Towards new spatial planning patterns of spa tourism in Greece

Abstract

Spa tourism has always been and will continue to be in the future, a popular social activity since it is inextricably related to human health. As a consequence the places, in which spa tourism is flourished, must be characterized by the appropriate spatial organization in order to become attractive and functional in the near and far future. In Greece, even if spa tourism prevailed in the resent past (50’s, 60’s and 70’s), nowadays spa destinations are suffering from intense and crucial spatial problems. The abandonment and the degradation (economic, environmental and spatial) are today the main features which compose the contemporary aspects of Greek spa towns as well as the rest of the regions where spa tourism is traditionally developed.

Within this framework, and according to the results of a field research, the paper attempts to approaching the kind of spatial planning which is the most appropriate for places of spa tourism in Greece, in order to achieve the goal of their integrated sustainable development, in the light of the current socio-economic conditions and the demand of their modernization.