Introduction

Greece is situated in south-east Europe at the end of the Balkan Peninsula, lying inside the Mediterranean basin. Owing to its geographic locality as well as to a remarkable number of islands, Greece has the 10th longest coastline among countries in the world. In total, the Greek coastline adds up to 14,880 kilometres (9246 miles). Greece is a traditional sun and sea tourist destination, occupying the 15th place in the world classification of tourist destinations (National Statistical Service, 2002b). The major part of international tourist arrivals (94.3%) originate from Europe, of which 68.9% are from the EU15 (UNWTO, 2007). The country welcomes millions of international tourists yearly, while tourist international arrivals rise steadily each year. With 14,765 million international arrivals in 2005, tourism noted a 10.9% growth from 2004, and within a year a further 8.6% rise from 2005 to 2006 (WTO, 2007). The National Statistical Service of Greece measured 18,754,593 tourist visitors in 2007, an 8.5% increase, compared to 2006 (National Statistical Service, 2007a). The figures for 2008 remained at similar levels, yet this was seen as positive, given pressures on economy worldwide (Spiliotopoulos, 2008). In addition to international arrivals, the tourist sector in Greece is favoured greatly by domestic tourism, although there is no official record of this so far.

Overall, tourism is a significant factor of the national economy, accounting for almost 18% of the national GPD (National Statistical Service, 2007b). The National economy is boosted by 11.5 billion Euros per year from tourist income, and around 850,000 people live directly or indirectly from the tourist product (National Statistical Service, 2007b). In terms of competitiveness in the travel and tourism sector, Greece occupies the 22nd place among 130 countries, according to the World Economic Forum report (Blanke & Chiesa, 2007).

In terms of accessible tourism, infrastructure and facilities feature in some beaches of Greece, however, this remain far from common practice.