – Nature-based (Adventure and Touring) Tourism
Ecotourism is defined as an environmentally responsible travel activity, in relatively intact natural areas, aiming at the enjoyment and acquaintance of the natural and integrated goods in the natural environment. It is directly related to the rural environment and is also intertwined with activities in rural areas that promote environmental protection and offer tourists positive experiences and opportunities to get to know the environment and the countryside in general. Nature-based and environmental tourism are related to ecotourism and focus on outdoor recreational activities using resources with specific natural characteristics. It is developed in the countryside with a view to sustainability, raising awareness of issues relating to nature conservation, contact with the natural environment, i.e. flora and fauna, and acquiring knowledge and experience of the ecosystems that each natural area has, through the exploration of landscapes of natural beauty. Adventure tourism takes place in areas that are inaccessible, isolated or in unusual or exotic places. It offers intense emotions and unique experiences based on the degree of risk and the level of skills required of tourists who choose this form of tourism to cope with its activities.Touring tourism is developed in areas with a built environment, where tourists wish to tour, usually by their own means of transport, areas of high ecological value, rivers and lakes, gorges, caves, habitats and unique ecosystems.
Proposals to support special forms of tourism
Undoubtedly, the development of Special and Alternative Forms of Tourism in Greece can contribute greatly to the upgrading of Greek tourism in general, improving our image abroad, extending the tourist season, creating new jobs through new investments that will be launched, with the ultimate goal of economic growth and prosperity of citizens.
For the development of specific forms of tourism, it is necessary to develop specific infrastructure in the tourist areas in order to serve the tourists of each specific form of tourism and to provide specific high quality tourist products and services (luxury tourism).
Actions for the creation and operation of tourist networks (clustering) in order to create integrated tourist packages.
A prerequisite is the existence of targeted actions based on specific technical specifications and especially the existence of a legal framework, the promotion and advertising of Greek tourism products and services both at national and regional level, with the participation of our country in global tourism exhibitions and events, as well as through social media on the internet, aiming to attract a specialized audience.
