The attraction of islands: travellers and tourists in the Cyclades (Greece) in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

Abstract

Islands have long acted as projection surfaces of ever-changing desires. Tourism organisations have drawn most vigorously upon the paradise metaphor in an attempt to position modern island holidays at the forefront of our minds – regardless of an island's location. Tracing the most recent history of our island-longing and illuminating the use of the island metaphor by tourist organisations is the aim of this article. A short account of the history of tourism in Greece (especially the Cycladic Islands) provides the backdrop to an in-depth picture and text analysis of nine official English and German tourist guides to the Cyclades, as well as the English-speaking version of the official Cyclades website. Images and text are coded according to pre-determined themes and contrasted with each other. Investigating islands from the perspective of tourists and tourist organisations, it becomes apparent that the official brochures draw on established island tropes and stereotypical island imagery as a means to attract travellers, and thus follow a long-established pattern of what Western culture considers unique for island locations. Dissonances, however, are emerging as our longing for island locations is contradicted by our need for ease and speed of access, thus negating the sought-after quintessential ‘islandness’.

Keywords:

• island
• tourism experience
• Greece
• brochure analysis
• paradise

Acknowledgements

I.B.’s research for this paper was undertaken during her Leverhulme Study Abroad Fellowship. J.E. acknowledges the financial support provided by the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Southern Cross University that enabled him to travel to Guernsey where this project was initiated.

Notes

In 1938 Greece received 90,000 visitors, in 1960 the numbers increased to 399,000, to 1.6 million by 1969, and almost 11 million in 1999 (Buhalis, 2001; Wills, 2007, p. 29).

Holiday tourism is therefore the most dominant economic activity on most of the islands. Only few (i.e. Melos and Kimolos – mining, Delos – archaeology,  Tinos – religion, Syros – business) have a more diverse economic base.

However, it must be acknowledged here that there are major differences between individual islands (e.g. Tsartas, 1992).

Greek tourism activity is overseen and promoted by the Ministry of Tourist Development through its governing body, the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO). In addition to its head office in Athens, it has established branches in all 13 regions of Greece and information desks at major tourist centres in Greece. The GNTO also operates ca. 25 offices in the major tourism feeder countries around the world (Buckley & Papadopoulos, 1986; Vlami, 2010).

It should be noted that the combination of blue and white echos the colours of the Greek national flag.

(A) Greece-Cyclades; (B) Best of Milos in Responsible Tourism 2007; (C) Kykladen – Paradies für Inselspringer; (D) Milos Guidebook 2009; (E) Island of Naxos – it's multicolour; (F) Der beste Reiseführer – Speziell für Sie; (G) Escape Guide. Minor Cyclades and Amorgos – No one will find you here!; (H) Island Hopping – One Trip, Many Destinations!; (I) Walking Holidays – Take the Secret Tourist Trail…; (J) http://www.visitgreece.gr

The coding of the pictures was done by a research assistant who was briefed on the type of categories to be analysed. Each picture from the brochures was numbered and its content recorded in a database. Every brochure was analysed in its own right; it was only as a second step that this information was brought together in one combined database. It is acknowledged that subjectivity is inevitable in any coding process, and the research assistant was therefore guided to point out pictures with potentially ambiguous messages. A discussion about those pictures followed in which a consensus, based on criteria set beforehand, was reached before entry of the data into the database took place. This is in line with suggestions, given in earlier studies, on how to reduce biases in coding exercises (Leiss, Kline, & Jhally, 1990).

An interesting feature was one large brochure called ‘Der Beste Reiseführer – Speziell für Sie’ (The Best Travelguide – Especially for You) that reused the same pictures on a frequent basis, even though they were supposed to portray different places on different islands. The suggestion that can be made is thus that images from the islands are so interchangeable that it does not even matter if the same picture is used once, twice, three or even four times – ‘it all looks the same anyhow’, hardly complimentary to the perceptiveness of the brochure-reader.

It is likely that direct and indirect access islands attract different kinds of tourists. An in-depth analysis of tourist profiles in relation to island destinations as well as emerging consequences for marketing and location branding present a separate research question that, unfortunately, is beyond the scope of this paper.