**2.2 Ecotourism development in DNP**

Ecotourism development in DNP served initially an instrumental purpose in countering negative attitudes of local people towards the environmental management regime established after the designation of the protected area and creating support for nature conservation (Liarikos, 2005; Svoronou & Holden, 2005). Gradually, DNP has succeeded in becoming an exemplary case for ecotourism development in Greece (Hovardas & Korfiatis, 2008; Hovardas & Poirazidis, 2006). Recent trends show that annual visitor numbers tend to stabilize around 40000 visitors following a slight decrease after 2003 (Liarikos, 2010). Despite these numbers, the majority of visitors display soft ecotourism-type characteristics, namely, short duration of stay, relatively large visitor group size, and trip organization by travel agents (Hovardas & Poirazidis, 2006), which results in little income generated for local residents (Catsadorakis et al., 2010). Protected area managers urged for the revision of the ecotourism development strategy and an improvement of the ecotourism product so that high-value visitors are attracted and uncertainty among local entrepreneurs is relaxed (Catsadorakis et al., 2010).

High levels of overall visitor satisfaction have been recorded in Dadia (Arabatzis & Grigoroudis, 2010; Hovardas & Poirazidis, 2006). However, a satisfactory general impression from the visit can coexist with identification of problems signaling a possibility of being close to reach natural or social carrying capacities (Machairas & Hovardas, 2005). In an evaluation of ecotourism in Dadia (Hovardas & Poirazidis, 2006), watching birds at the Bird Observatory revealed relatively low levels of visitor satisfaction, which was attributed to visitors' frustration when they are not fortunate in watching vultures. There is a pressing need to diversify activities offered to visitors in DNP and reduce the dependence of the visit on the Bird Observatory Post, which will also assist considerably in avoiding any possible disturbance of vultures (Liarikos, 2005). Indeed, the primary concern voiced over

<sup>1</sup> The optimal nesting habitat of the black vulture in Dadia includes mature trees located in steep slopes, which are surrounded by openings or with low height vegetation. Fire was a crucial component in the formation of black vulture's nesting habitat (Poirazidis et al., 2004).

ecotourism development is the apparent vulnerability of fragile natural environments to degrading impacts stemming from excessive visitor numbers (Ólafsdóttir & Runnströ, 2009). Despite the potential it can offer for marginal areas (Hovik et al., 2010), tourism development has been characterized as a fickle endeavour, where precise forecasts are not possible (Cole & Razak, 2008). Ecotourism scholars have highlighted the tendency of tourism for accelerating growth (Butler, 1999; Fennell & Ebert, 2004; Eagles, 2002; Lawson et al., 2003). This opportunistic character of tourism is reinforced in protected areas under the withdrawal of primary sector activities (Puhakka et al., 2009; Sharpley & Pearce, 2007).
