Fromthe beginning of mankind, human beings have travelled away from their placesfor several reasons. The entire globe has undergone many levels of humandevelopment, along with long-distance travel and every human eras have added tothe common understanding of tourism and travel. Today, millions of folks travelin search of relaxation, pleasure, education, enjoyment, curiosity, love andfor many other internal motives.
Also, the most significant resources ofhumankind is cultural heritage, on which travel is based and it directlyappeals to every motives of travel (Timothy,2011). Consequently, the most common attractions everywhere are livingcultures and heritage products. Therefore, all Mediterranean nations haveimplemented and adopted a similar model of tourism development on the basis oftheir cultural heritage products including 4Ss (Sea, Sand, Sex and Sun) (Sotiriadis and Varvaressos, 2015).
Here, for the purpose of analysing how cultural heritage elements increasetourist consumption and activities, Greece is chosen as a destination. In thiscontext, the academic essayis analysing significance of tourism as an economicactivity and to assess structural issues and current situation of culturalheritage tourism in Greece. The focus is also given on marketing issues of thisdestination, in order to recommend strategies for sustainable and competitivedevelopment of different site/attraction in future.
Backgroundinformation of Greece as a cultural heritage destinationGreece is located inSouth-Eastern Europe and situated at the meeting point of three differentregions, such as Africa, Asia and Europe. The total area of 131,957 km is coveredby Greece with its population of around 11.16 million (Greece, 2017). Greece isa region with rich cultural heritage. From the prehistoric centuries to thepresent days, the civilisation of Greek has created artworks and monuments thatare exceptional reference points and outstanding landmarks in the humanhistory. Almost the entire Greece constitutes a complex and extensivearchaeological site. Indeed, most of its islands and hinterland containsarchaeological sites with monuments reflecting the ancient period of Greece andRoman times (Hlepas and Getimis,2012). By analysing the cultural heritage products ofGreece, Korka (2014)determined that the country’s architecture and art has highly influenced andinspired the Western region from the ages.
Mayor (2001) also identified thatGreece is the foreigners’ attraction based on the antiquity for its long andrich history, Mediterranean beaches and coastline, iconic sights, colourfulcuisines and fascinating culture. The country introduced its tourism in theglobal arena that started flourishing in early 1970. Also, the destination hasall such factors, which always have been and will continue to be a greatattraction for the inbound tourists to visit its cities and islands. Therefore,the preservation and protection of the heritage products has always been apriority for the state.
