119-144

• Βαρβαρέσος, Στέλιος
• Σωτηριάδης, Μάριος

The initiation of leisure and sports activities in the second half of the 20th century led to thetransformation of a considerable number of mountain spatial units into attractive tourism hosting zones. Determinant factors were landscape quality, local authenticity and quality of tourist services. Sports and recreational activities related to skiing have contributed to the gradual development of tourist flows, while winter resorts have rendered mountain tourism more accessible and popular. This evolution has led to four specific models for winter resorts implemented in the Alpine countries over the past century. The four models serve as a reference framework in our study, which looks at Greek ski centres. As a country hosting mass leisure tourism, Greece has developed the industry by implementing a spontaneousdevelopment model centring on the sun; mountain tourism, and winter sports in particular, have never been a priority in the national tourism policy. When compared to the four models devised for ‘winter resorts’ implemented in the Alps, the twenty-one ‘ski centres’ operating in Greece are clearly representative of the spontaneous model of tourism development adopted and implemented in the Greek mountains. Simultaneously, such comparison highlights the urgent need to adopt a tourism planning approach and to implement appropriate action plans for mountain tourism as a constituent part of Greektourism policy at both at the national and regional level. Hence, this paper focuses on the analysis of Greek ski centres and seeks to contribute to the discussion regarding the development model for mountain tourism / winter resorts.

• Economics and Business

• Economics

mountain tourism, winter resorts, models, ski centers, tourism planning, Greece

JEL classification: L83, Q01, O10, We are grateful to Rene Baretje-Keller, President of the International Centre forResearch and Studies (CIRET) Aix-en-Provence, France; and Emeritus Member ofthe International Academy for the Study of Tourism, for his suggestions regardingthe present paper. CIRET’s bibliographic database (http://www.ciret-tourism.com)has been an abundant source of scientific literature enriching our study.