A Field Study Of The Exploration Of The Factors Influencing Visitors' Preferences In The Mountainous Area Of Nafpaktia, Greece: Implications For An Advertising Communication Programme

Mountainous societies need to take advantage of their comparative benefits which are not anymore the open fields in the mountains, which was considered to be the benefit in free husbandry, but the mountainous environment where its original value is transformed to a rising market due to the urban and busy centres dwellers' demand to get in touch with Nature. The satisfaction of the excursionists' needs in sustainable tourism, consists of the most important prerequisites and a basic determinant for the reinforcement of competitiveness and the guarantee of sustainable development of the rural businesses and areas. The aim of this paper is the description of visitors' characteristics of the mountainous area of Nafpaktia, Greece, the research and the estimation of the number of visitors of the area, the description of the reasons of visiting the area, the duration of their stay and the research and analysis of their needs and expectations. In that way, the agents in charge of this mountainous area may concentrate on the ways of attracting the visitors, on tourism infrastructure and informative advertising promotional material as part of an adequate communication programme for advertising the area locally, nationally and internationally. The empirical work succeeds in making a theoretical and practical contribution to the way sustainable development presented for Nafpaktia, Greece can consist of a typical recourse for the mountainous disadvantageous areas of the Mediterranean.