Mountainous Tourism Development in Crete: Local Perspective

Mountainous tourism is perceived as an effective catalyst of socio-economic development and is relied upon as a means of addressing the challenges that peripheral rural communities in Crete are facing, primarily those related to the decline of traditional industries. Studies elsewhere show that it has the potential to assist local communities, such as the mountainous village of Anogia, which is the area of research in this paper. This study examines residents' perceptions regarding the impacts of tourism development. The limited knowledge in relation to the residents' perspective of tourism development in mountainous areas was the driving force for undertaking this study. A qualitative method was employed for the purpose of this study. A purposive sample of 50 residents was interviewed using semi-structured and conversational interviews. The analysis of the collected data shows that mountain tourism can produce significant negative impacts as well as the expected positive outcomes. A significant finding of this study was that residents in Anogia support tourism development, but it is their view that such tourism should be responsible to, and respectful of their local traditions and customs. Keywords: Mountainous tourism development, village tourism, local residents, impacts, responsible tourism, Crete