Accessibility and attractiveness of Aegean islands

Abstract

Socioeconomic developments of Greek and European insular areas in the last decades reveal that islands present a series of characteristics that have affected their attractiveness negatively. Attractiveness is in general linked to the potential of an area to attract economic activities or people. In this paper, we use the attractiveness concept to define and calculate a number of indicators for Aegean Islands in Greece, indicators that estimate the factors that make islands unattractive for permanent inhabitance. Two different thematic areas are analyzed, remoteness and the existence and quality of infrastructure and services. Results confirm the less favored position of islands and the handicaps their permanent inhabitants have to face, especially on small and/or most remote ones and in the winter, fact that makes them vary unattractive.