Search Results (26)

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed long-standing vulnerabilities in island tourism economies such as Crete and Chios, including seasonality, overdependence on mass tourism, and limited innovation adoption. This study investigates how sustainable tourism, regional development, and innovation interconnect in these two cases. Drawing on structured questionnaires addressed to tourism stakeholders in Hersonissos (Crete) and Chios, we apply a comparative analysis through descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings reveal a common interest in diversifying tourism offerings through digital transformation and alternative tourism models. Hersonissos demonstrates higher engagement with innovation-led strategies, while Chios reflects a cautious but growing inclination toward eco-tourism and cultural tourism initiatives. The study employs a comparative cross-sectional design based on structured questionnaires addressed to 71 tourism stakeholders in Hersonissos and Chios. Data were collected through purposive sampling that was completed in July 2023. As a practical outcome, we propose the Regional Innovation Index in Tourism—a composite tool designed to assess innovation readiness at the local level. This index enables policymakers to evaluate the strategic capacity of tourism regions and supports the formulation of long-term, place-based development strategies aligned with EU policy goals and the transition to a green economy. Full article

To elucidate the compositional characteristics and sources of heavy metals in aerosols at China’s Great Wall Station in Antarctica, high-volume aerosol sampling was conducted from 4 January to 26 December 2022, on Fildes Peninsula, King George Island. Ten heavy metals (V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb) in total suspended particulates (TSPs) were quantified via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Enrichment factor (EF) analysis, correlation metrics, and backward trajectory clustering were integrated to identify potential sources. The results revealed pronounced enrichment (EF > 10) for Cr, As, Zn, Cd, and Pb, indicating dominant non-crustal contributions. Source apportionment identified three pathways: (1) long-range transported anthropogenic emissions, including Southern Hemisphere marine traffic (e.g., V and Ni from ship fuel combustion) and industrial pollutants from South America (Pb and Cd); (2) local anthropogenic sources, primarily diesel generators and tourism-related gasoline combustion (Cu and Zn); and (3) crustal inputs via glacial melt and weathering (Fe and Mn). This study pioneers the quantification of direct anthropogenic impacts (e.g., power generation and tourism) on aerosol heavy metals in Antarctic research zones, offering critical insights into transboundary pollutant dynamics and regional mitigation strategies. Full article

The Canary Islands have long been a major European destination for mass tourism, often associated with ‘sun-and-beach’ vacations. Critiques of mass tourism have intensified in recent years, as reflected in the 2024 protests in the Canary Islands, which linked mass tourism to economic inequalities and concerns about sustainability. Through the case example of Icelandic tourism to the Canary Islands, this research asks two questions: (a) why mass tourism destinations are appealing, and (b) how these reasons can be more fully understood within a broader geopolitical and structural context. The research methods include a survey conducted in Iceland in 2022 and an analysis of media coverage in Iceland related to the Canary Islands from 2017 to 2022. Survey data indicate that the islands are primarily perceived as an easily accessible, well-established holiday destination. Simultaneously, an analysis of media discussions reveals a limited discourse on the islands in Icelandic media, mainly focusing on tourism. The results illustrate how specific destinations become desirable by prioritizing infrastructure associated with mass tourism, where tourism’s impact on host communities, economies, and environments tends to be invisible. Full article

The southeastern margin of the Ría de Arosa is a region of great ecological and social importance, characterized by increasing urban development, tourism pressures, and vulnerability to natural hazards, soil erosion, coastal flooding, and mass movements, where sustainable territorial planning poses significant challenges. This study combines Geographic Information Systems tools and quantitative and qualitative overlay techniques to integrate conservation quality and comprehensive risk maps. The main challenge addressed in this research is the integration of geospatial data and diverse natural risk factors. The result was a map of land use recommendations and limitations, and another of degree of land use limitation, which identify priority areas for conservation and zones suitable for the controlled development of recreational, agricultural, and industrial activities. The methodology employed allows for detailed modelling that is easily updated and applicable to other environments for territorial planning and natural resource conservation. Areas of special natural importance, such as Arosa Island and the El Grove Peninsula, stand out as optimal locations for sustainable recreational activities, while the northeastern coastal corridor, between Villanueva de Arosa and Cambados, shows suitability for anthropogenic development. This approach contributes to a balance between socioeconomic development and environmental protection, facilitating the implementation of sustainable planning and conservation strategies in highly fragile coastal areas. Full article

