1.Purpose of the Pilot Study

The pilot study constituted the critical testing phase of the Methodological Framework for the Coastal and Marine Tourism Observatory, developed within the framework of a project of the Ministry of Tourism funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The study was conducted from April to May 2026 in two distinct phases: first at the national/central level (Athens, with participation from stakeholders across the country) and subsequently at the local level (Rhodes, as the pilot destination).

Its purpose was to evaluate the suitability, reliability, and practical applicability of the framework; identify challenges related to data collection at the local level; prioritize indicators based on usefulness and feasibility; and formulate proposals for adapting the framework to local specificities (e.g., seasonality, informal economy, island characteristics). At the same time, the study aimed to engage local stakeholders as key data providers and future users of the Observatory.

2. Methodology

The overall study adopted a multi-level mixed-methods approach, combining four complementary tools to capture both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the evaluation:

1. National Consultation Workshop

Held on 7 April 2026 at the Ministry of Tourism conference hall (14 Amalias Avenue, Athens) in a hybrid format. The digital tool Mentimeter was used to record evaluations in real time. Participants were asked to assess each indicator against two criteria:

• Usefulness (relevance and potential for policy-making)
• Feasibility (clarity, comparability, and ease of data collection)

Subsequently, weighted scoring was used to rank and categorize the indicators and to develop the marine tourism indicator framework.

2. In-depth Semi-Structured Interviews (IDIs)

Conducted with key informants in Rhodes (stakeholder representatives and academics). The objective was to capture local characteristics, document existing data sources, identify data gaps, and investigate institutional barriers.

3. Four Thematic Focus Groups in Rhodes

Conducted in a hybrid format and organized around:

a) Economic Dimension & Governance
b) Environmental Dimension & Governance
c) Social/Cultural Dimension & Governance
d) Marine Tourism

An interactive electronic platform was used for voting exercises and the development of a “data map.” The hybrid format enabled participation by remote stakeholders.

4. Online Quantitative Survey

Distributed to local stakeholders, requesting evaluations of indicators in terms of importance and feasibility, as well as information on realistic data collection frequency and associated challenges.

The combined use of these methods ensured both in-depth qualitative understanding and robust quantitative evidence.

3. Participants

3.1 National / Central Consultation

The Athens workshop included:

• 15 academics from various universities:
  • University of the Aegean
  • University of Piraeus
  • University of Patras
  • Hellenic Mediterranean University (HMU)
  • Hellenic Open University
  • Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences
• 7 representatives from key organizations:
  • Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy
  • Bank of Greece
  • Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE)
  • Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA)
  • INSETE
  • Hellenic Chamber of Hotels
  • Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants (GSEVEE)

This composition ensured representation of academic expertise alongside administrative and business experience.

3.2 Local Consultation (Rhodes)

Focus groups and interviews included representatives from the entire tourism ecosystem of Rhodes, including:

Institutional Bodies

• South Aegean Region
• Municipality of Rhodes
• Municipal Port Fund of Southern Dodecanese

Business Associations

• Dodecanese Chamber of Commerce
• Rhodes Commercial Association
• Catering and Related Professions Association
• Rhodes Day-Cruise Operators Association
• Association of Recreational Marine Equipment Rental Businesses
• Association of Entrepreneurs and Professionals of Rhodes Medieval Town

Academic / Research Institutions

• Athens University of Economics and Business (Department of Management Science and Technology)
• University of the Aegean (Departments of Environment, Oceanography, and Marine Biosciences)

Social Organizations

• Rhodes Labour Centre
• South Aegean Licensed Tourist Guides Association

Security Services

• Rhodes Police Department
• Rhodes Port Authority

Infrastructure Managers

• Fraport Greece
• Rhodes Marina
• Rhodes Tourism Promotion Organization (PROTOUR)

4. Key Findings from the National Consultation

4.1 Economic Dimension

This emerged as the most mature and robust dimension.

