OBSERVATIONS AND DISCUSSION ON THE STATE OF HERITAGE AND CULTURAL

TOURISM IN GREECE

Rebeca Garcia

California State University Northridge

 Tourism is a significant source of economic income for many countries across the world

and also creates employment opportunities for many global societies. According to estimates

from the World Tourism Organization, tourism is a five trillion dollar plus economic activity,

with almost 125 million employees (O'Leary, Morrison, and Alzua, 1998). Tourism is diverse,

and individuals visit host communities depending on their specific needs, and it can include

leisure tourism, agrotourism, industrial tourism, and cultural and heritage tourism. Heritage and

culture, when combined with leisure and travel can be considered as the most prominent and

fastest growing components of tourism across the world. Heritage and culture as travel

motivators have in particular experienced massive growths in the last few decades, especially

from the 1990s.

Just like the world has gone through various phases of human development, heritage and

culture tourism has also undergone massive growths. While the earlier forms of heritage and

culture travel and tourism involved individuals going to host communities mainly for religious

purposes such as pilgrimages and visiting critical sacred sites, current heritage travel is better

nuanced and more diverse (Timothy, 2011). With the developments in transport infrastructure,

individuals are now afforded the opportunity of visiting myriads of heritage sites as well as other

cultural attractions. While in the early days the seven wonders were the main motivations of the

travelers, especially from Greece and other early civilizations, current travelers have motivations.

Heritage can be described as what we inherit from the past and pass on for use by the

next generations. Thus, heritage can include both the physical and abstract phenomenon

including culture and naturally occurring features such as rivers, wildlife, mountains, forests, and

many others. Heritage and cultural tourism are thus defined as the visit by an individual from
outside a host community motivated by an interest in different cultural attractions within the host

community such as the physical phenomena, historical, artistic, scientific, and lifestyle offerings

(Sildeberg, 1995). Culture and heritage tourism is based on the concept of community vitality

which seeks to leverage human capital and culture to achieve economic growth through crafts,

events, and cultural attractions such as museums and other historical monuments (Timothy,

2011). Heritage tourism is also centered on the issue of quality or meeting the high standards of

out of host community visitors. It is commonly understood that the better the cultural product,

the higher the chances of the visitor spending more money within the host community.

A check-list for evaluating cultural products is needed to ensure visitors meet their

expectations. The check-list for cultural product evaluation includes perceived quality of the

product, the extent to which product is perceived to be unique or special, convenience,

community support and involvement, and management as well as community involvement.

Further, to achieve product quality, many approaches are applied to improve not only the quality

of the product but also the uniqueness of the product (Sildeberg, 1995). These approaches

include motivating travelers to visit a historical location associated with a particular phenomenon

such and the promotion of specific cultural activities. Associating a region as the center of

cultural heritage through concentration of various art markets museums and performance arts

also motivates tourists to visit an area. This paper is going to explore heritage and culture

tourism in Greece from the first-hand experience around different regions in the country.

Greece is one of the most visited countries in Europe, and it has been a member of the

Euro block since 1981 and a member of the economic eurozone since 2001. The country’s major

cities are Athens, found in the Thessaloniki-Attica Province, Piraeus, and Patra. It is located in
the southeastern part of Europe, at the juncture of Europe, Asia, and Africa in the southern end of

the Balkan Peninsula. The country’s neighbors include Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Albania to the

north and Turkey to the east. To the east of the country’s mainland is the Aegean while the

Ionian Sea is situated to the west. Greece boasts of nearly 2,000 islands, as well as 42 mountains

over 2,000 meters high, plus a diversity of geographic features and a wide variety of flora and

fauna (WTTC, 2006). Thus, for decades, the country has been a favorite among summer

holidaymakers motivated by the region’s suitable Mediterranean climate as well as the country’s

long coastline.

However, after successfully hosting the Olympic Games and reinvigorating its tourism

sector, the country has attracted a range of visitors with diverse motivators other than the

traditional summer holidaymaking motivators. The promotion of the region as a unique and

year-round tourist destination by the government and the eventual revamping of the country's

tourism sector was precipitated by among other factors the realization that tourism was a

valuable source of income and the country's industrial and agricultural production had also seen

massive drops (WTTC, 2006). Greece has for a long time been the weakest country in the EU in

terms of economic power, and the country has had to rely on foreign interventions from the IMF

and other EU countries especially Germany.

