Current Issues in Tourism ISSN: 1368-3500 (Print) 1747-7603 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcit20 Refugees and tourism: a case study from the islands of Chios and Lesvos, Greece Paris Tsartas, Anna Kyriakaki, Theodoros Stavrinoudis, Georgia Despotaki, Maria Doumi, Efthymia Sarantakou & Konstantinos Tsilimpokos To cite this article: Paris Tsartas, Anna Kyriakaki, Theodoros Stavrinoudis, Georgia Despotaki, Maria Doumi, Efthymia Sarantakou & Konstantinos Tsilimpokos (2019): Refugees and tourism: a case study from the islands of Chios and Lesvos, Greece, Current Issues in Tourism, DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2019.1632275 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2019.1632275 Published online: 30 Jun 2019. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 9 View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rcit20 CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2019.1632275 Refugees and tourism: a case study from the islands of Chios and Lesvos, Greece Paris Tsartasa, Anna Kyriakakib, Theodoros Stavrinoudisb, Georgia Despotakib, Maria Doumib, Efthymia Sarantakouc and Konstantinos Tsilimpokosb aHarokopio University, Kallithea, Greece; bUniversity of the Aegean, Chios, Greece; cMinistry of Tourism, Hellenic Open University, Patra, Greece ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Since the summer of 2015, many islands in the Aegean received an Received 10 October 2018 unprecedented wave of refugees and migrants, which created a series Accepted 11 June 2019 of immediate, short term and long term social, humanitarian and KEYWORDS economic issues (UNHCR. (2015). The sea route to Europe: Mediterranean Refugees’ issues; tourism passage in the age of refugees. Retrieved from https://goo.gl/8URK97). ff ff ’ fl demand; e ects; Lesvos; This paper aims to study and analyse the e ects of refugees in ows and Chios; Greece the implications of the volunteers’ presence on the islands of Chios and Lesvos (Greece) through a primary research, as well as the reactions of the stakeholders involved. A primary qualitative research with the use of semi-structured interviews has been conducted between October 2016 and March 2017. The sample of the research was selected by random sampling and it involved 122 participants who were separated in two groups: a) representatives of state bodies and local authorities as well as local entrepreneurs and b) independent volunteers and members of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO). The main findings of the primary research showed a negative attitude of the local stakeholders as to the effects of the refugees’ inflows on the economic and social life of both islands and, therefore, on tourism. The research recorded a positive attitude towards the islands and their local societies on behalf of the volunteers and NGO members, as well as their intention to revisit the islands in the future as tourists. 1. Introduction In the past few years, the geopolitical and economic changes have become the potential causes of the increasing flows of migrants and refugees towards Western countries (Banulescu-Bogdan & Fratzke, 2015). According to UNHCR (2015), the refugees are people who escape their countries due to armed conflicts or persecutions. The situation in their countries is so dangerous that they often cross the national borders and seek asylum to a secure life. On the other hand, migrants (Pappas & Papatheodorou, 2017;Toffle, 2015) choose to move mainly to improve their lives by seeking work and better living conditions. Contrary to refugees, who cannot safely return to their countries, migrants are free from this constraint (Cortes, 2004). The continuous growth of migratory flows, as well as of tourists, are two of the most important features of globalization (Li, 2008). The increasing number of migrants and refugees from the devel- oping towards the developed countries, combined with the emotionally charged appraisal by mass media, should not remain unobserved by studies in Tourism, especially in countries that are con- sidered important destinations for international tourists (Moufakkir, 2014). The effects of refugee CONTACT Paris Tsartas [email protected] © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group 2 P. TSARTAS ET AL. flows on tourism have attracted the interest of various political groups, organizations, tourism bodies, businesses and researchers (Ivanov & Stavrinoudis, 2018; Moufakkir, 2008, 2013, 2014; Pappas & Papatheodorou, 2017). Meanwhile, a very interesting study has been based on the refugees’ own experiences and how the service industries have provided employment and have helped to their adaptation in the host societies (Shneikat & Ryan, 2018). One interesting element of this study is the