Authors: Maria Kalpakoglou, Aggeliki Konstantoglou, Dimitris Folinas, Thomas Fotiadis, Vasiliki Sirakouli

Title: Paros Island is also an ideal gastronomic destination!

Abstract

Paros Island is a very famous tourist destination with many visitors preferring it every year either as a destination of relaxation or as a destination of special interest. However, despite the high demand from thousands of tourists who visit the island every year, there is no corresponding increase in revenues in the local community and the tourist season is rather limited. This outdated image of Paros, i.e. “island, sun and sea”, brings at the same time insecurity to the businessmen of the island and an uncertain future for tourism. The possibility of developing a sustainable alternative form of tourism, such as gastronomic tourism, can extend the tourist season.

Based on the advantages of the two data collection approaches -qualitative and quantitative -we conducted primary research on tourists in Paros and secondary research using data from previous scientific articles. The main objectives of this paper were to highlight Paros as a gastronomic destination to combat seasonality and achieve the extension of its tourist season while at the same time becoming clear and understanding that this island has the potential not only to be a gastronomic destination but a competing “different” gastronomic destination. These goals demolish the aforementioned and still existing obsolete image and tourist model of the island, highlighting its real potential in the modern tourist present.