1st Assignment

Examine the characteristics of a specific destination and evaluate the internal and external

environment that tourism operates in this

University of Sunderland

Department of Tourism, hospitality and Events

Faculty of Business & Law

Module: Tourism concepts and issues

Module Leader: Dr Nikolaos Pappas

Student Name: Stavros Siderakis

Student ID: bh08ot

Student card number: 169026754

Student email: bh08ot@student.sunderland.ac.uk

Student mobile phone: 07784525561

Word count: 2138

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Contents

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………… 3

Historical context to of Santorini development in terms of tourism……………………... 3

Define external and internal environment………………………………………………... 4

SWOT analysis concerning tourism in Santorini……………………………………...…. 4

Strategic plan and further tourism development………………………………….…......... 6

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………... 7

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Introduction

On this first assessment, it is asked the selection of a popular, frequently visited destination and

briefly analyse its historical development by the tourism aspect. In addition, the evaluation of the

internal and external factors affecting the destination in question will be examined in details,

subsequently the analysis will be completed with some suggestions on how this place can gain

further long-term tourism growth.

The destination selected is Santorini, one of the most recognisable Greek islands around the

world. It lies in the heart of Aegean and specifically in Cyclades (a complex of islands). This

fascinating island is one of the most important and famous destination in Greece according to

“Discover Greece, 2016” and this is why it is so vital to analyse and evaluate its environment and

understand its success. It is undisputed fact that the tourism has been and still is one of the key

elements of the economic activity of the Greek islands and the whole country. It is also crucial to

comprehend how a tourist attraction can affect positively the economy of a country, specifically

the Greek economy which relies significantly on the industry of tourism.

Historical context of Santorini tourism development

It is a fact that Santorini, as part of Greece, has a great and long history. As its local website

refers, this island appeared on earth around 3000 years B.C. (Santorini-islandguide.com, 2013-

2014). Moreover, it reports that the volcano eruptions are the benchmark of the island history

and as a result the volcano is now a significant attraction for many tourists. First travellers

appeared on the island in 1970 and the following years a progressive tourism development was

observed (Santorini-islandguide.com, 2013-2014). The US production movie “Summer Lovers”

was filmed on location of Santorini (Santoriniinfo.gr, 2016) and it’s worth mentioning that in

1982 advertised the island all over the world enhancing its image. According to Apostolaki

(2007, 19-22) in the 1970’s a significant part of the local population turned their financial

activities to tourism and to others related leisure businesses as a result of higher economic

profits. The economy of this island relies on activities such as agriculture, fishing, services,

infrastructures and constructions but all these activities operate for the purpose of serving the

most important economic activity of the island, the tourism. During the last years, significant

changes have taken place on the island. The industry of Tourism has influenced not only the

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economic life of this beautiful location but also its population and structure. For example, large

farmlands have been replaced by many hotels or other facilities for tourist activities and that

significantly influenced the locals’ lives. Nowadays, Santorini is considered exclusively a tourist

destination and the majority of the inhabitants participate in tourist activities with a view to

achieving economic profits. Hence, it is important to be analysed the operation of the

environment of this destination and also how to achieve a further growth.

Definition of the external and internal environment

Before analysing the internal and external factors affecting the tourism in Santorini, it is

important to understand what internal and external environment means. According to Evans

(2015) internal environment it consists of variables that determine the strengths and the threats

that influence an organisation. Strength for an organisation is anything that can generate

competitive advantage against other organizations and that means the any industry wants to gain

this advantage so as to occupy a larger market share. However, strength for a firm is the sources,

the capabilities or anything else which strengthens the firm against competitors. On the other

hand, weakness for an organisation is anything that put this organization in a competitive

disadvantage against the others and so, it is crucial to avoid these weaknesses. Therefore, in an

attempt to create an appropriate competitive strategic, it is significant to be analysed the

strengths and the weaknesses.

As far as the external environment is concerned, there are several ways to determine it. Firstly,

the external environment consists of the macro-environment and the micro-environment

(Georgopoulos, 2013, 105-106,110-120,181-182). As stated by Georgopoulos the macro-

environment includes some factors that affect not only the organisation but also all the others

factors related to the industry. Such factors are the Political (P), Economical (E), Social-Cultural

(S), Technological (T), Environmental (E), Legal (L) environment. The micro-environment

contains some forces that affect directly the industry. For example, the costumers, the

competitors, the suppliers etc. are considered part of the micro-environment area. As in the

internal environment of an organisation, there are the strengths and the weaknesses, in the

external environment there are the opportunities and the threats. The combination of the

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opportunities-threats and the strengths-weaknesses constitutes the SWOT analysis (Evans,

etal.,2003, 196-201), which is a very useful tool in order to create a strategic plan for further

development.

