The future of sustainable tourism in Greece
Wednesday 5 March 2008
Dr Graham Miller of the Faculty of Management and Law was recently invited to speak at the British Embassy in Greece, as part of a seminar series on Sustainable Development sponsored by the Minoan Group. The workshop was opened by Kyriakos Mitsotakis MP, Chairman of the Hellenic Parliament Committee for Environmental Protection and Mr Simon Gass, British Ambassador to Greece. Jonathan Porritt CBE, Chair of the Sustainable Development Commission spoke about the pressing need for Greece to adopt a sustainable path for future development.
Dr Miller spoke about the challenge of sustainable development for Greece, a country dependent to a large extent on overseas tourists. The presentation described the current challenging competitive environment for tourism and the potential for Greece to upgrade its product through embracing the opportunities available from pursuing a transition to a more sustainable tourism industry. Dr Miller was able to discuss conclusions drawn from research conducted for Defra on Public Understanding of Sustainable Leisure and Tourism.
Other speakers included Dr Alexandros Tombazis, A.N. Tombazis and Associates Architects on sustainable architecture; Professor Christos Zerefos, President of the National Observatory of Greece; Dr Jonathan Parker, Unit for Cohesion Policy and Environmental Impact Assessments, DG ENV, European Commission; Professor George Papadimitriou MP, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Athens; Dr Nicolas Karapanagiotis, Director of Financial and Administrative Services, Centre for Renewable Energy Sources; Dr Ioannis Sibetheros, Special Secretary & Head of the Central Water Agency, Hellenic Ministry for the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works.
For copies of the presentation, please email Dr Miller on g.miller@surrey.ac.uk