Social Impacts of Tourism: Perceptions of Mykonos' City Residents.

Social Impacts of Tourism: Perceptions
of Mykonos’ City Residents.
Maria Vounatsou 1
TEI of Athens, Greece
Dr. Demetrios Laloumis 2
TEI of Athens, Greece
Nikolaos Pappas 3
TEI of Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to examine the residents' of Mykonos City perceptions
towards the impacts of tourism. The research was based on the main assumptions of the
social exchange theory in order to understand residents' positive or negative stance and to
investigate the existence of reciprocal power-dependence relations between hosts and
guests.
Within this framework it was found that when controlling for personal benefits from tourism
development, perceptions of its impacts were unrelated with sociodemographic
characteristics except for education. Furthermore, brief reference is made to the interface that
exists between economic dependency on tourism and cultural dependency. Keywords: social
impacts, local identity, perception, power relationships, economic dependency, cultural
dependency, destination decline.
INTRODUCTION
Social impacts refer mostly to the effects from the direct contact of hosts with tourists.
Societies are exposed equally to negative and positive phenomena from tourism.
They have been classified as negative when they contribute to disruption of society's
components, and as positive when they upgrade vital attributes. Degradation of the
environment, crime, alcoholism, drug use, prostitution, gambling, increase of cost of
living, and changes on value systems have been ranked at the top of the negative
impacts. In contrast, some positive benefits to residents have been noticed, such as
the economic gains and the opportunity to enjoy an improved infrastructure resulting
from the presence of tourists. Among positive consequences, are the efforts of
international peace-keeping associated with tourism, women's emancipation (de Kadt
979:64; Boissevain, 1977), as well as revitalization of traditional dancing, dying arts
and ceremonies, which strengthen the culture, employment opportunities, increased
welfare, education, ecological protection, etc. (Briassoulis, 1992). Finally, depending
1 Ms Maria Vounatsou is an Associate Lecturer in Department of Tourist Business Administration, Technological
Education Institute of Athens, Greece (e-mail: vounatsou@hotmail.com)
2
Dr. Demetrios Laloumis is an Assistant Professor in Departm ent of Tourist Business Admini stration,
Technological Education Institute of Athens, Greece (e-mail: laloumis@otenet.gr)
3 Mr. Nikolaos Pappas is an Associate Lecturer in Department of Tourist Business Administration, Technological
Education Institute of Herakleion, Creece (e-mail: n.pappas@chios.aegean.gr)

on their ability to be measured, impacts are further characterized as direct or indirect
and as qualitative or quantitative (Dogan 1989).
Even if some negative impacts from tourism have been identified, some members of
the society do not perceive them as such (Dogan, 1989). This attitude was found to
relate to the economic benefits they received from tourism. For example, in Var's
study (1986), the residents of Hawaii strongly agreed that there were economic
benefits derived from tourism but were reluctant to indicate social and environmental
costs of tourism due to their economic dependency. Pizam and Milman (1988) also
state that in a survey conducted on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, by Pizam in 1978,
tourism-employed residents were more favorably disposed towards tourism than
those who were not tourism-employed. This shows that the degree of relation and/or
dependence of people on tourism affect their perception as it is directly related to
their material expectations. Moreover, the awareness that an activity improves the
conditions of living and that people can benefit from that influences perception
accordingly (Toch and Smith 1968).
Social exchange theory was mentioned as a theoretical framework for
understanding residents' perceptions of tourism impacts by Milman and Pizam,
(1988); Perdue et al., (1990); Ap, (1992); Madrigal, (1993); Jurowski et al., (1997);
Faulkner and Tideswell, (1997). In particular, they tried to apply the basic concepts
of Homans (1961), Blau (1964) and Emerson (1962) theories that assume that
people engage in an exchange transaction when they pursue their interests and
maintain it when they can benefit from the outcome. In the tourism context an
exchange is any possible contact between the tourist and the host made either for
the satisfaction of the tourists' needs or for simple cultural exchange. An exchange
can involve any physical object or service: room nights, meals, recreation etc. The
individual that receives adequate reward from the exchange will show positive
reinforcement. In contrast, when the reciprocation is not adequate for the participant,
the reinforcement is negative.