This article delves into the unique evolution of Lanzarote as a benchmark for sustainable tourism. It examines how the island’s cultural values and political influences have shaped its sustainable tourism model over the last 50 years. This study utilizes a review of academic literature on tourism sustainability and case studies, emphasising the need for a conceptual and analytical framework. By analysing Lanzarote’s sustainable practices and challenges, this article highlights the island’s paradoxical status as both a mass tourism hub and a sustainable destination, led by the artist César Manrique’s visionary approach, which seamlessly integrates art and nature while providing a blueprint for sustainable tourism. Key milestones and achievements are identified, such as UNESCO’s designation of the entire island as a Biosphere Reserve in 1993, showcasing Lanzarote’s governance approach to balancing economic, socio-cultural, and environmental sustainability. The findings underscore Lanzarote’s role as an international benchmark in sustainable tourism, offering insights and lessons applicable to other destinations. The article concludes that Lanzarote’s sustained commitment to social awareness and natural resource protection continues to address global challenges, serving as a reference for sustainable development in island tourism destinations. Full article

Mediterranean islands suffer from a lack of freshwater due to persistent and recursive droughts, limited groundwater availability and mass tourism. In Ibiza (Spain), private estates disconnected from the water distribution network consume about 21% of the total freshwater demand on the island. We conducted a study to evaluate the potential of ground-runoff harvesting (GRH) as a sustainable and inexpensive solution to increase freshwater availability in isolated households in Ibiza. The study involved an innovative modular tank of 40 m³ buried in the garden of a private property. The tank intercepted runoff forming in a 12,300 m² hilly micro-catchment. We found that an extreme rainfall event with an intensity of 65 mm/h was able to create sufficient runoff to fill up the tank in one hour. A curve-number-based rainfall-runoff model was used to simulate the experimental results and to obtain a first-cut estimation of the potential of GRH at the scale of the island. The analysis indicates that, if installed in all forest areas in Ibiza with a similar slope to the study area, a volume of $1.31\times {10}^6$ m³ of freshwater could be harvested per year on the island just from extreme precipitation events. Such a volume of water is equivalent to about 5% of the island’s total freshwater budget. The study concludes that GRH is a highly valuable, yet still unexploited opportunity to save large freshwater volumes in dry-climate areas like Ibiza. GRH should be promoted across Mediterranean islands, and it can be easily incorporated within local water regulations. Full article

The geosites of Lemnos represent local touristic products that, beyond their high aesthetic value, display significant scientific links to the geological past as well as prehistory and history, archaeology, mythology and religious heritage of the island. The unique wealth of Lemnos geosites in combination with the abundance of archaeological sites, cultural monuments and museums composes the basis of what we define here as “Geo-Archaeo-Routes”: certain routes that can be geographically defined, offered, guided and finally followed by the touristic masses. The outcome of the performed quantitative Lemnos geosite assessment enables decision making, thus providing a toolbox useful for sustainable Geo-Archaeo-tourism development at a local level and forms the basis for designing “Geo-Archaeo-Routes”. “Geo-Archaeo-Routes” are particularly favorable of environmentally friendly alternative types of tourism, attracting naturalists, hikers, fans of cultural or religious tourism and many others who represent a major part of the touristic needs of the 21st century. The established hiking and road “Geo-Archaeo-Routes” on Lemnos Island may represent a distinctive touristic product as they offer a high level of “nalture” entertainment, blending “nature with culture” in the framework of a holistic geotouristic approach. Full article

