Τουριστική ανάπτυξη και προστασία περιβάλλοντος

 

Το θέμα της προστασίας του περιβάλλοντος στη διαδικασία της τουριστικής ανάπτυξης ήταν πάντα εξαιρετικά σημαντικό. Τα τελευταία χρόνια με την προσθήκη του όρου αειφορία έχει γίνει ακομη πιο σημαντικό. Από την άλλη πλευρά το πανέμορφο νησί της Ρόδου, αποτελεί μία από τις ναυαρχίδες του ελληνικού τουρισμού. 

Ως εκ τούτου το θέμα της αειφορίας και της προστασίας του περιβάλλοντος στη Ρόδο είναι ένα θέμα που έχει πάντα ενδιαφέρον. 

Στο θέμα αυτό λοιπόν συνεισφέρει σημαντικά με μια μελέτη που έκανε η κα. Χριστίνα Λόη, στέλεχος της Περιφέρειας Νοτίου Αιγαίου. 

Την δημοσιεύουμε με πολύ χαρά και νομίζω ότι από την ανάγνωσή της, όλοι έχουμε να κερδίσουμε.

Tourism Development and Environmental Protection: The Case of Rhodes

Christina Loi

University of the Aegean

Address: 10, Nikou Kazatzaki Str., 85100 Rhodes, Greece

Dimitris Koutoulas

Assistant Professor (elected) in Tourism Management

University of Patras, Greece

E-Mail: d.koutoulas@gmail.com

Abstract

The production of tourism services by a destination, as well as the production of many goods, inevitably involves the use of natural resources and may result, according to some scholars, in their exhaustion, damage or alteration.

To prevent the adverse effects of tourism development on the environment and to exercise control on tourism activities, the Greek Constitution incorporates a number of clearly environment-related provisions. Thus, in accordance with Article 24 paragraph 1, the protection of the natural environment is an obligation of the State and the right of every citizen. Consequently, it is the state’s obligation to adopt special preventative or repressive measures for its preservation (Samiotis and Tsaltas, 1990). To what extent, however, is environmental legislation being implemented in Greece, and on the island of Rhodes in particular?

This study attempts to investigate the extent to which the existing environmental legislation is being implemented on the island of Rhodes, as well as the causes of the appearance of points of conflict between tourism development and the environment.

Keywords: environmental legislation, tourism development, Rhodes.

Tourism Development and Environmental Protection: The Case of Rhodes

Abstract

The production of tourism services by a destination, as well as the production of many goods, inevitably involves the use of natural resources and may result, according to some scholars, in their exhaustion, damage or alteration.

To prevent the adverse effects of tourism development on the environment and to exercise control on tourism activities, the Greek Constitution incorporates a number of clearly environment-related provisions. Thus, in accordance with Article 24 paragraph 1, the protection of the natural environment is an obligation of the State and the right of every citizen. Consequently, it is the state’s obligation to adopt special preventative or repressive measures for its preservation (Samiotis and Tsaltas, 1990). To what extent, however, is environmental legislation being implemented in Greece, and on the island of Rhodes in particular?

This study attempts to investigate the extent to which the existing environmental legislation is being implemented on the island of Rhodes, as well as the causes of the appearance of points of conflict between tourism development and the environment.

Keywords: environmental legislation, tourism development, Rhodes.

1. Introduction

The ever-increasing importance of tourism (economic, political, social) for the development of a country quickly created the need for state intervention. It is generally accepted that the phenomenon of tourism cannot be left to the mercy of the market (Εlliott, 1997). As tourism is an important activity, the governments wish to exercise control over the direction and the type of development of the tourist sector (Airey, 1984; Lickorish and Jenkins, 2004). Thus, they began to establish organisations for the control and management of tourism. When mass tourism began to develop across the world, state intervention in the tourist sector became increasingly pronounced, especially in countries whose economy essentially depended on tourism (Jenkins and Henry, 1982).

The interventions made by agents of the state may include designing tourist development schemes, promoting the country, organising the activities of tourism businesses, supervising their actions, maintaining the licensing and operation specifications of tourist businesses, protecting the environment, ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations, etc. (Hall and Jenkins, 1995; Hall and Page, 1999).

Tourism development through its expansion in rural areas or the development of large-scale infrastructure, inevitably affects the environmental balance – more drastically so in areas deemed environmentally sensitive, such as coastal areas, mountains, wetlands, etc. (Karakostas, 2000; Koutoulas, 2008). For several years now, the impact on the natural environment has been the subject of dedicated studies, which highlighted the need for the design, planning and management of tourism development (Rotis, 1994).