The thematic areas “Tourism Flows” and “Cruise Tourism Flows” received the highest scores. In particular, the indicators:

• Tourism dependency (6.10)
• Tourism pressure
• Seasonality

were considered highly useful and feasible.

Conversely, indicators such as:

• Percentage of repeat visitors
• Tourism receipts/expenditure

showed lower feasibility due primarily to data collection difficulties.

4.2 Social Dimension

The social dimension displayed greater heterogeneity.

Safety and Public Health received the highest ratings, with the indicator:

• Percentage of beaches with lifeguard coverage

receiving particularly positive evaluations.

By contrast, the thematic areas:

• Cultural Heritage and Local Identity
• Cruise Tourism

performed less strongly due mainly to feasibility challenges.

4.3 Environmental Dimension

The strongest thematic areas were:

• Environmental responsibility of businesses and visitors
• Ecosystem management

Waste and Pollution Management scored very highly in usefulness but only moderately in feasibility.

Conversely, Ecosystem and Biodiversity Protection was viewed as less feasible, particularly regarding indicators such as:

• Greenhouse gas emissions from tourism activities

4.4 Governance Dimension

Cruise Governance was the only strong thematic area, with indicators including:

• Marine pollution contingency plans
• Ship waste management plans

The areas:

• Institutional and strategic framework
• Participation, communication, and promotion

received low feasibility scores. Participants emphasized that many proposed indicators reflected formal regulatory compliance rather than actual institutional capacity.

5. Key Findings from the Local Consultation (Rhodes)

5.1 Definitions and Spatial Scale

Participants proposed focusing on the coastal zone (shoreline and foreshore area) or, for ease of data collection and marine tourism analysis, adopting a legally defined categorization:

• Cruise tourism
• Diving tourism
• Fishing tourism
• Marine recreation

Marine recreation should further distinguish between:

• Scheduled excursion vessels (classified as coastal shipping)
• Charter vessels

Special attention was given to small speedboats and recreational watercraft (e.g., jet skis and inflatable boats), which fall under Article 39 and require separate treatment.

5.2 Economic Dimension

Tourism flows emerged as the top priority.

The informal economy remains a major challenge, including:

• Unlicensed rental boats
• Independent divers (illegal under Greek law)
• Unregulated anchoring of private vessels outside marinas

Participants proposed introducing a “real peak population” indicator:

Permanent residents + overnight tourists + day visitors + seasonal workers

This would provide a more accurate measure of tourism pressure than permanent population figures alone. For example, the population of Lindos triples during summer.

The need for an indicator measuring the redistribution of public tourism revenues (cruise fees, accommodation taxes, archaeological site ticket revenues) to local communities was also emphasized.

5.3 Social Dimension

Safety and public health were identified as the most important subsections.

Staffing shortages in public services were highlighted as a major concern. Participants proposed indicators such as:

• Number of police officers per 1,000 real peak population

Lack of transparency regarding public revenue allocation was also raised. For example, the Acropolis of Lindos generated €6.5 million in ticket revenues, yet none was returned to the municipality despite extensive use of municipal infrastructure.

A revenue redistribution indicator for cultural heritage sites was therefore proposed.

5.4 Environmental Dimension

Management of natural resources (water and energy) and waste ranked as the highest priorities.

Coastal erosion was proposed as a mandatory new indicator. In Rhodes, the western coastline has retreated by up to 10 meters over the last 25–30 years.

Data collection on water and energy consumption per cruise passenger was considered extremely difficult because ships replenish supplies selectively at ports with lower costs.

Participants proposed the “excess consumption method”, comparing peak-season consumption (e.g., July–August) with a non-tourism baseline month (e.g., February) to estimate tourism-related pressure.

The lack of facilities for receiving liquid waste from ships was cited as a clear example of institutional shortcomings.

5.5 Governance Dimension

Governance was considered fundamental (“the field from which everything else derives”) but also the weakest dimension in terms of feasibility.

