The course has an introductory character offering the necessary knowledge not only for the compulsory course of the second semester ‘Special and Alternative Forms of Tourism’, but also for some elective courses. The course has a theoretical orientation (the relevant technical skills are mainly the subject of the spring semester of the program), and aims to the acquisition of knowledge and to the development of critical war of thought.

The theoretical starting point of tourism is the problematic of the perception of the destination by the visitor in relation to that by the resident and to the approach of planned space by the manager of the tourist resort. The main feature of the course is the interdisciplinary approach of the spatio-temporal dimension of tourism and culture, which are the two main dimensions of leisure time, which, however, are not interrelated as they should be in terms both of theory and policy. The social and economic importance of tourism and culture has begun to be recognized (at the level of bibliography) with an accelerating pace in Greece, especially after the recent socio-economic crisis. In this context, the course will address the issues related to geography, methodology, evaluation, planning, development, etc.