Tourism development and the need for community action in Mykonos, Greece

Abstract

Tourism continues to thrive as a growth industry in many parts of the world, bringing economic and social progress as well as environmental and sociocultural pressures to developing areas (Goodall and Ashworth, 1988: preface). In recent decades the industry has increasingly drawn attention as a subject for academic study. Since the late 1960s, in particular, significant research findings have begun to emerge (Pearce, 1993: 1). While interest in the phenomenon of tourism has developed in many disciplines (Przeclawski, 1993: 12), the problems explored can be generally grouped into two categories. Some focus on the tourist (or' guest', cf. Smith, 1977) and the tourism product experienced by that tourist (for example, Goodall and Ashworth, 1988). Others focus on the destination and the 'hosts', their relationship with the tourism product provided in their community or region, and the nature and effects of their experience with tourists and the industry (for example, de Kadt, 1979). Growing awareness of potential positive and negative influences deriving from tourism suggests a continuing need for research in these areas. 'As tourism continues to expand, questions concerning associated economic, environmental and social effects will become more pressing' (Mathieson and Wall, 1982: 2). Study of the effects of tourism on the natural environment have been consistent with heightened international concern about the future of the earth and its resources (cf. Mathieson and Wall, 1982: 4 and 93-132). Coincidental with this interest in the effects of tourism on the natural environment has grown concern about the relationship and effects of tourism on the economic, social, cultural and psychological environments of host communities.