The economic gains a community receives from tourism and the satisfaction visitors
get from the tourist products contribute to a positive reinforcement. On the
contrary, it may stimulate negative reinforcement or resentment when there is
asymmetry of satisfaction. The exploitation of tourists by hosts, or exhaustion of local
resources in favor of tourism is seen as reasons for negative reinforcement.
Moreover, the properties that each party has available in an exchange may be
unequal and may affect the degree or the quality of reciprocation. When one party (in
this case tourists or hosts) is able to control more reward resources than the other
may lead to power relationships. Therefore, some people may refrain from initiating
an exchange with someone that provides outstanding rewards, as they are afraid of
becoming subordinate. This was the case in Jamaica where most of the sectors
declined when the industrial interest focused mostly on pleasing tourists ending up
with reliance on them.
When a destination reaches the point of relying too much on the tourism sector, it
jeopardizes introducing cultural dependence in the society. According to Erisman
(1983) if the incorporation of foreign capital and expatriate management are
disproportionate larger than the native, the society is then economically dependent
(Stage 1) and thus penetrated. When economic dependency exists in such terms
the decision-making will be passed to non-natives. This sequence is depicted by
Figure 1 as cultural dependence is in its early stage.

Economic
D ependency
Political
D ependency
Cultural
D ependency
= established relationship
Figure 1: Economic Dependency Triad
Source: Erisman (1983:345)
= developing relationship
This will result to a loss of control in native decision-making, which will influence the
values, and beliefs that are crucial components for the order of a society. Thus, in
effect the penetrated society's subsystems will be affected as they interface. In this
way, the dependent society will adopt the lifestyle and values of the dominator.
Gradually, the foreign influences will dominate not only the economic and political
systems but also most importantly peoples' minds and hearts (Stage 2). This is
depicted in Figure 2 as cultural dependence in a more mature stage.
Cultural
Dependency
Economic
Dependency
Political
Dependency
= established relationship
Figure 2: Comprehensive Dependency Triad
Source: Erisman (1983:344)
The outcome affects the way of living and the socialization of the culture. It is the
host community, who will decide what properties will be employed in order to
maintain tourism in a way that will cause less damage to the components of the
society. Government policy should reflect the needs and interests of society
members and a careful assessment of the various costs and benefits from tourism
(Dann and Potter 1997).

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT OF MYKONOS
Mykonos's residents welcomed tourism in the beginning of the century. Delos, the
sacred island of the Greek god Apollo that was nearby Mykonos attracted the first
breeds of visitors. Today, the island has been transformed to one of the most
cosmopolitan destinations in the world and tourism became a very important financial
resource for the residents.
Tourism activity was interrupted during the two world wars and the inhabitants were
led to emigration to Athens for better opportunities. However, the increasing numbers
of visitors gave some reason people to organize their lives again and gave some
attention to the new employment opportunities that derived.
Christianity and conservative social rules ruled the society of Mykonos. Nuclear
family and the social restriction of women were reflecting the cultural traditions and
their religious feelings.
Mykoniati initially answered to the challenge of tourism by creating family businesses
where most of its members participated. Hospitality and domestic products like
embroideries governed the first tourist transactions. Gradually, agriculture, seafaring
and trade, which supported a moderate local economy, gave their place to this
upcoming industry as it was promising a brighter future (Stott, 1973; 1996).
As a result of the tourist activity migration was halted thus contributing to the
population's increase. According to a survey undertaken by the Greek Bank of
Industrial Development (1992), the local population increased from 1940 (1,549
people) until 1991 (5,300 people) almost four times its size.
Tourism obviously dominated the local economy. The gross product in 1991
consisted 6% of the primary sector and 94% of the service sector (GDIB, 1992).
Moreover, accommodation picked up dramatically since 1975 until 1995 up to 140%
(Gerimoglou, 1995).
