Remote sensing and GIS application in sustainable development: a case study of the island Zakynthos in Greece

Abstract

The tourism in Greece has for many years been focused on coastal areas although the 70% of the area of Greece is of mountainous or semi-mountainous nature. The development of sustainable mountainous tourism or eco tourism could have positive effects in many socioeconomic factors of these areas. A diversion of tourist pressure from coastal regions to mountain regions could be achieved by the promotion of mountainous natural and cultural heritage. In this work a methodology for the production of detailed cartographical material concerning the mountainous paths and routes is described. The methodology is based in GIS, Remote Sensing and GPS technologies and is focused on the recording, mapping and labelling of mountainous paths and routes. For each path a description of the type of the path, the terrain involved, experience needed, estimated time required and a classification of the paths according to the difficulty is attempted. An easy to use 3-page leaflet is also created and distributed to the tourists A CD-ROM with the relevant information is created and distributed to local authorities and Public Tourist Offices and over the Internet