Promoting Cross Border Tourism in Europe. The case of Greece – Turkey.

Abstract

Greece has the particularity of being an external border of the European Union, bordering countries that do not belong to the Schengen treaty, such as Turkey. Greece belongs to the 4 most popular destinations for Turkish Travellers.

The case study showed that important factors for the development and promoting of cross-border tourism between Greece and Turkey, in addition to transportation facilities and access possibilities, are diplomatic relations and interstate agreements, fast service at the border, as well as the institutional and bureaucratic travel conditions, such as the easy granting of visas to Turkish travellers. This agreement allows Turks to visit the Greek islands for up to a week without having to apply for full access to the EU’s passport-free travel zone.

Concluding, this study highlights the importance of good political relations on a bilateral level for the development of cross-border tourism, strategic marketing tools and cooperative efforts to fully exploit the potential of cross-border tourism. In addition, the article proposes the extension of visas to other Aegean islands, but also the creation of permanent structures, such as the Cross-Border Tourism Observatory to support the sustainable development and promotion of cross-border tourism initiatives.