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Lefkada Islands Sustainable Tourism Destination Master Thesis School of Environmental Studies, Geography and Applied Economics School of Digital Technology Department of School of Management Science IREST (Institut de Recherche et d’ Etudes Supérieures du Tourisme) Université Paris I Panthéon – Sorbonne Lefkada islands Sustainable Tourism Destination Master Thesis Panagiota Anagnostopoulou Athens, 2019 Examining Committee Supervisor: Paris, Tsartas Professor of Tourism Development, Department of Home Economics and Ecology, Harokopio University of Athens Examiner: Harry, Coccossis Professor of Spatial and Environmental Planning, Department of Planning and Regional Development, University of Thessaly Examiner: Evangelia, Georgitsoyanni Professor in History of Art & Civilization, Department of Home Economics and Ecology, Harokopio University of Athens 2 Ethics and Copyright Statement I, Panagiota, Anagnostopoulou hereby declare that: 1) I am the owner of the intellectual rights of this original work and to the best of my knowledge, my work does not insult persons, nor does it offend the intellectual rights of third parties. 2) I accept that Library and Information Centre of Harokopio University may, without changing the content of my work, make it available in electronic form through its Digital Library, copy it in any medium and / or any format and hold more than one copy for maintenance and safety purposes. 3 Acknowledgements First and foremost I would express my respect and gratefulness to my supervisor and president of Master Program, Prof. Tsartas Paris, for his continuous push and support. Thank you for always finding time in your busy schedule to meet and advise me. I would like to also thank Prof. Harry Coccossis not only as a second supervisor, but also for his advices and tips for my essays. I would like to thank all the supervisors of local authorities, Hotel and Rental Room Associations, all the property-owners and every participant from Lefkada island in helping me conduct my research, the Regional Unit of EOT in Ionian islands for providing me the statistics for the Region and a key person from Region of Ionian islands by presenting me important elements for my research. Secondly, my family and my parents, especially my mum whose whole life is dedicated to me and my sister by sacrificing many times her inner wills. Thank you for encouraging all my plans and always being next to me, no matter where I am or what I am willing to follow as a life path. I want to thank my friends and my sister for supporting me from the beginning till the end of this significant part of my life. Moreover, I would like to thank a special group of people in master degree the Oi Eklektoi team, that became my friends over the year. It might have been possible to do all this without you, but it would have been way less fun. Thank you for all the moments we share together and I hope we not lose each other. And last, but not least a great thanks to Professors Anastasios and Alkiviadis Panagopoulos, who secretly influenced me my whole life by being role models, encouraging moving forward and believe in me. This thesis is devoted to my beloved grandfathers, Georgios and Nikolaos Katsigiannis, whose origins are from Lefkada island, the small village of Athani. They loved the island and its nature, even the circumstances was not the ideal ones. Thank you for everything you left to us as inheritance and mostly the strong bond of family. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract in Greek .............................................................................................................. 7 Abstract in English ............................................................................................................ 8 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... 9 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... 10 Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. 11 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 12 1. Chapter 1. Literature review ..................................................................................... 13 1.1 Sustainable development ............................................................................................ 13 1.2 Tourism ...................................................................................................................... 15 Tourism in Greece ......................................................................................................................................... 16 1.3 Destination ................................................................................................................. 19 1.3.1 Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) ..................................................... 21 1.4 Sustainable Tourism Destination ................................................................................. 22 2 Chapter 2. Lefkada islands analysis .......................................................................... 24 2.1 Lefkas analysis ............................................................................................................ 24 2.1.1 Natural resources and assets ................................................................................... 25 2.1.2 Cultural resources and assets................................................................................... 27 Architecture................................................................................................................................................... 27 Attractions & Archeological sites .................................................................................................................. 28 Museums & Libraries .................................................................................................................................... 30 Religion .......................................................................................................................................................... 33 Arts & Literature ............................................................................................................................................ 35 Crafts ............................................................................................................................................................. 36 Festivals ......................................................................................................................................................... 36 Gastronomical identity .................................................................................................................................. 38 2.2 Meganisi ..................................................................................................................... 39 2.2.1 Cultural resources ................................................................................................... 39 Accessibility ................................................................................................................................................... 40 Services .......................................................................................................................................................... 40 2.3 Kalamos ...................................................................................................................... 40 2.3.1 Cultural resources ................................................................................................... 40 Accessibility ................................................................................................................................................... 40 Services .......................................................................................................................................................... 41 2.4 Kastos ......................................................................................................................... 41 2.4.1 Cultural resources ................................................................................................... 41 Accessibility ................................................................................................................................................... 41 Services .......................................................................................................................................................... 41 2.5 Other islands ............................................................................................................... 41 Skorpios ......................................................................................................................................................... 41 Madouri ......................................................................................................................................................... 42 Agios Nikolaos Islet ....................................................................................................................................... 42 3 Chapter 3. Tourism in Lefkada islands ...................................................................... 42 3.1 Tourism evolution in Lefkada ....................................................................................... 43 3.2 Tourism in numbers ...................................................................................................
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