Foreign Visitor's Evaluation of Lasithi prefecture and Spinalonga as a Tourism destination

A tourism environment which is educational and exciting, safe, clean, relatively cheap to access and where transportation is readily available, contributes immensely to a tourist's travel satisfaction. Given these factors, this study seeks to interrogate two aspects of relevance, namely the relative importance of the items that define the tourism environment, and how foreign visitors evaluate tourism to Lasithi prefecture and Spinalonga island in Crete. It is abundantly clear from the research conducted that what tourists prize the most is a safe environment which is easily accessible, and cheap to visit. Competition among tourist destinations is today more severe than ever before, due to the large increase in international tourists globally. Spinalonga island, like every destination has an image which must be transmitted to the potential market so as to obtain a competitive position. Consequently, the destination marketers need to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their tourism area so as to make it more marketable. They must position Spinalonga island in such a way as to make it recognisable as an important and interesting place to visit while in Crete. How tourists evaluate a destination subjectively and a quantitative analysis on the evaluation system of the tourism environment are thus also considered. Effective strategic destination image management is critical for attracting tourists and other resources that are capable of creating value-add for a destination.