As reported by Kolbina (2015) SWOT analysis explains what the position of an organisation or

an industry is at the present time. At this point, in the appendix 1, there are the strengths and the

weaknesses of the internal environment and the opportunities and threats of the external

environment concerning this island.

SWOT analysis concerning Santorini

The appendix 1 depicts some important internal and external factors affecting the tourism in

Santorini. As it can be seen there are some strengths and weaknesses concerning the internal

environment and also there are some opportunities and threats concerning the external.

With regards to the strengths, Santorini has a dynamic nightlife (Santorini-islandguide.com,

2013-2014) which means that has great potentials to attract visitors who seek for this type of

entertainment such as young people. Also, the island has a unique historical background and that

is the reason of the large number of museums someone can find there (Santorini-

islandguide.com, 2013-2014). In addition, this website refers that you can meet many local

traditions, customs and local musical instruments which constitute a unique culture and there are

many accommodations to serve and satisfy the tourist needs. Lastly, it is essential to be referred

the relatively easy way to visit the island. It can be reached from most international airports via

Athens and also there with direct flights from different European cities during the considered

high season (Santorini.net, 2016). There is also the possibility to use the ferry boat services from

the port of Piraeus. It is obvious that this destination can satisfy many tourist needs, giving to this

island a comparative advantage against other destinations. All these factors contribute so as to

persuade tourists to visit and revisit it. It is a fact that if the tourist needs are met, they will spread

their satisfaction in their environment subsequently the number of visitors will increase and a

strong brand name will be gained.

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However, except the strengths influencing positively the tourism, there are some weaknesses

which must be addressed so as to eliminate them. The most significant weakness is the Santorini

airport state, considered as the worst airport in the Europe (Neasantorinis.gr, 2016). Obviously,

this poor reputation discourages quite a large number of tourists from visiting this destination.

Furthermore, there are some significant problems with regards to the Health care sector

(Nikolouli, 2016). The hospital of the island has not been supplied with the necessary

machineries and the necessary staff in order to ensure the appropriate Health care for its visitors.

Another factor may influence the tourists to visit Santorini is the fact that it has many bad and

poor quality roads and as a result many accidents happen (Apostolaki, 2007, 53)

On the other hand, there are some opportunities that the tourism industry should take advantage.

On this destination, the Mediterranean climate is a very important external factor. Many tourists

originating from colder regions seek this warm climate so as to relax during the summer.

Another pivotal aspect is that Greece, as part of the Eurozone has a common monetary policy,

and a common currency with many European countries and that can affect positively many

tourists from these countries to visit Greece. The technological evolution and the use of internet

help many people to be properly informed about the destination which they are going to visit. In

addition, the Democratic institution ensures the safety for every individual. It is worth

mentioning that the Greek government has come to bilateral agreements with other countries

with great potentials like the Russian Federation further develop the tourism in Greece

(Mintour.gov.gr, 2016).

As far as the threats are concerned, the most significant threat in this period of time is the flow of

refugees and illegal migrants in Greece. These flows cause many consequences in the tourism

businesses, like cancelation of booking flights and hotel reservations (Ekathimerini.com, 2016).

It is believed that this mainly happens because of terrorism threats, considering that there is a

possibility some of these immigrants to be linked to terrorist groups. Also, one more negative

factor is the unstable political situation in Greece because of the financial crisis (World Affairs

Journal, 2016). A series of bad decisions and policies has driven Greek citizens to constantly

change their governments and subsequently none of these has succeeded to improve the financial

state of the country. The last government has also abolished the tax relief for the Greek islands

firms, complicating even more the development of the tourism (Taxheaven., 2016). Also, we

cannot overlook the increasing competition between the tourism destinations in the

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Mediterranean [World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 2016)]. There are many places with

similar characteristics and all of them try to attract the same tourists.