The development of tourism on the island has brought about significant changes in
local life. Many foreigners acquired land on the island and built their own private
houses or businesses. This has had a direct effect impact on the traditional, family,
land/property ownership that became subject to various business operations, which
would be 'unusable' otherwise. Many times a woman's' dowry that included a town
house was treated as a source of income in the summer breaking this way strict rules
that wanted the house 'untouchable' for the newly married couple.
The last decades the summer influx of labor and thousands of visitors in total has
been disproportionate to the local population size (Coccossis, 1996). The local
community can be seriously affected by the various social consequences of a
disproportionate tourist ratio and the type of tourists (Milman and Pizam, 1988). The
increase of alcoholism, crime, litter, and sound pollution, loss of hospitality,
xenophobia and hostility has been noticed in similar situations. Therefore, the
purpose of this study was to investigate the residents' perceptions of the social
consequences of tourism both positive and negative ones. The result is examined
considering that it is the major economic activity on the island.
METHODOLOGY
The application of social exchange principles in tourism assists to understand the
material and psychological exchanges between tourists and hosts/residents, their

motivations and the outcomes. As long as residents value that benefits exceed costs,
it justifies their favorable attitude towards tourism development. All residents, though,
do not have the same relationship or involvement with tourism and this affects
directly the level of rewards perceived consequently their attitude. The fact also that
between tourists and host residents are economic and cultural differences affects the
nature of the relationship, which can be unbalanced. Nevertheless, the relationship
will be maintained as long as the concerned parties perceive it as beneficial.
Following, the variables that have been used in similar research (Milman and Pizam
1988; Perdue, Long and Allen 1990) are included in the propositions that were used
to examine residents' perceptions. The objectives of the study coincide with the
points of view that propositions depict.
(Proposition a)
Residents' perception towards tourism impacts of tourism is associated with sociodemographic
characteristics, such as age, gender, educational level, occupational
status, and marital status.
(Proposition b)
Residents' perception towards tourism impacts of tourism would be associated with
the occupation of family members.
(Proposition c)
Residents' perception towards tourism impacts of tourism is influenced by clientele
opportunities.
(Proposition d)
Residents' perception towards tourism impacts of tourism is influenced by their
feelings for the presence of tourists.
Given the importance of tourism for Mykonos its historical development was depicted
through documentation analysis. Its importance was verified also through the
corroboration of two other sources of data: interviews and questionnaires.
Documentation analysis through the systematic and comparative investigation of
documents was considered as an integral part of this effort. The sample of
documentation was stratified purposefully and consists of newspapers, administrative
papers and, general interest books. They provided clues to the paths that led to the
involvement of tourism activity; the why and how. The basic elements of the
propositions (equation of costs-rewards and alternative exchange resources) were
tested by examining the symptoms that determined the actions of the community to
choose tourism, as an answer to general needs. Document analysis provided
valuable information about the motives and the snowball affect it had on attitudes,
believes, habits and perception. According to our theorists we can see the result of
the equation of costs and rewards from the externalized behavior that is the dominant
presence of tourism on the island.
To achieve validity, the data was classified on the basis of selected concepts:
Historical and Cultural Framework, Customs and Habits, Tourism Development,
Occupational Changes. It was divided in two halves of the 20th century for
comparison reasons. Reliability was achieved through the interconnection that exists

among the categorization of data. The two measures that are examined and
expected to lead to 'what the residents' perception is?' were motivation and tourism
development.
Interviews were conducted with key informants in order to elicit factual data such as
opinions and attitudes towards the social impacts of tourism. It was attempted to
learn and understand peoples' perspectives, how they have organized their world,
how important is tourism to them and what meanings they attached to it as a social
interaction. Yet, a small number of people were interviewed aiming to gather big
amount of data.
The sample concerned five people with different socio-demographic characteristics
as the purpose was "to capture major variations rather than to identify a common
core, although the latter may also emerge in the analysis" (Patton, 1990:174).
The process involved 9 open-ended questions that derived from the preliminary
reading. Their sequencing was based on Patton's (1990) suggestions. Particularly,
the order helped to develop a background about tourism in Mykonos today and its
development. The following questions aimed to tap perceptions where the internal
validity was achieved through the answers of other questions that functioned as
crosschecks. . Finally, knowledge questions informed about the reasons of
polarization to tourism activity and determined the characteristics of power
relationships. Behavioral validation was achieved through question that verified a
positive stance and a willing to protect it through better policies.
