Spatial planning and tourism development - The case of Greece.

This paper presents the evolution of spatial planning as it was implemented in Greece since the end of the 2nd World War in connexion to its influence in the shaping and growing of Greek tourist destinations. The paper acknowledges that the spatial planning policies implemented and the spatial status that they form are proven to be crucial factors in the organizational model followed by the Greek tourist destinations. The lack of a consistent and complete planning for the Greek tourist destinations, which would have developmental dimensions, results to the application of incoherent and, in many cases, controversial policies that affects their evolution and prospects. As a consequence, referring to specific time periods based on the philosophy on the shaping of the tourist destination proves to be a very difficult task, since tourism policies have shown over time a wide discordance between the intentions of state planning and the policies implemented at a local level through a large number of legal exceptions. Moreover, there is an obvious lack of uniformity and consistency on the policies applied by a large number of competent authorities, such as the Greek Tourism Organization (GNTO), the Ministry of Culture, The Ministry of Environment, Regional and Local Authorities. In the long term, this inconsistency that prevails in the applied spatial and urban policies has served small properties and local interests and, consequently, the dominance of an indigenous "non-industrial" model of tourism development. The article concludes with the examination of complicated issues that spatial planning has to deal with during this current period of economic crisis in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]