Mediterranean Tourism: A Comparative Study of Urban Island Host Destinations

The Mediterranean region is one of the most famous tourist destinations globally. The islands of the region host a great amount of the tourist flows in this particular area. A series of difficulties occurred due to the lack of a solid framework for sustainable tourism practices and the way these practices can be implemented. In the Mediterranean host destinations where mass tourism is an already developed activity with major economic impact there is an existence of a wider clarity of the occurred constraints and difficulties. Due to the mass tourism, multiple impacts occurred, especially in urban areas. This paper tries to examine the tourism impacts in island capitals, in an economic, social and environmental perspective. In this research, a literature search was performed for gathering the tourism impacts in four Mediterranean urban island host destinations. The examined territories are the city of Rhodes in the island of Rhodes, the city of Calvia in Majorca, the city of Corfu in the island of Corfu, and the city of Valletta in Malta. The provision of the impacts ’ differentiations and similarities can lead to an understanding of the necessity of common actions and strategic policies in order to alternate the tourism development process in a more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable perspective. Conceptualization of the occurred impacts aims to contribute to the creation of the basis of further research for the establishment of a fundamental framework for a regional sustainable tourism policy for Mediterranean urba