Although place branding in cross-border (c-b) areas is challenging, various c-b areas with common eco-natural and cultural characteristics are popular tourist brands in their own right. The emergence ...of c-b areas as destinations is not surprising since international borders are often natural formations, which may be popular tourist attractions. Due to historical and political circumstances, the Greek–Albanian c-b area has not experienced tourism development. It bears a weak image, and although individual destinations can be found in both border areas, they do not currently form a single place brand. Thus, place branding that aims to enhance the c-b area’s attractiveness should start with building a single identity by finding common competitive characteristics upon which it can be based. This paper analyzes part of the ‘Culture Plus’ project, which aims to identify significant common eco-natural and cultural resources in the Greek–Albanian c-b area. The resources were documented using local visits, interviews, and consultations. The most significant ones were comparatively evaluated to identify the vital common assets that can support place branding efforts, with encouraging results regarding the potential branding of the unique hidden identity of the c-b area.
The current article presents the findings of a comparative evaluation of selected, already developed or developing cave tourism destinations in Greece, with the purpose of recognizing, highlighting, ...and disseminating good practices regarding the management and capitalization of caves. Cave tourism is a promising special form of tourism that attracts people with a variety of interests. This is because caves are both impressive sights and valuable sources of scientific knowledge, combining naturalistic, geological, archaeological, and environmental interest. Thus, show caves are valuable resources, potential tourist attractions, and axes of tourist development for their wider areas. The challenge of balancing the different needs entailed by conservation, on the one hand, and by exploitation, on the other, of an attraction of such ecological and cultural importance, dictates the need for research and exchange of knowledge, experience, and good practices. To locate and diffuse good practices, the method of benchmarking was selected. The design of the methodology according to benchmarking principles led to the selection of the destinations assessed, the definition of the evaluation criteria, and the way of gathering and comparing data. The research process highlighted specific features of the caves as determining factors for attractiveness and recognition, some of which are modifiable and can form suggestions for tourist capitalization. The interpretation of the findings results in policy recommendations for better management and successful promotion of cave destinations.
In 2010 the World Health Organisation dedicated the Word Health Day to urbanization and health, highlighting the impacts of urban living on physical and mental health. This is because it is ...increasingly acknowledged that cities face various problems that undermine the quality of urban life, e.g.social inequalities, urban crime, poor environment, and traffic congestion. Despite this fact, cities continue to play a vital role in development, as they offer higher education, specialized services and jobs. When it comes to an assessment of the living conditions and well-being in cities, economic indices have failed to capture the aforementioned contradiction of urban life. A concept able to monitor the multidimensional nature of cities seems to be the “quality of urban life†(QOUL). The multidimensionality of the QOUL concept reflects the variety of the examined dimensions, but also the range of the different uses of the term. Many different approaches of this concept can be found not only between papers of different disciplines (health sciences, social sciences or planning), but also in the context of the same scientific field. Thus, although there has recently been a remarkable number of comparative studies and papers concerning the evaluation of QOUL in different cities, the factors taken into account are far from being standard. In part, this is because the constituents of the QOUL depend on rather subjective factors, such as culture and tradition in the examined places. However, for a given place and a specific time period there can be an agreement concerning the determinants of QOUL. This will allow for relative research to be comparable and better interpretable. This paper starts with an analysis of the standard approaches of the QOUL concept as they can be found in the relative scientific literature. It continues with the analysis of QOUL determinants in societies, focusing in cities. The criteria taken into account for the measurement of the QOUL in the evaluation of cities and the city rankings are also examined. Finally, a range of factors which can be used as a standard set when examining the QOUL in European cities is proposed.
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