Participants identified specific institutional barriers affecting the Rhodes Marina and Customs Authority.

A new indicator was proposed:

• Number of licensing applications pending for more than 12 months

to measure bureaucratic inefficiency.

Participants also stressed that the mere existence of plans (e.g., marine pollution response plans) is insufficient; indicators of operational readiness are needed, such as:

• Response times
• Annual emergency exercises

6. Data Collection Challenges

6.1 Data Providers and Availability

Participants reported that data are fragmented across heterogeneous sources, often lacking interoperability and involving financial or institutional access barriers.

Examples include:

• Port Fund: monthly cruise ship and passenger arrivals, but limited information on small vessels.
• Fraport Greece: monthly air arrivals by nationality, requiring special coordination.
• AADE, ERGANI, GEMI: economic data, though branch-level analysis is difficult and marine tourism activities are often underrepresented.
• Environmental databases (DEYAR, HEDNO, FODSA, HCMR, National Observatory of Athens): available data are often non-standardized, lack APIs, and are updated with significant delays.

6.2 Collection Frequency

Recommended frequencies included:

• Visitor flows and overnight stays: weekly
• Employment and value added: monthly
• Revenues: monthly
• Investments, governance, participation: annually
• Waste and pollution management: monthly or weekly
• Safety and public health: monthly
• Ecosystem monitoring and protection: monthly

Indicators requiring field surveys (e.g., resident satisfaction, perceptions of overtourism) were recommended every two years due to cost considerations.

6.3 Spatial Scale

The greatest concern involved selecting the appropriate geographical unit.

The Regional Unit of Rhodes includes smaller islands such as:

• Symi
• Kastellorizo
• Chalki

which can distort aggregated statistics.

Participants proposed adopting the concept of “real peak population” during July–August, consisting of:

• Permanent residents
• Overnight tourists
• Day visitors
• Seasonal workers (using ERGANI data)

This denominator should be used consistently across indicators measuring tourism pressure and service demand.

6.4 Other Challenges

Major barriers identified included:

• Human resource shortages and understaffing
• Lack of APIs and automated data extraction mechanisms
• Heterogeneous file formats (PDFs, handwritten records)
• Absence of digital booking and recording systems in small marinas and ports
• High costs of surveys and sensor deployment
• GDPR restrictions on personal data collection
• Reluctance of businesses to share turnover data
• Lack of legal obligations for organizations such as Fraport and Port Funds to provide tourism statistics free of charge
• Accessibility issues in remote beaches and small islands
• Seasonal constraints on winter data collection

7. Recommendations for Improving the Methodological Framework

The pilot study resulted in a comprehensive set of recommendations:

Definition Revisions

• Restrict coastal tourism to the shoreline zone or accept the municipality as the coastal unit.
• Establish a clear legal categorization of marine tourism activities.

New Indicators

• Real peak population
• Revenue redistribution to local communities
• Average employee age
• Noise pollution
• Conflicts with marine mammals
• Coastal erosion
• Sunscreen residues (UV filters)
• Number of licensing applications pending for more than 12 months

Institutional and Organizational Changes

• Establish mandatory access to key tourism data (Fraport, Port Funds, ELSTAT, myDATA).
• Develop APIs and a centralized data warehouse for automated data collection.
• Train local authority personnel in indicator collection and interpretation.
• Create interoperability mechanisms with the Ministry of Digital Governance.

8. Overall Conclusion

The pilot study, conducted at both national and local levels, identified the adjustments required to make the Observatory operational, reliable, and useful for decision-making in coastal destinations experiencing high tourism pressure.

The principal finding was the systematic gap between usefulness and feasibility across many indicators, particularly in the social, environmental, and governance dimensions.

The participation of both national and local stakeholders proved crucial in identifying practical obstacles and developing realistic solutions, thereby laying the foundations for a resilient and operationally mature Coastal and Marine Tourism Observatory.