Atmospheric corrosion of copper, exposed on a tropical island in the South-Central Pacific Ocean, was reported and compared with those of a very similar study at the same site conducted 20 years earlier. The new measurements—taken over three years of exposure, from 2010 to 2013—quantified corrosion by mass loss, characterized corrosion products by X-ray diffraction (DRX) and Raman techniques, observed the attack morphology by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and evaluated the patina resistance using electrochemical techniques. The results showed a copper corrosivity category of C4, and the main copper patina compound, cuprite, was porous, nonhomogeneous, and thin. Electrochemical measurements showed cuprite layer growth as a function of the exposure time, and the morphology did not favor corrosion protection. Finally, when comparing the results to those of a study 22 years previous, the copper corrosion rates increased only slightly, even with increased contaminants associated with growing local populations and continuous tourism on the island. Full article

Several authors have shown that some tourism typologies—i.e., rural tourism, nature-based tourism, or creative tourism—have a more predominant role in attaining regional sustainability. In this regard, this paper explores the impacts of five pilot projects of creative tourism on the sustainable development of the insular Autonomous Region of the Azores. Through direct exploratory tools, such as interviews and site analyses, the present study enabled us to provide greater insight into creative tourism projects and their relevance to the development of an ultra-peripheral island region. As part of the CREATOUR AZORES Project, this study is based on five creative tourism pilot projects operating in the Azores, Portugal. As such, it is recommended that the regional government, local authorities, and other relevant actors and players in this region actively support and create strategies to strengthen these projects (and similar initiatives) once they not only contribute to regional development and destination promotion but also promote much-desired sustainable development—once these kinds of tourism, in theory, and practice, counteract the dire effects of mass tourism. Full article

Global key drivers—e.g., climate change, COVID-19 outbreak—have initiated critical debates as to the sustainable future pathways of many regions around the globe. Among these fall islands, as distinct types of regions that are marked by insularity drawbacks and a mono-sectoral economic profile, grounded in mass tourism. Having as a case study area all Greek islands, this work addresses: sustainability concerns that are due to the mass tourism repercussions in these heritage-endowed territories; and efforts undertaken by the Greek insular municipalities to deploy, in a collaborative manner, strategic cultural tourism plans in support of the transition from a resource-intensive mass tourism pattern to natural and cultural heritage-led future developmental trails. Towards this end, a two-stream methodological approach is used that relies on: quantitative, spatially-defined data elaboration/interpretation and visualization, highlighting the dynamics of tourism development in island territories; and qualitative data on issues related to the aforementioned plans from all insular municipalities, gathered through a web-based questionnaire. Research results unveil the unsustainable spatial and developmental patterns of Greek insular contexts and the shortage of mainstream planning expertise for collaboratively establishing attractive cultural-tourism ensembles. These factors restrain sustainability achievements and the repositioning of Greek islands in the global scenery as authentic heritage-led destinations. Full article

It has become evident that rural tourism grew significantly during the pandemic compared to mass tourism. However, at this time, all the forecasts were wrapped in considerable uncertainty regarding travel, which is not without the elevated associated risk. Therefore, we assessed the perceptions of the entrepreneurs in relation to rural tourism activities regarding the advantages of their rural tourism activity in the Azores for customers. Furthermore, the potential for developing this typology of tourism is pivotal for obtaining very reliable data and information on this topic and enabling us to provide guidelines for the leading regional players. In this regard, an exploratory method was used to assess the perceptions of the entrepreneurs with rural tourism activities in the Azores Islands regarding the customers’ experiences and some other important aspects concerning the promotion of this type of tourism in the region. Throughout this study, it was possible to verify that the most relevant obstacles to the development of rural tourism in the Azores region are the preservation and conservation of nature and endogenous resources and delivering proper infrastructures and regional accessibilities. Contrarily, the increase in community and regional funding and support for rural tourism could be key to the prosperity of this typology of tourism in this insular territory. Full article