In Greece, as in other countries, under the pressure of the problems that emerged in the ’70s, such as air pollution, uncontrolled tourism development, marine pollution, etc. and, of course, under the influence of the overall worldwide mobilization for environmental protection of the time, specific legal provisions were created to directly address the problem.

2. The administrative aspect of Greek compliance with EU sustainable tourism laws

Greece is often ranked in international literature as the European Union member state with the largest deficit in the implementation of EU environmental legislation. Indicative of the inadequate progress of the Europeanization of Greek environmental policies is the number of violations of relevant legislation detected by the European Commission (Table I). The number of Reasoned Opinions (Article 226 EC Treaty) during the 1982-2000 period is being used as the benchmark for measuring the compliance of Member States with EU Community law (Koutalakis, 2003).

The present analysis is based on European Commission data concerning identified infringements of environmental law in Greece during the 1982-2000 period, i.e. cases that set in motion the procedures of Article 226 of the EU Treaty. The table below shows the areas of EU environmental legislation with the largest number of violations detected in Greece.

Table I: Areas of EU environmental legislation with the highest number of infringements by Greece

Sector of environmental legislation	Directive number (Celex)	Number of infringements (1982-2000), (reasoned opinions)
Waste	1975L0442, 1991L0689, 1978L0319, 1994L0062, 1991L0272	14
Aquatic Resources	1976L0464, 1976L0160, 1978L0659, 1979L0869, 1975L0440, 1991L0676	13
Flora, Fauna, Habitats, Birds	1979L0409, 1992L0043	7
Environmental Impact Assessment	1985L0337	4

The data at our disposal is not adequate for a systematic analysis of legal claims supporting these violations. Consequently, the study’s attention turns inevitably to the analysis of the cases where breaches of EU environmental legislation in Greece were reported to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). During the 1982-2000 period, the ECJ issued eleven convictions of Greece for breaching EU environmental legislation. About half of these decisions relate to failure to promptly incorporate EU Directives into national law. The rest concern violations that occurred during the legislation’s implementation process by the state administration (Koutalakis, 2003).

Relative to the first category of decisions, it is worth mentioning that the delayed incorporation of Directives into national law is not due to suffocating deadlines or problematic synchronization of the parliamentary procedure with the timeframes specified in the relevant Directives, but to the difficulties faced by the Greek public administration in adjusting to EU policy requirements.

In particular, Greece has been condemned by the ECJ for untimely incorporation of EU Directives on urban waste (Directive 1991 L0271), waste management (Directive 1991 L0156), product packaging and their waste management (Directive 1994 L0062), protection of flora, fauna and habitats (Directive 1991 L0043) and water pollution (Directive 1976 L0076). In all five cases, failure to incorporate the Directives in time illustrates an array of administrative weaknesses to effectively adjust to EU environmental legislation requirements.

The above is supported by information held by the Greek Foreign Ministry (MFA) Legal Service and the Greek Permanent Representation (ACE) in the EU. According to the MFA, the most important issue Greece faces relative to Community (EU) law implementation concerns the state’s administrative malfunction. Over the last 10 years, there have been only a few cases of opposition as to the content of Community law; the large number of breaches, on the contrary, is due to lack of organization and cooperation in decision making, because of shared responsibility of many organizations, and problems of similar nature between central and regional agencies, particularly the Local and Prefectural Authorities (MFA Special Legal Service, Department of European Community Law, 01/27/2003).

3. Case Study: The adequacy and implementation of the existing legal framework for the preservation of the principles of sustainable tourist development in Rhodes

3.1. Purpose and objectives of the case study

It is widely known that the island of Rhodes is a significant Greek tourist destination and one of the most notable on a European level. During the 1960s, a balance between environment, tourism and urban planning had been achieved. The environment, natural and built, had remained almost intact, inbound tourism was of controlled quality and scale and it can be said that, in terms of urban planning, there was, firstly, an orderly organization of public space inherited from the Italian period and, secondly, that the still moderate level of development had not upset the preexisting balance. This was followed by a period that continues until the present day, during which the island underwent changes that have irreversibly disrupted the previous balance (Papachristodoulou, 2008; see also Koutoulas, 2006).

