Greece as a significant tourist destination showed a considerable increase (5.1%) in tourist arrivals in 2016, despite intense geopolitical upheaval, especially in the area of South-East Aegean. It is noteworthy tha...Greece as a significant tourist destination showed a considerable increase (5.1%) in tourist arrivals in 2016, despite intense geopolitical upheaval, especially in the area of South-East Aegean. It is noteworthy that the main volume of tourism proceeds in Greece was generated by its insular regions, despite the intense problems faced by insularity, and by the insular Region of Southern Aegean in particular, despite the heavy refugee flows due to its geopolitical position. However, how is insularity affected by the new hyper-taxation of the islands through the increase of value added tax in insular local development and tourism? Is insular economy strong enough to withstand the increased and intensely varying international challenges? In this paper, after realistically depicting the official and published national tourism results for 2016, it is presented the immediate policy, institutional and destination management actions required in the Region of Southem Aegean so that it might be able to respond adequately to the new European or global tourism challenges, and act as the steam engine of the Greek tourism, pulling the broader Greek tourism development forward.展开更多
文摘Greece as a significant tourist destination showed a considerable increase (5.1%) in tourist arrivals in 2016, despite intense geopolitical upheaval, especially in the area of South-East Aegean. It is noteworthy that the main volume of tourism proceeds in Greece was generated by its insular regions, despite the intense problems faced by insularity, and by the insular Region of Southern Aegean in particular, despite the heavy refugee flows due to its geopolitical position. However, how is insularity affected by the new hyper-taxation of the islands through the increase of value added tax in insular local development and tourism? Is insular economy strong enough to withstand the increased and intensely varying international challenges? In this paper, after realistically depicting the official and published national tourism results for 2016, it is presented the immediate policy, institutional and destination management actions required in the Region of Southem Aegean so that it might be able to respond adequately to the new European or global tourism challenges, and act as the steam engine of the Greek tourism, pulling the broader Greek tourism development forward.