The Potential Economic Impact of Climate Change on the Greek Tourism Sector
Dr. Georgios Galanos, Dr. Spyros Roukanas, Dr. Pantelis Sklias

Abstract
In this paper we assess the potential economic impact of climate change on the Greek tourism sector. Firstly, we attempt a bibliographical survey of studies concerning the significance of climate change to tourism sector. Moreover, we present the impacts of climate change on tourism on a global basis. As well, we analyze the forecast impact of climate change in Greece. The contribution of the tourism sector to the Greek economy and society in general appears to be particularly large; it accounted for 15.2% of Gross Domestic Product in Greece in 2009 while the total employment in the tourism sector (774,200 jobs) accounted for 18,5% of all employees in Greece (SETE, 2011). Compared to its international competitors the Greek tourism sector appears to have a satisfactory level of competitive performance, being in 16th place in the number of international arrivals and 12th place in terms of gross income from such activities again for the year 2008. The potential negative effects of climate change will worsen the figures of Greek economy. Finally, we analyze the conclusions of our study.

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