Nonetheless, according to estimates from the World Travel & Travel Council, the

country stands to benefit from its improved international image as a unique travel and tourist

destination. True to these projections, the country's revenue from tourism activities has

significantly grown in recent years. According to a WTTC report, the direct contribution of

Travel & Tourism to GDP was 8.0% of the total GDP in 2017 while the industry contributed to
12.2% of the full employment. The figures are expected to rise higher with the WTTC estimation

the sector's contribution to the GDP to increase to 9.1% of the total GDP by 2028 whereas the

industry's contributions to employment are expected to double in the same period (WTTC,

2018). The WTTC acknowledges that Greece has various competitive advantages which include

its suitable climate and a vibrant natural and cultural heritage as well as high levels of safety and

security.

I took a twelve-day visit to Greece to observe the cultural heritage on offer in the country.

I touched down at Athens International Airport and proceeded to my hotel room. In my time in

the city of Athens, I visited various monuments in the town including the Greek Parliament. I

also got a chance to visit the National Archaeological Museum. The museum is perhaps one of

the most important in Greece, and here I learned a lot about the history of Greece from the

prehistoric times up to the late antiquity. In the museum, there were a lot of exhibitions that

taught me about the ancient civilization and everyday life for the ancient Greeks. From the

museum, I took a walk to the open fields outside the city where the early Greek philosophers

such as Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates had the first recorded academies.

On the same day, I had the chance to explore the city of Argos where I spent the night in

Hotel Morfeas. Argos is located in Argolis, Peloponnese. The city is one of the oldest inhabited

towns in the world having been occupied for over seven millennia. In the city, I visited the

imposing remains of the Roman bathhouse, went to the medieval castle on the Larissa hill

overlooking the town, and also visited the Hadrianic Nymphae at the area which supplied water
to the city around 2 AD. I also visited the Argos Theater among other famous cultural attractions

including the barracks of Kappodistria, the Ancient Tombs, and the Library Danaos.

The following day, I left Argos and headed towards Nemea. This beautiful city combined

a rich history with ancient temples and amazing wine fields to produce fine Greek wine. I also

visited several monuments and landmarks in Mycenae including the Temple of Olympian Zeus,

Temple of Athena Nike, Piraeus Lion, and the Arch of Hadrian. From there I visited the first

capital of modern Greece, Nafplio, and then spent the night in Sparta.

In ancient Greece, the city-state of Sparta was the arch-rival of Argos and other

Peloponnesian city-states. During the first and second Peloponnesian wars, Sparta and Argos

were on opposing sides. The Ancient Spartans are famous for their military and gaming prowess,

and this was part of my motivation behind visiting the city. From the movie “The Brave 300," I

had developed a fascination with the Spartan gallantry, and thus I wanted to learn about the

Peloponnesian wars. I started my visit in Sparta with a visit to the Ancient Olympia Museum

where I learned about the origins of the Olympic Games as well as the Peloponnesian wars such

as the military alliance between Sparta and Athens. From the museum, I went to Nafpaktos

where I observed a cultural district around the enchanting beach with a high concentration of

craft artists and performance artists.

I spent the night in Nafpaktos before leaving for the rural Dondona. The motivation

behind going to the inhabited Dondona is due to the region’s reputation as an oracular center.

The area also has various archaeological artifacts that make one understand the life of Ancient

Northern Greeks better. There were different oracular artifacts such as a sacrificial stool which
made me learn more about the religion of the Ancient Greeks. From Dondona, I visited the

nearby city of Ioannina which has most of the artifacts recovered from Dondona. Ioannina is also

close to Albania, and Jews have also inhabited the city especially before the World Wars. Thus, I

was able to learn about the different cultural interactions in the area and the distinctiveness of

each cultural heritage especially in buildings and other monuments.

From Ioannina, I visited different other regions; both urban and rural throughout Greece.