The purpose of this study is:

·  To examine the extent to which the legislation related to the island’s sustainable tourist development is implemented in Rhodes by the administrative authorities responsible for tourist activities, such as those connected to the approval of environmental terms for the establishment of tourist facilities, the approval of the positioning of tourist activities, licences for food and beverage preparation premises, etc.

·  To investigate the shortcomings of the relevant legislation on the basis of its implementation on the island of Rhodes.

·  To examine the extent to which phenomena that violate the legislation in force are dealt with by the competent administrative authorities.

3.2. Research methodology

In order to study the degree of implementation of the legislation related to the sustainable tourist development of Rhodes, we conducted a primary study. Public services responsible for licensing tourist facilities as well as constructions within tourist areas were selected as the field of study. These services are: the Land Planning Directorate of the Municipality of Rhodes, the Department of Water Resource Management and the Environment of the South Aegean Region, the Environment and Land Planning Department of the South Aegean Region, the Public Cadastral Service, the Central Service of the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) – Directorate of Tourist Facilities –  Planning Department, the Directorate of Health of the South Aegean Region, the Region’s Forestry Directorate, and the Control Department of the Fire Service.

The methodology followed in the study included distributing questionnaires to employees of the above public services on the island, which are responsible for tourist activities, and interviewing their respective Managers. The sample selection was the next stage in the process of conducting the study, and involved two issues: the number of completed questionnaires, and the educational level of the sample, so that it would be representative. A percentage of around 20% of employees of the competent public services was judged adequate to express the employees’ views on the research questions to an indicative degree. On the other hand, the sample needed to represent all employees involved in the process of licensing the facilities and in the study of the implementation of the relevant legislation. Thus, 50 questionnaires were given out and completed, and the sample consisted of employees with University, Technical and Secondary Education.

The stages followed are those of the established version of content analysis (see, for instance, Holsti, 1969, Krippendorff, 2004, Weber, 1990) and are, in order, as follows:

a) Determination of the object of the study.

b) Coding of the material under analysis.

c) Classification of the material in preparation for systematic description.

The material collected was coded and found to be adequate for answering the questions posed by the study. Our efforts were focused on investigating the most critical dimensions of the issue. In terms of time, the study took place over the years 2009, 2010 and 2011.

The questionnaire included questions relating to: a) the views of civil servants, agencies and organisations involved in the management of tourist activity in Rhodes on the island’s sustainable tourist development, b) the staffing of their services by trained/specialised staff, and c) the responsibilities of these services with regards to tourism management, monitoring and controlling the implementation of national and community laws, and the respondents we given the opportunity to provide evaluations and views-observations based on the answers given in the questionnaire.

3.3. Research findings

According to Tables ΙΙ, ΙΙΙ, ΙV, V, VI the participating employees of the public services responsible for tourist activity agreed on the fundamental questions of the study. Tables include the questions asked and the answers provided.

None of the participating employees approves of the way tourism is being developed on the island of Rhodes, which doesn’t secure the sustainability of the destination. The large majority of respondents don’t believe that legislation fully secures the sustainable tourist development of the Greek islands including Rhodes. They also acknowledge the conflicting land use and the fact that their respective authorities are understaffed.

Table ΙI: Answers of the majority among participating employees to the question “Does the Special Land Planning Scheme for Tourism move in the direction of Sustainability, in terms of its particular provisions for the islands?”

Authority contacted	Yes	No	Partly Yes
Land Planning Directorate / Municipality of Rhodes			Χ
Dept. of Water Resource Management and the Environment/ South Aegean Region		Χ
Environment and Land Planning Dept./ South Aegean Region		Χ
Public Cadastral Service			Χ
Greek National Tourism Organisation / Planning Department		Χ
Directorate of Health South Aegean Region			Χ
Forestry Directorate			Χ
Control Dept./ Fire Service		Χ

Table III: Answers of the majority among participating employees to the question “Do you think there is conflict in the use of land on the island with regards to tourism?”

Authority contacted	Yes	No	Partly Yes
Land Planning Directorate / Municipality of Rhodes	X
Dept. of Water Resource Management and the Environment/ South Aegean Region	X
Environment and Land Planning Dept./ South Aegean Region	X
Public Cadastral Service	X
Greek National Tourism Organisation / Planning Department	X
Directorate of Health South Aegean Region	X
Forestry Directorate	X
Control Dept./ Fire Service	X

Table IV: Answers of the majority among participating employees to the question “Does your service employ an adequate number of staff?”