Questionnaires concerned stratified random sampling considering that people carry
different demographic characteristics consequently they have different motives thus,
different perception (Toch, 1968:5). Employers and employees were classified by the
common variable of occupation in order to identify variations. Finally, the
geographical area was the main blocks of the city of Mykonos and the land planning
identified the starting point. Different proximity to tourism of participants would give a
less reliable result.
The instrument had been used in previous research at this form or with slight
modifications through the years. Nevertheless, it was a tested instrument (Perdue et
al., 1990:590; Madrigal 1993:341; Faulkner and Tideswell, 1997:12) a pilot study was
not undertaken. A pre-test was only conducted in order to refine the wording and to
make sure that the translation in Greek was comprehensive. The corrections that
were made concerned the wording of the scale.
The questionnaire concerned three sections. Section 1 focuses on exchange
variables in the effort to identify dependency on tourism with reference to power
relationships stated by Emerson. Further, Section 2 taps perception with two sets of
seven positively and seven negatively formulated statements. They were analyzed
separately. Finally, Section 3 asked for demographic data.
Hand delivered questionnaires had the advantage of administering the process in
relatively short time and cost control. Additionally, it provided the opportunity to
introduce the reasons the study was undertaken were academic and not political, so
as to increase the response. For this task additional assistance was acquired who
was trained in previous stage. Fifty numbered questionnaires were delivered for each
stratum (employers, employees) while a database of names and telephone numbers
of the participants helped to collect them next day or to identify no respondents. After
three collection visits not answered questionnaires were considered as non-

espondents. The total response for Employers was 75% and for Employees 72%
accordingly.
LIMITATIONS
Several limitations in the research methodology should be noted here. Following they
are cited particularly.
Documentation Due to time constraints it was impossible to identify how big
the 'universe' of documentation was. For that reason stratified sampling fitted
better the goals of research. Even if it regards published material, there is no
assurance how trustworthy or how objective the data are.
Interviews The Mayor of the island would provide substantial information
among other key informants but workload and the timing the research was
undertaken impeded this intension.
Questionnaires The sample size initially was decided to be Proportionate
Stratified Random Sampling as each segment of the population would be
better represented (Sekaran 2000:274), and by using the data from the
census of the past year or the electoral catalogue. It was also decided to
include not only employers and employees but also people that had no
relation with tourism. This way, the total population of the city of Mykonos
would be distinguished into five basic groups according to demographic data
(age, sex, type of occupation). It would be secured that under representation
of those characteristics would not take place. However, a 2000 law that
protects personal data allowed access only after special permission. The
ambiguous information on the Telephone Directory also made random
sampling more appropriate.
RESULTS
Further, the fact that the research took place in July that is a busy month of
the summer season, may have increased bias against positive perception.
Longitudinally research would apply better in order to test any variances in
perceptions before and after the tourist season.
It was identified through direct questioning that some residents had migrated
to Mykonos for more opportunities. Thus, their perception towards impacts
would be influenced heavily as their initial motivation was to obtain economic
benefits from tourism.
The island of Mykonos is heavily dependent on tourism. It would be difficult
residents to depend on tourism and have a negative notion that is harmful for
their society.
The results from document analysis showed that tourism development gradually
affected the locals' behavior and attitudes in favor of tourism. This was mostly
because tourism discouraged emigration and offered new employment opportunities.
The latter offered from one hand financial relief to many families, independence to
young people and women, affecting deeply the local way of living and the social
structure. However, in the process tourists were being seen as commodities rather
than guests. The traditional Mykoniati hospitality has been diminished as well as the

traditional way of living, since tourism was perceived mainly as a financially beneficial
activity.
Tourism seemed to be the way to provide resources for living as the rocky soil, lack
of water and difficult weather conditions were giving limited opportunities. Mykoniati
in the process paid attention to this new activity, which generated income that was so
important for their physical survival. The component also of financial reciprocation
determined the nature of the social exchanges, which were advantageous, and
residents’ behaviors were stimulated accordingly.