Strategic plan and further tourism development

At this point, will be analysed how a strategy can be planned in order to achieve further tourism

development. Using the SWOT analysis is created before arising four different strategies

(Kolbina, 2015). These are:

SO => Strengths + Opportunities

ATTACKING STRATEGY

WO=> Weaknesses + Opportunities

Build strengths for ATTACKING STRATEGY

ST =>Strengths + Threats

DEFENSIVE STRATEGY

WT=> weaknesses + Threats

Build strengths for DEFENSIVE STRATEGY

According to Kolbina (2015), in order to choose one of these options you have to evaluate the

importance and the impact of each internal or external factor separately so as to decide to

implement the appropriate strategy. Consequently, with the SWOT analysis it can be estimated

the situation of the industry in the market, and also, can be created a strategic plan in order to be

more competitive. Consequently, in order to achieve further tourism growth or to maintain the

existing situation of the market, it can be created a SWOT analysis based on the importance of

each factor so as to decide where to target.

Also except of creating a strategy plan, I believe we can create an appropriate Brand name for

this destination. With the purpose that, this Brand name should briefly describe the reason why

you must visit this destination. For example, “Santorini means Love, Fun and Sunset”. In thus

way, if anyone wants to find Love, have Fun and watch the sunset, Santorini is a must

destination to be visited. The problem here is that a Brand name may not meet tourist

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expectations and therefore we will have the opposite result. The journal article <<Analysing

tourism slogans in top tourism destinations >> (Galí, etal., 2016) helps us to understand more

about the importance of tourism slogans and brand names.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is more than apparent that every tourism industry should first evaluate regularly

its external and internal environment so as to take any decision for further development. With

this evaluation, each tourism industry can recognize the environmental factors affecting it

positively or negatively. In this way, a destination like Santorini should take advantage of each

opportunity, reinforce the strengths, turn each weakness into strength and avoid threats. It is also

important to refer that it is more than difficult to analyse all the environmental factors affecting

an industry because these factors and especially those of the internal environment are countless.

Given the foregoing, each industry should choose to analyse the most significant of them so as to

make some conclusions. Furthermore, some factors might include both strengths and weaknesses

or opportunities and threats. For example, if a country use Euro as currency it is more likely to

attract tourists from countries constitute the economic monetary union EMU and that is an

opportunity for each destination, but on the other hand it is more difficult to attract people from

countries not using same currency. Consequently, we have to evaluate the importance of the

opportunity and the importance of the threat and choose the best option. Also, it is significant to

be referred that there are several ways to evaluate the internal and external environment but the

SWOT analysis is a method that gives you an appropriate way to compare the internal and

external environment instead of analysing them separately. In the end, Greece should enhance

tourism development because tourism is one of the most profitable activities and considerably

strengthens the gross national product GNP of this country.

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Appendix 1

SWOT analysis concerning tourism in Santorini

TOURISM INDUSTRY

OF SANTORINI

STRENGTHS

1. Intense nightlife (Apostolaki,

2007)

2. Historical background

(Santorini-islandguide.com,

2016)

3. Culture (Santorini-

islandguide.com, 2016)

4. Accessibility (Santorini.net,

2016)

5. Accommodations (Santorini-

islandguide.com, 2016)

WEAKNESSES

1. Services and reputation

about the airport

(Neasantorinis.gr, 2016)

2. Means of transport

(Apostolaki, 2007)

3. Level of Health care

(Nikolouli, 2016)

4. Road Structure

(Apostolaki, 2007, 53)

OPPORTUNITIES

1. Climate (Santorini.net, 2016)

2. Monetary policy (euro)

(Ec.europa.eu, 2016)

3. Technology

(Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2016)

4. International agreements between

Greece and other countries for the

SO strategies

Capitalize strengths and exploit

opportunities

=>ATTACKING STRATEGY

WO strategies

Avoid weaknesses and exploit

opportunities=>Build

strengths for ATTACKING

STRATEGY

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development of tourism in Greece

(Mintour.gov.gr, 2016)

THREATS

1. Migration flows

(Ekathimerini.com, 2016)

2. Political instability (World Affairs

Journal., 2016)

3. Increased competition (UNWTO,

2016)

4. Abolished tax relief on Greek

islands (Taxheaven, 2016)

ST strategies

Capitalize strengths and avoid threats

=>DEFENSIVE STRATEGY

WT strategies

Address or avoid weaknesses

and threats

=>Build strengths for

DEFENSIVE STRATEGY

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