Authority contacted	Yes	No	Partly Yes
Land Planning Directorate / Municipality of Rhodes		X
Dept. of Water Resource Management and the Environment/ South Aegean Region		X
Environment and Land Planning Dept./ South Aegean Region		X
Public Cadastral Service		X
Greek National Tourism Organisation / Planning Department		X
Directorate of Health South Aegean Region		X
Forestry Directorate		X
Control Dept./ Fire Service		X

Table V: Answers of the majority among participating employees to the question “Is the existing legal framework regarding the tourist development of Rhodes adequate?”

Authority contacted	Yes	No	Partly Yes
Land Planning Directorate / Municipality of Rhodes		X
Dept. of Water Resource Management and the Environment/ South Aegean Region		X
Environment and Land Planning Dept./ South Aegean Region		X
Public Cadastral Service			X
Greek National Tourism Organisation / Planning Department		X
Directorate of Health South Aegean Region			X
Forestry Directorate			X
Control Dept./ Fire Service		X

Table VI: Answers of the majority among participating employees to the question “Is the existing legal framework on the approval of licences for tourist businesses (during both the phase of construction and operation) implemented?”

Authority contacted	Yes	No	Not always
Land Planning Directorate / Municipality of Rhodes		X
Dept. of Water Resource Management and the Environment/ South Aegean Region		X
Environment and Land Planning Dept./ South Aegean Region		X
Public Cadastral Service		X
GNTO / Planning Department		X
Directorate of Health South Aegean Region		X
Forestry Directorate		X
Control Dept./ Fire Service		X

In addition, further research with the use of the questionnaire showed that:

·      The existing legal framework is complicated, inconsistent and not fully implemented. (Out of 50 respondents, 45 gave an affirmative answer.)

·      The legal framework concerning beaches and the way it is implemented is full of internal contradictions and is a source of confusion and doubt. It would be more rational to also recognise, directly and clearly, the principle of economic use for that very small part of the total area of the island’s beaches for which demand is high, and to clearly define the terms and conditions under which a part of a beach may pass from free public to economic use. (18/50 respondents)

·      There is no systematic monitoring and control of the implementation of laws, but inspections by the competent services are generally conducted in response to complaints, rather than of their own accord on a monthly or annual basis. The shortage of staff was cited as one of the reasons for this. (38/50 respondents)

·      The control and monitoring of the implementation of environmental legislation is hindered by organisational problems within the competent control authorities, identified in the scattered and overlapping distribution of the relevant duties. It is also hindered by operational problems, such as the shortage of staff, equipment and resources. (46/50 respondents)

·      Inspections of tourist activities by the competent services are only conducted during the licensing procedure, and do not continue during the course of the works. (38/50 respondents)

·      Most services pointed out the lack of coordination between them, on a horizontal and vertical level. (32/50 respondents)

The interviews conducted with the managers of the above organizations revealed some additional information on the research topic, as well:

·      The city’s 1956 street plan and the 1963 Decrees on building terms completely bypassed the issue of traditional neighborhoods (Marasia) protection at both the town planning and building terms level, while the application of high building coefficients fueled the demolition of architecturally significant buildings in the city center.

·      The 1961 Decree for the Old Town of Rhodes, which provides for the necessary extensive rebuilding and opening of new roads that would reduce tourist congestion in the area, serving the principles of sustainability, has not been enforced as yet, due to the refusal of both the Ministry of Culture and the municipality services to implement it, allegedly because of its non-functionality.

·      The Special Hotel Decrees (1966-1970), permitting additional storeys, were limited to outside the residential city area, in an effort to meet the immediate needs for tourist accommodation on the island, as a result of the increased demand for Rhodes as a holiday destination. These had building coefficients more than double the standard ones, fuelling the construction of hotels that were disproportionate to the local landscape.

·      The Free Construction provisions (IF 395/68) allowed high-rise hotels to be built in the Ixia region, also disproportionate to the local landscape.

·      The Development Law 395/68 added building coefficients to all buildings with adverse consequences, especially in the old city quarters, as the buildings grew in size by reducing the distance between them, thus almost eliminating free public space.

·      The 1972 Decree allowed the demolition of all coastline buildings (from the area of the Aquarium, the Hotel of Roses and the Elli building up to the Yacht Club) to facilitate construction of new tourist facilities. It should be noted that this Decree has never been implemented and luckily these buildings have survived to this day.

