• Upon completion of the course, the instructed are expected to be able to know, understand, analyze, assess critically and synthecize a concise, but as comprehensive and multi-layered as possible, picture of the spatial constitution, growth dynamics and variable functions of tourism, on the basis of its relationship with development and globalization processes. More specifically:
• To delve into the multi-layered interrelations of tourism, as an economic sector and as a social phenomenon, with the totality of so-called ‘development’ processes and phenomena, in their geographical differentiation.
• To decipher and investigate concepts, figures, structures and developments of the tourism phenomenon, in conjunction with the ‘development’ concept, economic parameters and social particularities of tourism distribution (concentrations and diasporas), processes and impacts, both global and local.
• To negotiate contemporary trends in tourism differentiation and alternative, as well as special-interest, forms of tourism, in relation with social, economic, environmental, cultural and political tourism dimensions and impacts.
• To apply all of the above in case studies, aiming at practicing a basic geographical orientation and a comprehensive approach to the tourism phenomenon, in its respective and ever-transforming geographical context.
• To explore critically the geography of Greek tourism, through its dynamic relationship with global perspectives and developments concerning the idea and realities of ‘development’.

The objective of the course is the acquisition on the part of the students of a concise, but as comprehensive and multi-layered as possible, picture of the spatial constitution, growth dynamics and variable functions of tourism, on the basis of its relationship with development and globalization processes.

PROGRAM OF LECTURE UNITS

1. Introduction. Basic concepts pertaining to the tourism phenomenon. The significance of a geographical approach to the study of tourism.
2. Development: theory and realities. The interrelationships between tourism and development.
3. The tourists: the geography of tourism demand. The place of the First World in the tourism industry.
4. Geographical particularities and formative factors of international and global tourism flows.
5. The factors: the geography of tourism supply. Theories and models of the spatial development of tourism. The place of the Third World in the tourism industry.
6. Contemporary structures and infrastructures of destination areas and the intermediaries of the tourism system. The role of the state: organizational structures, investments and policies in the tourism sector.
7. Developments and trends in the contemporary geographical distribution of tourism; conventional and special-interest/ alternative forms of tourism.
8. Economic costs and benefits of tourism: tourism in the global, international, national, regional and local levels of economy. The case of Greece.
9. The spatial impacts (economic, social, environmental, etc) of tourism development and tourism’s interrelationships with development in the destination countries.
10. Cultural contact and exchange through tourism in the contemporary world. The role of tourism in the context of globalization trends in human connections and activities.

• Varvaressos, S. (2005) Tourism: Concepts, Figures, Structures, the Greek Reality. Athens: Propombos Publications.
• Terkenli, T. S.; Metaxidis, N. and Raftopoulou P. (2003) Tourism Geography. Athens: OEDB.
• Tsartas, P. (2010) Greek Tourism Development: Characteristics, Explorations, Proposals. Athens: Kritiki Publications.
• Tsartas, P. (1996) Tourists, Travels, Places: Sociological Approaches to Tourism. Athens: Exantas Publications.
• Varvaressos, S. (2008) Tourism Economics: Conceptual, Theoretical and Methodological Approaches from the 19th to the 21st Centuries. Athens: Propombos Publications.