Sustainable tourism development including the enhancement of cultural heritage in the city of Nafpaktos – Western Greece

ABSTRACT

The application of a sustainable tourism management and development framework, including the enhancement of cultural heritage is presented for the city of Nafpaktos (Western Greece) and the surrounding area. Through a qualitative SWOT analysis and a quantitative Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC)–Tourism Carrying Capacity (TCC) framework, an attempt is made to establish thresholds, monitor current conditions, and upgrade tourism activities, with simultaneous development of the tourism-associated economic sectors and the cultural heritage of the city. Activity zones are identified and 18 indicators are selected to describe the environmental/cultural, economic, and social conditions of the area. Reference conditions for each indicator are established either as measured or negotiated thresholds and indicators are accordingly scored to depict the current divergence from reference. The Leopold matrix is used to compare scores and identify restrictions of development. Results reveal high potential for sustainable tourism development of the area, as 9 of 18 indicators received high scores, indicating sustainable conditions, and a variety of underdeveloped tourism endpoints were identified, including the castle of the city, which could potentially support a 90-fold increase in tourism flow. However, restricting factors of development were detected, related to the lack of a tourism management plan, the weak on-site protection of the natural and cultural heritage and the lack of awareness for sustainability among the local people. A strategic plan is finally proposed to provide managers, stakeholders, and the local communities with a guiding framework to upgrade the tourism flow in and around the city within a step-by-step sustainable process.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable tourism
• cultural heritage
• SWOT analysis
• carrying capacity
• LAC
• Leopold matrix
• Greece

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted within the CHERPLAN project (Enhancement of Cultural Heritage through Environmental Planning and Management), co-funded by the European Union, and operated between 2013–2015 in seven pilot sites and including the city of Nafpaktos. The authors would like to thank all the partners of the project and especially the administrative authorities of the Region of Western Greece for providing the data necessary to implement the specific case study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Commission [INTERREG – South East Europe Transnational Coopera].