The islands’ dependency on tourism appears also in the gross product, which is
consisted 94% of the service sector and 6% of the primary sector (GDIB, 1991). The
fact that residents rely to such a degree directly and indirectly on tourism is an
indication of economic dependence. Skepticism is noted for any instability that could
be affecting negatively the tourism inflows which, makes the island's future very
vulnerable.
In the meantime, the way people used to live was changing. Women became more
financially independent after working in hospitality in contrast to their restriction at
home in the past times. The old fashion institution of dowry has also faded away and
arranged marriages became a rare phenomenon. Customs and traditions to an
extent have been exploited by the locals to entertain tourists i.e. the celebration of
name days in many occasions have been especially organized to attract tourists.
However, some patterns such as eating habits have changed. According to
Rousounellos (2001) eating habits and cooking methods were completely replaced
by others. In old days for example people used to cook eggs on oxen excrement and
used to eat pigeon soup, which is rare in our days. Most restaurants promote
international cuisine rather than the local one, as it is believed this would be more
convenient for the tourists resulting to minimization of practicing and consequent
elimination of the collective history.
The same results were drawn from the answers key informants provided. Initially, the
tourists' stereotypes revealed feelings of preference to some nationalities for
utilitarian reasons (high spenders) and xenophobia to others due to cultural
differences. However, the majority of their tourism inflows are gay. Surprisingly,
locals kept intentionally a sentimental distance from the phenomenon of gay tourism
by avoiding discussing about it. In fact, when the natives in general refer to gay
tourism they use the English words gay tourism instead of the Greek homofilofyllikos
tourismos (homosexual tourism). In this way, they avoid including sentiments into the
content of words and they feel that they keep some distance from the phenomenon.
However, the interviewees were of the opinion that this ‘infamous reputation’ of the
island does not annoy the majority of their upscale visitors who own summerhouses
on the island. On the contrary, they can co-exist and share various recreation
facilities. This reserved stance in verbal stating was interpreted as tolerance behavior
that usually is the forerunner of destination decline (Dogan, 1989).
The following also suggests destination decline. Locals think that tourism has
reached a point that ‘it is enough’ meaning that it is difficult to accommodate sheer
sizes of visitors on a small island like Mykonos. From one hand many families
managed to increase their income, on the other hand when tourist numbers
increased, the need for labor also increased resulting in social implications.
Newcomers opened up businesses that because of high rentals and high starting
expenses, the only way to ‘make it’ is by increasing the prices of goods. The

espondents commented that ‘this is not good’ because they might be tempted to
deceive the customers, and this is not the behavior of an indigenous Mykoniati. They
expressed that the combination of mass tourism and the over dependence on it
transformed the island in a manufacture and its viability may suffer because of poor
planning. It was added that some measures for the conservation of the environment
and cultural resources would help the local society to face the future trends.
Further the analysis of our questionnaires involved the following steps: First, the
scoring of the negative statements was reversed in order to correspond to the same
scaling. Then, the Cronbach Alpha, overall mean score and item-total correlation
were tested which showed (.71) for the statements that measured the positive
influences and (.78) for those that measured the negative influences that were
acceptable values for consistency. The overall mean score for the positive influences
(4.1) and for the negative (2.3) showed that values above the neutral point (3) of the
Likert Scale are positive attitude and below are negative.
