Ski – resort and regional development: profile of visitors ... - E-Journal

Olga Christopoulou, Garyfallos Arabatzis and Serafeim Polyzos
The majority of visitors are males (64.8%). The average age of visitors is 27 years, whereas,
the prevailing age is 15 years. Participation of 40-50 year old visitors is limited (8.8%) and very
low for visitors of over 50 years old (2.6%). This could be due to the extreme environmental
conditions in ski resorts such as high altitude and low temperature as well as the physical
strength involved in doing skiing that discourage older people. The total absence of farmers
and livestock breeders, as well as low participation of labourer, technicians and housewives
could be related to their educational level. That is to say, only people of certain professional
occupations, educational level and income level opt for or can afford winter tourism (Table 3).
Table 3: Distribution of all visitors at Parnassos ski-resort according to their occupation
Occupation %
Farmer/Stock-breeder 0.0
Workman/Technician 2.0
Civil Cervant 18.2
Private Cervant 16.7
Dealer 8.4
Industrialist (Manufacturer)/Tradesman 1.3
Free-lancer 17.7
Pensioner 0.5
Students (School/College/University) 30.4
Housewife 3.0
Unemployed 1.8
Thus, from Table 4, it can be observed the complete absence of less educated people amongst
the visitors, small participation of elementary school graduates, higher participation of highschool
graduates and relatively high participation of lyceum, technical institutes and university
graduates.
Table 4: Distribution of all visitors at Parnassos ski-resort according to their education
Education Level %
Illiterate 0.0
Elementary Education 3.3
High-school Education 15.3
Lyceum Education 35.3
Technical Education Institute 10.3
University Education 35.8
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