Diversifying and enhancing mountainous destinations through rural tourism: the case of Kalavrita, Greece.

Abstract

Abstract The chapter emphasizes the tourism products that the destination offers, highlighting rural tourism as a macro niche that is worthy to be considered as a unique form of tourism, and suggests a series of strategies for the diversification and enhancement of the tourism offering for the holistic Greek destination experience. In this regard, this study was employed for: (i) discovering the role of rural tourism for the mountainous area of Kalavrita, highlighting the challenges and opportunities of the current tourism situation in the area; (ii) analysing the strategies formulated by tourism authorities to engage in rural tourism; and (iii) conceptualizing the current and potential rural tourism products that do, and could, lead to the appropriate diversification of the existing tourism product of the Kalavrita region, as a representative western European mountainous destination.