A. Positive Influences of Tourism in Mykonos Mean
score
Q1 Tourism has been important for the local economy of 4.76 .43
Mykonos
Q2 Tourism has brought employment opportunities in 4.74 .55
Mykonos
Q3 Tourism has improved the image of Mykonos 3.76 .92
Q4 Tourism has provided more recreation opportunities 4.16 .75
to residents of Mykonos through the facilities for
tourists
Q5 Tourism has encouraged a variety of cultural
3.59 1.06
activities by residents of Mykonos, such as crafts,
arts and festivals
Q6 Tourism has increased the pride of residents of 3.72 1.25
Mykonos
Q7 Gay tourism is extremely profitable for Mykonos 3.79 1.38
B. Negative Influences of Tourism in Mykonos
Q1 Tourism has increased extremely real estate costs in 1.38 .59
Mykonos
Q2 Tourism has increased very much the cost of living in 1.55 .76
Mykonos
Q3 Tourism has disrupted the peace and tranquillity in
Mykonos
2.41 1.40
Q4 Tourism has increased litter in the streets and public 2.04 1.09
places in Mykonos
Q5 Tourism made people to adopt foreign words in their 2.54 1.26
daily vocabulary
Q6 Tourism has increased crime activity in Mykonos 2.80 1.34
Q7 Gay tourism has contributed to disruption of the local
society’s values
3.70 1.25
S.D
Table 1: Mean Scores of Resident Responses (n=76)
As shown in Table 1 the mean scores of Section A are above the neutral (3) point of the
Likert scale which depicts the favorable attitude of residents. For the Section B lower mean
scores and below the neutral point (3) show a less positive
Pearson product-moment correlations demonstrated significance of the bivariate
relationship of the variables at a 0.01 level that included feelings and facts such as:

importance, employment, image and pride. For the positive statements the variable
'important' showed the highest correlation with the variable 'gay tourism' and 'pride'
(.59, and .57 respectively). The lowest was between 'employment' and 'gay tourism'
(.06) and negative between 'encouragement' and 'pride' (-.016).
Correlations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
IMPORTANT (1) 1
EMPLOYMENT (2) .41** 1
IMAGE (3) .46** .29** 1
RECREATION (4) .36** .10 .34** 1
ENCOURAGEMENT (5) .02 .09 .29** .30** 1
PRIDE (6) .57** .05 .29** .28** .-.016 1
GAY TOURISM (7) .59** .06 .42** .45** .18 .45** 1
**Correlation is significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed)
Table 2: Validity of the scales: the Pearson product moment correlation for positive
perception (n=76)
For the negative statements the highest correlations were observed for the variable
'crime' and 'litter' (.64) and 'living cost' with 'real estate' (.60). The lowest was
between 'crime' and 'living cost' (0.6).
Correlations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
REAL ESTATE (1) 1
LIVING COST (2) .60** 1
PEACE (3) .27* .37** 1
LITTER (4) .35** .18 .50** 1
VOCABULARY (5) .33** .19 .39** .29** 1
CRIME (6) .28* .06 .36** .64** .47** 1
GAY TOURISM (7) .14 .11 .34** .37** .55** .57** 1
**Correlation is significant at 0.01 level (2-tailed)
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)
Table 3: Validity of the scales: the Pearson product moment correlation for the negative
perception (n=76)
In the next step to the analytic process the shape of the distribution was skewed to
the right for the statements that measured positive perception and to the left for those
that measured negative perceptions. However, the overall direction of skeweness
was mostly to the right (4,1 mean score) confirming this way previous findings
examining perception of residents that would be positive. There was some attitudinal
reservation recognized for the statement Tourism has increased the pride of
residents of Mykonos and Gay tourism is extremely profitable for Mykonos. Mean
Score 3,72 and 3,79 and Standrd Deviation of 1,25 and 1,38 represented this
respectively. Also, for the statement Tourism has increased crime activity in Mykonos
and Gay tourism has contributed to disruption of the local society's values with mean
scores of 2,80 and 3,70 and Standard Deviation 1,34 and 1,35 respectively.
Additionally, controversial inter-quartile ranges represented a bigger disagreement
among responses.
Next, non-parametric tests were used because of the sample size (72) and the shape
of distribution to test the study hypotheses. As hypothesized, residents' 'gender',
'age', 'marital status', 'family members working in tourism' were independent from
perception. The same concerned the category 'employers/employees' who
responded the same towards the impacts of tourism meaning that profession was not

elated to perception. On the contrary, 'education', 'type of clientele' and 'presence of
tourists' were related to the formulation of perceptions. Education increased the
conscious of benefits from tourism and justified a positive perception. De Kadt (1979)
mentions that special education helps people to develop themselves and secure
these benefits. However, Doxey's (1975) model predictions were contradicted by our
results. In his model, residents after prolonged presence of tourists become hostile
whereas our results contradict with the demonstration of a positive stance. This
suggests that the local community by recognizing that tourism is a prominent element
of the local economy prefers to be more flexible towards its effects and adjust.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Prior to discussing the results, some important limitations should be recognized.
