From Mass Tourism and Mass Culture to Sustainable Tourism in the Post-covid19 Era: The Case of Mykonos

Abstract

One of the key challenges that tourist destinations have to face today is mass tourism and its impact on local culture. Indeed, during the past years, tourist development had relied on mass tourism, which meant that the destinations had to accommodate a significant number of tourists, something that had an impact on the destination’s culture. Such an example is the case of Mykonos. This a case of an island that has constructed its brand name as a high-end cosmopolitan destination by including mass tourist activities on its product offering but also with mass culture activities, such as major dance music events. Nonetheless, the current situation has found Mykonos, like many other destinations, without tourist demand and with the need to reposition its tourist product. In the post-covid19 tourist industry, it seems that sustainable tourism can be the answer on how Mykonos shall develop so as to recover from the current crisis. Therefore, the suggested strategy is to shift from mass tourism and mass culture into sustainable tourism and emphasis high culture. This means that the destination will have to rely on a “less tourists and more income per tourist” model of development while Mykonos can focus on cultural tourism as part of its shift into sustainable tourism.