Policies and Proposals of Primary Importance for a Sustainable Tourism Development and a Competitive Greek Tourist Product

This article aims to identify and develop policies and proposals of primary importance for a sustainable tourism development and a competitive Greek tourist product. As the tourist product is an amalgam of services and resources that are offered and controlled by various businesses, organizations and agencies, the implementation of proposals is the collective responsibility of all, as it involves the cultivation and development of synergies and a climate of cooperation among all the tourist partners. These proposals also refer to the necessary actions both at the macroeconomic level of destination and at the microeconomic level of tourism enterprises. To locate these proposals, the article begins by exploring the tourism development and policy pursued in Greece over the last decades. On the basis of this analysis, the analyzed proposals focus on the following (Mihalic, 2016): (1) organizational, management and institutional reforms required by emphasizing the establishment and operation of a National Agency for Destination Management with clear roles, objectives and functions (Dodds and Joppe, 2017); (2) exploiting new technologies to increase competitiveness, innovation and sustainability of tourist destinations and businesses. Gravity is given to the development of Electronic Management Systems and Destination Marketing with specific services, purposes and functions (Budeanu et al., 2016); (3) the continuous development of key factors in tourism, such as human resources, tourist facilities, infrastructure and businesses (Song, 2016); (4) the development and continuous modernization of tourist attractions and products, with emphasis on the creation of inter-company networks aiming at the development of integrated thematic tourist packages that can enrich and diversify the tourist product as well as support a more sustainable tourism development.