The initial phases of the SIA rapidly and effectively identified the required
data for a community profile for both Gorno Draglishte and
Kalofer such as their population size, main religions, main sources of income,
extent of in/out migration, main tourism assets, available transportation
infrastructure and tourism facilities, key community groups
and organisations and their interests and concerns with tourism, and
community decision-makers in relation to tourism development. Information
was also gathered to produce a historic profile of the development
of tourism in both of these case study destinations, including
data to create a basic tourist profile such as on the type and annual number
of tourists, and main tourist season. Furthermore, key tourism issues
were identified from the perspective of local participants in the SIA. For
example, issues such as too few tourist numbers in relation to the number of local guest houses, fees being paid by tourists to visit the local
church were going to a central state fund rather than being earmarked
for local tourism development, insufficient marketing, and inequitable
distribution of tourism benefits. More positively, these discussions
resulted in the identification of new products and activities that
Odysseia-In could potentially include in their walking tour itineraries,
such as a cow milking experience, exploring caves and a mineral
water spring. Finally, feedback was obtained from Odysseia-In staff
on their existing responsible tourism and operational practices as
well as their motivation and perceived business case for participating
in the SIA, which are summarised in Box 3 (also see Section 8.1
for further discussion).