Tourism and Sustainable Development Strategies in Rhodes: The Awareness of The Local Societies

Tourism is a vital industry in Rhodes as it is in many Mediterranean economies. And the adoption of a sustainable development strategy and the consequent sustainable development policies seem to guarantee long term viability of the tourism product. This sustainable development in tourism will have a direct effect on the societies who live especially in environmentally sensitive areas. For sustainable tourism development to affect positively these areas, it is important that all parts involved in tourism develop a common language and a common understanding about sustainable tourism development. The need of the societies’ sensitization is recognized widely as a “must” for a successful adoption of sustainable development policies. In this article it is aimed to understand the awareness of the planners and other key figures about sustainable development and the high school children about the knowledge of the term sustainable development and of relevant terms, understanding of the multidimensional and holistic (integrated) meaning of the concept, ability to identify the problems of tourism development and to connect them to sustainable or unsustainable tourism.