First, the instrument of the quantitative approach was a combination of attitudinal and
factual statements. This combination requires different criteria of validity and this
affects the analysis process (Oppenheim, 1966). For instance, the statements were
measuring unequal number of tangible and no tangible items. Visual objects have
different impact on the formulation of perception than emotions (Utal inMasin, 1993).
That is, the measurement of responses to tangibles requires different techniques
versus to responses to no tangibles. Quantitative approaches are more appropriate
for the reactions to tangible whereas qualitative measure better reactions to no
tangibles (Riley, 2000).
Further, the wording of some statements that investigate the existence of
dependence relationships need to be improved by focusing more on the specific
variables. For example, the statement "Tourists consist the major number of
customers in your business" does not communicate clearly this intension and needs
improvement.
Socio-demographic variables except for education were not related with perception
and seemed to be inappropriate for the theory being used. They might be excluded
from the analysis, as their connection with the theory does not explain why
perceptions are positive in relation with the chase of rewards or power relationships.
The overall opinion of Mykonos's city residents was positive and can be perceived as
a 'vote of confidence' for the importance tourism has for the local society. In this way,
the main assumption of the social exchange theory that people's reactions depend
on the degree of the perceived benefits seems to have truth in a great extent.
Despite this overall positive feeling, residents of Mykonos identified some negative
impacts that in their opinion exist in their community. Gay tourism, increase of crime
activity, linguistic impacts and disruption of tranquility highlighted the causes of their
negative perceptions. These issues need to be looked upon from further research if
the local government wouldn't be in favor to deal with irritated citizens and result to
lose an important financial resource.
However, tourism provided the economic means to improve the living standards and
to get education. For those reasons residents adjusted their lives in order to protect
tourism as the most vital resource and education was one of these measures. The
new generations educated themselves often abroad contributing this way to the
social change. It has been observed that the individuals belonging to the educated

and upper classes in host countries that had been trained in Western countries, have
adopted elements of their culture. They, therefore, support tourism as a symbol of
modern culture that through its process can renew their bonds. However, if
education is a feature that reflects an upscale social status of contemporary
residents, then it is expected that they participate in the decision making more than
others. Thus, power relationships exist also among residents. But as not all residents
have the same economic benefits from tourism yet, a positive perception can be
explained partly by the altruistic surplus phenomenon. People, are aware of the
value of tourism and care for the general well being of the society thus, they are in
favor to tourism impacts.
Nevertheless, this overall favorability contradicts with an expected irritated behavior
of a mature destination according to Doxey's model. Paradoxically, residents are
positive, a fact that forces us to accept the assumption introduced by Emerson
(1962) and Blau (1961) suggesting that power relationships exist between tourists
and hosts. Considering that tourists have many choices to visit various destinations
and residents have limited resources, they tolerate alien behaviors and adjusted their
way of living gradually. Hotels, restaurants and the whole infrastructure is built for the
tourists according to their characteristics and habits resulting to a replacement of the
opportunity to expose the local features.
Another hard reality that was found during the hand delivery of questionnaires and
the interviews was that many businesses were controlled by non-Mykoniati. These
entrepreneurs, like their counterparts everywhere, have one major concern; to
maximize their profits by providing desirable products to big numbers of consumers.
This way, Mykonos is treated as a commodity for temporary use but with permanent
influences. Nevertheless, considering a high tourist-host ratio, local participants in
the tourism operations are extremely busy and do not have the time to comprehend
the emergent phenomena like culture change.
Residents are aware of the positive effects (economic furtherance, women's
emancipation) as well as of the negative effects (disruption of values, environmental
problems etc.). The residents tolerate the negative effects also from gay and mass
tourism so as not to lose the economic benefits. Their defense arch is to keep their
values only for themselves and this is obvious as the local society in the winter turns
to its conservative values again. This way, they maintain two parallel worlds on a little
island. However, tolerance and consequent withdrawal are the pre-stages of
destination decline (Dann and Potter 1997; Ap and Crompton 1992).
