Innovative Cultural Tours in Athens: An Interesting Internship in the Era of Economic Crisis

Abstract

The scope of the paper is to examine the qualitative characteristics of a new touristic and cultural industry emerging in Athens, that of producing alternative tourism cultural Tours. The paper uses the case study of innovative and alternative cultural Tours to explore the following research questions: The characteristics of a new entrepreneurial culture that was formed in times of economic crisis and of a simultaneous increase in tourist demand in AthensTo which extent these new touristic products follow cultural consumer trends. The methodological approach of the paper was organized as follows: First, there is a brief description—based on data taken from secondary research—of a number of data for Tourism in Athens. Such information demonstrates, on the one hand, the quantitative recovery of Athens as a tourist destination and, on the other hand, a number of quality changes in the characteristics of tourism offer and demand of the city. Then, there is a presentation of the methodology of the qualitative field research, by opinion inquiry Interviews involving key informants, the producers of cultural tours in Athens. Finally, there is an analysis of the research results and the main conclusions in relation to the research axes set.