This paper aims to investigate the state of integrated coastal zone management (ICZM), which is justified as a strategy for managing coastal resources with respect to increasing pressures from tourism, farming, climate change, urbanization, population growth, etc. In the case of island states, the impact of tourism and second-home development is paramount. The use of coastal areas as commons and ICZM as a governance strategy have been established for a long time; however, the implementation of ICZM has remained a challenge due to the forces of global mass tourism and unsustainable resource use in island states. This study focused on views of the coastal communities in North Cyprus, who are in constant interaction with coastal ecosystems for their livelihood. For the analytical purpose of the study, 251 survey questionnaires were administered to eight communities along the coastal areas. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistical analysis with a post hoc test. Socio-ecological systems (SES) and Ostrom’s collective action principles guided the study as the main theoretical frameworks. The study revealed that the ICZM strategy has been neglected and coastal communities are not invited to be involved in any form of ICZM. Furthermore, the study revealed the tourism development has been the major activity of the Anthropocene in coastal areas without a proactive coastal development strategy that is supposed to consider the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems. Practical and theoretical implications are also discussed. Full article

Since 2011, holopelagic Sargassum fluitans and natans have been arriving en masse to the wider Caribbean region and West Africa, impacting near-shore habitats and coastal communities. We examined the impacts of the Sargassum influx on tourism-related businesses through face-to-face interviews and focus groups and on near-shore seagrass beds through in-water surveys in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). Substantial accumulations of sargassum were found on the beaches of South Caicos and Middle Creek Cay in 2018 and 2019, including a Sargassum brown tide in 2018. A variety of different approaches to removing sargassum from the beaches were mentioned and a desire from local businesses as well as local authorities to find a sustainable, cost-effective solution to what is viewed by many as a serious problem. The brown tide and sargassum accumulating as a layer on the benthos inside the seagrass beds caused significant loss of Thalassia testudinum. Halodule wrightii, macroalgae and sand plains were found in the areas lost by T. testudinum. This finding suggests that, if a cost-effective end use for sargassum could be identified, harvesting material in inshore waters rather than when it has arrived on the beach would have dual benefits. Full article

The impacts of mass tourism and COVID-19 crisis demonstrate the need for healthy, peaceful, and authentic recreation options, giving prominence to emerging destinations, such as remote Mediterranean islands. These, although endowed with exquisite land and underwater cultural heritage (UCH), are confronted with insularity drawbacks. However, the exceptional land and especially UCH, and the alternative tourism forms these can sustain, e.g., diving tourism, are highly acknowledged. The focus of this paper is on the power of participation and participatory planning in pursuing UCH preservation and sustainable management as a means for heritage-led local development in remote insular regions. Towards this end, the linkages between participation and (U)CH management from a policy perspective—i.e., the global and European policy scenery—and a conceptual one—cultural heritage cycle vs. planning cycle—are firstly explored. These, coupled with the potential offered by ICT-enabled participation, establish a framework for respective participatory cultural planning studies. This framework is validated in Leros Island, Greece, based on previous research conducted in this distinguishable insular territory and WWII battlefield scenery. The policy and conceptual considerations of this work, enriched by Leros evidence-based results, set the ground for featuring new, qualitative and extrovert, human-centric and heritage-led, developmental trails in remote insular communities. Full article

Tourism is often seen as the ‘golden ticket’ for the development of many islands. The current COVID-19 pandemic, however, has ground global tourism to a halt. In particular, islands that depend heavily on tourist inflows—including mass-tourism islands, and small island developing states (SIDS)—have seen their revenues diminish significantly, and poverty rates increasing. Some alternative-tourism islands have fared better, as they have focused on providing personalized, nature-based experiences to mostly domestic tourists. This article focuses on the experiences of mass-tourism islands, SIDS, and alternative-tourism islands during the COVID-19 pandemic, and offers possible post-pandemic scenarios, as well as recommendations for sustainable island tourism development. Although the pandemic has largely had a negative impact on the tourism sector, this is a unique opportunity for many islands to review the paradigm of tourism development. In this newly emerging world, and under a still very uncertain future scenario, the quadriptych of sustainability is more important than ever. Responsible governance and management of islands’ natural resources and their tourism activities, addressing climate change impacts, the diversification of islands’ economies, and the promotion of innovative and personalized tourist experiences are all necessary steps towards increasing islands’ resilience in case of future economic downturn or health- and environment-related crises. Full article