The economic dependence that was depicted from the above and the gross product
allows penetration to it's norms and values. The penetration when it becomes so
pervasive primarily within parameters set indirectly by the exogenous powers
(tourists), cultural dependency exists (Erisman 1983). This observation does not
suggest that it concerns their island, as it seems to be at stage 1 that the Figure
1shows.
But as cultural dependency stems from overseas economic dominance exogenous
penetration to subsystems (political and cultural) follows and gradually locals will
result to lose control. Theoretically, this is the situation when cultural dependency has
fully matured Figure 2.
Decision making of microeconomics will be based on utilitarian criteria mostly which,
might not fit to the local identity's elements. Then residents by the passing of time will
have little or no desire to maintain a distinct national [or regional] identity, preferring,
for example, to 'live' like Americans or 'become Westernized' (Erisman, 1983:345).

This way, the foreign influences will result to dominate not only the economy of the
destination but also residents' hearts and minds. Acculturated individuals would not
be likely then to realize that cultural dependency even exists and therefore would not
be able to resist an unwanted situation.
As tourism is an agent of social change it affects attitudes, beliefs, and values, which
give order and meaning to a society. The various components of a culture are the
underlying assumptions and rules that govern people's social behavior. The latter, in
the process of tourism interactions may be affected enormously resulting to a loss of
controlling. Gradually, due to the economic dependence the society will be led t the
shift of controlling to exogenous factors.
The results clearly support the need for:
Sustainable tourism development versus to personal benefits
The political cost local governments face the diversity, which is postponing the
implementation of drastic operations. In this way, the islands’ destiny seems to fall in
a ‘vicious cycle’ of personal benefits versus collective ones. Sustainable maintenance
of resources should consider: regulatory framework for management purposes,
environmental management, management of water, energy, treatment of solid and
liquid waste, combination of traditional construction materials and techniques with
modern technologies, land use planning and landscaping of tourism facilities.
Increase awareness of positive and negative impacts of tourism
The local management should consider to reduce the ignorance and increase the
awareness of residents by conducting systematically workshops with regard to the
whole picture of impacts of tourism; both positive and negative. Thus, conscious and
socially educated citizens will realize that the initial reasons that made their
destination desirable were nature and their culture. These resources will be protected
when residents’ consciousness is cultivated through knowledge. A yearbook with
reference to the traditions might be also a good strategy to keep culture alive and a
written evidence that offspring may consider to learn about their roots.
Globalization and tourism
Again, workshops and the yearbook can be very appropriate strategies to increase
awareness of impacts but also to protect local identity, as community needs now
more attention in a fast changing and consuming world.
Participation of the community in the decision-making process
It would be helpful for the relevant authorities responsible for tourism development in
Mykonos to assign a permanent spokesperson for the expression of such views. This
way, civic society is not excluded from the process of plan preparation as they may
have specific proposals on environmental concerns or other issues.
Improve Marketing and Promotional strategy
Include research systematically so as to investigate residents’ perceptions and those
of tourists’. Surveys can serve to keep consistency with the idea of an exciting
destination and a homeland for the residents.
Take explicit account of Carrying Capacity
Such an analysis is superior as it assists to anticipate the limits in which the stock of
tourist facilities, labor and visitors should be maintained. Further, it provides specific
policy recommendations.

Include explicit analysis of hidden costs
Such hidden costs are infrastructure, environmental and social. The demand for
water and electricity increased not only because of tourists but also by the increase
of the immigrant labor force. Additionally, social costs should be considered as the
increase concerns housing, education and other social services and the incorporation
of new social values
With regard to the type of tourism
Mykonos should not insist on selling an image of an idyllic destination for gay
tourists, but rather, it should include or find the elements that really differentiate it
from other products. Surveys and other marketing techniques can shed some light so
as tourist product wouldn’t be unidirectional. Advances must be made in terms of
refurbishment, regeneration, quality enhancement and diversification, a new
framework that must cease to use the current system of conventional planning as its
foundation.
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