I went to Kalambaka, Kozani, Metsovo, and finally Thessaloniki. In Kalambaka, I savored the

local cuisines and visited a local family-owned winery. I then went to the beautiful Metsovo to

observe everyday village life in current Greece. Kalambaka had beautiful scenery with the city

between two huge rocks, the Meteora Rocks with a vibrant arts culture. In Kozani, I also enjoyed

the region’s fruits and local wines. I also visited the royal tombs of Aigai and learned about the

legendary King Philip II. I then traveled east to the neighboring Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki has a

rich history, and Byzantine and Ottoman rulers have conquered the city in the past. I went

through the city observing different monuments and buildings such as the Archaeological

Museum. Here, I learned about notable historical figures such as Alexander the Great. I also

learned about everyday life in the various phases of the city's governance. From Thessaloniki, I

visited other remarkable culturally-rich locations including Delphi, Katerina, and Chaeroeia

where I learned about the legendary Greek-Persian Wars before going back to Athens from

where I left for home.

In my visit, I observed that tourists were concentrated around beach towns such as

Ioannina and Piraeus whereas the number of visitors in rural locations such as Dondona,

Metsovo, and Kalambaka were few. However, the cities with beaches and heritage sites have
higher amounts of visitors compared to those without beaches. For instance, there were many

visitors in Piraeus and Argos compared to Mystras. Also, unlike, Athens has fewer numbers of

classical attractions. When compared to other heritage capitals such as Rome, Athens has only

9% inventoried sites compared to Rome’s 18% (Kalogeropoulou, 1996). Therefore, this can

explain why the number of visitors was lower in Athens compared to Argos and Piraeus. In

terms of infrastructure, I observed that the Greek government had emphasized archaeological

sites that are located closer to cities than the places situated in rural Greece. In Dondona,

Metsovo, and Kalambaka, all rural areas, the transport infrastructure was relatively weak

compared to Athens, Thessaloniki, and Piraeus which had modernized transport means. The

reason given behind this has been a centralized government that emphasizes internationally

recognized archaeological sites and a strong feeling of national identity among the Greeks.

Among the Greeks, the antiquities are more than tourist attractions (Kalogeropoulou, 1996). To

them, antiquities form the fundamental element of Greek identity and tradition, and they thus call

for the conservation of less known and probably locally more significant sites.

However, the influence of financial constraints cannot be dismissed. Due to the reduction

of industrial and agricultural production, many locals are calling for government funding in more

interior antiquity sites. This is best explained from the number of museums which best describes

Greek interest in traditional culture. According to UNESCO, the number of museums in the

country increased from 240 to 267 from 1979 to 1990. At the moment, the Network of European

Museum Organisations (NEMO) estimates the number of museums in Greece at 292 (2019). I

also observed that tourism employs many people especially the youth from the hotel industry to

the museum curators and performance and craft artists. Men were mainly engaged in the formal
sector as hotel, museum, and trip services whereas women were in the informal tourism sector

especially in the tourism districts where they sold crafts and performed traditional Greek cultural

texts.

In conclusion, cultural tourism is one of the most salient elements of global tourism

systems. While many destinations rely on singular forms of cultural promotion, Greece has

integrated different features including arts and place promotion in its promotion as a cultural

destination. The net effect has been the development of higher standards of expectations among

potential visitors. Greece has also reinvented its tourism sector by putting more funds into the

country, and this has led to a higher flow of visitors into the country which has, in turn, led to an

increase in the country's income. However, some sites in rural Greece are struggling with poor

infrastructure, and the Greece government should act to attract more visitors who stand to learn a

lot about the culture that gave rise to civilization.

 References

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https://www.ne-mo.org/about-us/the-network/list-of-countries/greece.html

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Identifying niches for international travelers. ​Journal of tourism studies,​ ​9(​ 2), 2.

Silberberg, T. (1995). Cultural tourism and business opportunities for museums and heritage

sites. ​Tourism Management​, ​16​(5), 361-365. doi:10.1016/0261-5177(95)00039-q

Timothy, D. J. (2011). Southeast Colorado heritage tourism. ​Journal of Heritage Tourism,​

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ECONOMY. ​WORLD TRAVEL & TRAVEL COUNCIL​.

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TRAVEL & TRAVEL COUNCIL​.