·      The Decrees on Construction outside the city limits, meant that the countryside, coastal areas, hills, woods and roadsides were inundated with tourist structures, resulting not only in the disturbance of the countryside’s physical continuity and the degradation of its environment, but also in the creation of social isolation cells and a system of unregulated growth.

·      The over-urbanization of the island’s northern part, an inevitable consequence of the lack of planning, has negatively affected the natural and historic assets of this area. More specifically, the traditional part of the City of Rhodes (Neochori), is under special planning protection status, under the Presidential Decree (FEK/161/D/3-3-1987) "on the designation as a traditional part of the city of Rhodes and establish specific building conditions and restrictions." The objective of the Presidential Decree, based on Article 4 of N1577/85 (GOK), is the preservation and promotion of the special historic, urban, architectural, folkloric, social and aesthetic character of the area of Neochori, as a predominantly residential area. However, there has been, in derogation of this law, an uncontrolled and widespread change in the use of land, with the overconcentration of uses adversely affecting housing by degrading the living conditions of local residents.

·        Law 1262/82 fuelled to a large extent the establishment of numerous small-scale, low-quality tourist investments in areas lacking infrastructure.

·        The unregulated development of tourist facilities outside the city limits did not provide even for basic infrastructure such as roads and sidewalks of sufficient width, access to the sea, sewer systems, etc., thereby creating an anarchic landscape.

·        These urban planning failures are evident across all the resorts consecutively developed on the island, beginning with the area of Faneromeni and Ixia, and then in chronological order in Faliraki, along the coastal area of Ialyssos, in Kolymbia, in Pefkos, in Lardos beach, in Haraki, etc.

·        In the villages of Rhodes, the failure to enforce specific building regulations resulted in the destruction of the most part of their traditional core and the expansion of settlements with impersonal, mainly tourist structures, completely foreign to the character of the island. The only exceptions are the settlements of Lindos and the Old Town of Rhodes, which are under the control of the Ministry of Culture, and were preserved with minor alterations. In contrast, the few settlements that have been declared protected heritage sites by the Ministry of Urban Planning have been irreversibly altered.

·        The disposal of public property, which continues to the present day, aims exclusively at revenue generation, without any prior planning and development research. The relavant Law 719/77 has been applied solely for their tourist use without a provision for using at least a small proportion as cultivable land (Panagopoulos, 2001). It is no coincidence that the majority of public property acquisitions are concentrated along the island’s eastern coast where the sea area is ideal for swimming, which has encouraged the surrounding rural areas to also adopt the mentality of unregulated tourist exploitation.

·        The lack of state control on building activity and the government’s tolerance of illegal building played a key role in the dramatic worsening of environmental problems on the island. In addition, the weaknesses of local authorities in terms of competencies and resources and not least of organization and staffing needed to deal responsibly and rationally with complex issues in its area of ​​responsibility, contributed to the escalation of the problem.

4. Conclusions

This study aimed at examining the extent to which the legislation related to sustainable tourist development is implemented on the island of Rhodes by the public services responsible for regulating tourist activities; to investigate the shortcomings of the relevant legislation on the basis of its implementation on the island of Rhodes; and to examine the extent to which phenomena that violate the legislation in force are dealt with by the competent administrative authorities.

The study showed that:

·        The legal framework is inadequate and, in most cases, the control and monitoring of the implementation of environmental law is hindered by organisational problems within the competent control authorities, identified in the scattered and overlapping distribution of the relevant duties. It is also hindered by operational problems, such as the shortage of staff, equipment and resources.

·        Inspections by the competent services are only conducted during the licensing procedure for tourist facilities; there is no follow up through to the completion of the works.

·        There is inadequate collaboration between the public services involved, especially during the phase of assessing compliance with the relevant legislation.

·        Older provisions on construction terms that provided for essential and extensive roadworks, especially in the Old Town of Rhodes, an area with a very large number of visitors, remain inactive due to opposing opinions between the involved authorities.

·        Excessive development of tourist facilities in out-of-town areas in violation of the law and without the necessary infrastructures (roads, pavements, sewerage systems, etc.) has led to a chaotic result.

As the competition between tourist destinations across the Mediterranean keeps intensifying, the prevailing way of developing tourism on Rhodes must be changed, as it is violating any concept of sustainable and properly planned development. As a first step, regional authorities in charge of regulating and overseeing tourist development need to be fully staffed so that they can immediately and effectively deal with problems, thus ensuring the sustainable tourist development of the island.

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