Climate change is developing into the absolute nightmare of modern man, which he posits as one of the main reasons that may even lead to its extinction, because fires and uncontrolled and illegal logging have destroyed a large part of the forests of the Amazon, Europe, the USA and Australia. Recently, the European Union, in the 8th program “environmental action”, presented a list of indicators to monitor progress towards achieving the environmental and climate goals until 2030 as well as the long-term vision of 2050. The indicators address issues of pollution, biodiversity, circular economy and climate pressures that will help in the transition to sustainable systems of industry, energy, food production and mobility.
It is necessary to upgrade the tourism product, which is a strategic objective with foreign investment in tourism recently being a first class opportunity based on three sectors. The first area is the sustainability which imposes alongside the accommodation and investments in the rest of the infrastructures which are a condition of sustainable accommodation for the visitors as well as for the permanent residents. The second area concerns the quality of tourist services and treating the visitor with courtesy and respect, without attempting to deceive and overexploit, if we want Greece to attract tourists with high financial capacity, ensuring value for money. The third area advocates controlled tourism development so that tourist destinations do not become inaccessible because summer holidays are a social good and should not be sacrificed on the altar of uncontrolled development for eccentric tourists who fantasize about the beauties of our country preventing over-tourism and over-concentration (revenge travel) that the supporting infrastructure cannot withstand. Furthermore, an upgrade and coordinated promotion of the tourist product with digital upgrade, strengthening of skills and development of entrepreneurship with continuous protection of the environment in the context of green and sustainable development (twin transition) are required.
The destinations have shown that they now have limited capacities, which is why it is imperative to transform the country’s premium destinations into sustainable development standards with the implementation of the “birth allocation” program, which concerns the cruise ship traffic management mechanism, especially departures and arrivals, to avoid stress test of the inhabitants of our islands. It is necessary to lengthen the tourist season, by strengthening the areas with under-tourism, by attracting and satisfying new digital nomads, leading to more sustainable management. Aligned with Internet of Things (IoT) technology, smart cities improve the delivery and development of urban services, mitigating the effects of overtourism to enrich the tourist experience in a personalized and authentic environment.
Konstantinos Kouskoukis
Professor of Dermatology
Lawyer
President Hippocratic Academy of Thermal Medicine
President World Academy of Chinese & Complimentary Medicine