An assessment of the attitudes of the inhabitants of Northern Karpathos, Greece: towards a framework for ecotourism development in environmentally sensitive areas

Abstract

This paper is a case study that sets out to explore the extent to which the local residents of the region of Northern Karpathos and Saria in the southeast corner of the Aegean have positive attitudes and perceptions towards ecotourism ventures for sustainable development. The area is included in the European Ecological Network Natura 2000 and was chosen for studying since it constitutes an ideal location for the promotion of soft and alternative forms of tourism. The investigation of the attitudes of the inhabitants of the Community of Olympos, in Northern Karpathos was carried out using as research tool a questionnaire that was drawn up specifically for the needs of the present work. The attempt to provide a systematic way of studying the inhabitants' attitudes led to the proposition of a framework that contains the necessary conditions for sustainable ecotourism development. This is based on three fundamental factors, namely: (a) environmental conservation, (b) environmental education and (c) empowerment of local community. The main conclusion drawn was that the perceptions of the local people accord with the basic principles of ecotourism. Residents (a) showed a high degree of awareness and sensitivity regarding environmental conservation issues in the area, (b) recognised the need for environmental education concerning ecotourism activities and (c) had a favourable attitude towards the implementation of initiatives in the ecotourism field aimed at their empowerment and at promoting sustainable development in the area. The participants' place of permanent residence and level of education appeared to influence significantly their perceptions of this alternative form of tourism.

Environmental representations of local communities' spokespersons in protected areas

“…Further, this might reflect a substantial change in local attitudes: after the intense park-people conflict during protected area designation (Papageorgiou & Brotherton, 1999), local spokespersons nowadays acknowledge environmentalist accounts. Analogous findings have been reported for other local communities within Greek protected areas (Bell et al, 2007;Hovardas & Korfiatis, 2008;Pipinos & Fokiali, 2007). The diffusion of the environmentalist discourse in rural areas can be attributed to the presence of environmental NGOs (WWF-Greece in our case), which can generate community engagement in environmental issues (Carmin, 2003).…”

Local attitudes on protected areas: Evidence from three Natura 2000 wetland sites in Greece

“…A factor which may help in this is the development of ecotourism activities which are a possible means of self-sufficiency for protected areas (Dharmaratne et al, 2000;Pipinos and Fokiali, 2009). Eco-tourism may encourage people to support the protection of these areas.…”

“…In the study areas, agriculture is the main economic activity and thus the establishment of a protected area may lead to significant changes. A difference between the research areas concerns the level of development of tourist activities along with the involvement of external actors in environmental management which may also influence citizens' perceptions (Pipinos and Fokiali, 2009). …”

“…The sample included 390 adult participants between the ages of 18e75 (Table 1) and a snowballing technique was applied (see Robson, 2002). This was conducted in order to capture the heterogeneity of the local population (Mangun et al, 2009) occupied in different economic sectors which are, directly or indirectly, related to the protected areas and thus may significantly influence citizens perceptions (Pipinos and Fokiali, 2009;Bonaiuto et al, 2002;Zachrisson, 2008). An initial contact was made with local administration agencies in order to indicate the main groups of interest in the research area.…”

The Role of Ecotourism in the Reduction of Anthropogenic Load on Natura 2000 Territories throughout Latvia

“…Current and potential ecotourism activities may well serve to promote healthy nature conservation efforts in protected nature territories. Studies in several countries have shown that it can be achieved by proper notification that 52.6% of the local population have a positive perception of their area of natural and cultural protection measures that will ensure long-term economic viability, 81.6% are ready to attend the environmental education program, seeing it as a contribution to the development of ecotourism and its prosperity [12,9]. Protected area visitation is an important component of ecotourism, and, as such, must be sustainable.…”