4. CONCLUSION
In Greece, ecotourism constitutes a small but developing part of tourism. The geomorphology
of the country, where apart from the enormous coastlines also offers a rich geography in the
inland, supports the ecotourist promotion, since the tourist resources are to a large extent
natural-ecological [15]. Ecotourism in Greece country began to develop after 1970, coming as
a trendy fashion from abroad but also due to the more general change of the worldwide tourism
phenomenon. Therefore, the basic reasons that contributed in the growth of ecotourism in
Greece are the geomorphology of territories in the country, where the various ecosystems
interchange harmoniously between them and exist in abundance; as well as the climate that
allows an expanded tourist season. Moreover, the need for economic growth inland; an area
that does not offer the ‘easy’ tourist option of the ocean and which is still unidimensionally
agricultural presents another supporting reason. Ecotourism is advisable for short duration
vacations, which are becoming consistently more preferable as a choice for travellers particularly
from the two big urban centres of the country, Athens and Thessalonica (population 54%
of total), while from the other big cities an important percentage is presented (17.5%) [16].
This form of tourism bases its operation in the small enterprises that are usually family businesses,
facilitating in this way the contact between the tourist and the landlord [17].