fact that the effects of the refugee crisis are examined in areas where the refugees do not reside permanently (mainly large cities), but on two islands where the refugees stay while in transit to their final destination, which, in most cases, is Germany. Most of the times, the long- term stay on the islands is not the refugees’ choice, who – in their majority – are trapped there against their own will as a result of the implementation of decisions and agreements of transnational organizations (e.g. the European Union). In this framework, this manuscript tries to study, through a primary qualitative research, the effects of refugee inflows and the presence of volunteers and NGO members on tourism of Chios and Lesvos Island, as well as to record the way the local stakeholders reacted to the presence of a large number of refugees. Most previous studies have examined the relationship between tourism and migration, as well as the effects on tourist destinations as far as the demand is concerned (Coldwell, Osborne, Crouch, & Walker, 2015; Ivanov & Stavrinoudis, 2018) on an economic (Li, 2008; Russell, 2003) and on a social level (Pappas & Papatheodorou, 2017), etc. The scientific contribution of this paper relies on covering a scientific gap and it is based on: (a) an overall and integrated record of the main stake- holders’ viewpoint, who, in some way, are involved in the touristic – and not only – management of the refugees’ crisis, and (b) the research of the side effects – benefits on tourism that derive from the presence of visitors who are not refugees but are volunteers or employees (members of NGOs). 2. Migration/refugees, volunteers and tourism In the last decades, the international bibliography has shown an increased interest on the relation- ship between migration and tourism, by analysing migration’s positive and negative effects on a des- tination’s tourism development (Cortes, 2004; Li, 2008; Moufakkir, 2014; Simpson, Simpson, & Cruz- Milán, 2016). Tourism observers are separated in two opposite groups, as surveys on tourism and migration show. On the one hand, there is a belief that migration and tourism discourage and destroy the cultural integrity and the environmental wealth of the host society (Fisher, 1990) and, on the other hand, that both tourism and migration offer significant economic benefits (Russell, 2003). According to the World Tourism Organization (2009), migration has important social and econ- omic consequences by contributing to the destination countries, by culturally enriching their society, by improving the tourism product and by offering labour force in the sectors of travelling, tourism, hospitality and food. However, some negative effects have also been observed in this relationship, which include tax revenues being reduced in the countries of origin, as well as wage deflation and social upheavals in the host countries (Li, 2008; World Tourism Organization, 2009). The Canary Islands faced negative publicity due to continuous migrant inflows from Africa, whose boats were beaching on touristic beaches (Arango & Martin, 2005). More recently, the increasing refugee flows towards Europe have been a constraint for tourists to choose some of its countries, especially in the Mediterranean, since they meet, during their vacation, refugee and migrant camps, as well as refugees and migrants arriving at coastal areas (Coldwell et al., 2015). The effects on the countries or regions offering asylum to refugees are very important. While in the past refugees were a temporary phenomenon in each area, now millions of refugees remain dis- placed for longer periods, living in camps, being promised a stable future and being dependent on the area’s resources resulting to alterations in both civilizations (Russell, 2003). Migration creates negative stereotypes and prejudices, especially in the cases of ethnic minority groups that present cultural differences and a different lifestyle from the local population (Moufakkir, 2015). CURRENT ISSUES IN TOURISM 3 The refugees’ flows have also negative effects on the touristic activity (Ivanov & Stavrinoudis, 2018). For example, when the refugees settle in tourist areas, the social dynamics may be very different: in spite of any initial expression of humanitarianism, the local community may eventually become annoyed and aggressive, fearing the loss of tourism jobs and income because of negative world media publicity. Prominent presence of a large number of refugees in a tourist destination may negatively affect the attitude and behaviour of tourists, but also the destination’s perceived safety and image (Pappas & Papatheodorou, 2017; Simpson et al., 2016). This last hypothesis is reinforced by terrorist attacks increasingly affecting tourism areas in European cities and