This Master’s Thesis aims to advance the research of the social impacts of tourism to a more qualitative research field. Through a comprehensive literature review, the project classifies fourteen general social impacts of tourism. Moreover, the project applies a new stage of research within the field of social impacts, as suggested by Deery et al. (2012). Therefore, the project determines to conduct a case study of a typical urban destination in Greece to put the new stage of research into practice. In addition to the case study, the project recognizes a broader issue with building a more sustainable future. The EU Commission has expressed high political aspirations for the future of the association and its member states.
Moreover, the EU Commission published the ‘EU Green Deal’ in 2019, a detailed architectural roadmap to realize the pollical aspirations. The EU Commission has developed the EU Action Plan on Sustainable Finance to finance the pollical goals, which exists to redirect financial capital toward sustainable opportunities. However, numerous studies have exposed flaws in this central element of the roadmap. The cornerstone of the EU Action Plan is the sustainability reporting framework, which is supposed to produce quality ESG reports, to accelerate sustainable investments through transparent and trustworthy reports. However, the reporting framework does not meet the investor’s demand. Especially the social dimension of ESG information lacks attention. Therefore, this project aims to contribute with suggestions to how the EU Commission and strengthen the social dimension of the reporting framework, by correlating the findings of the case study in Kavala, to relevant components of the EU sustainability reporting framework. The research findings into social impacts of tourism in Kavala are based on a range of methodological tools to produce a rich and nuanced understanding of the impacts. However, the methodological approach impacts the nature of the knowledge acquired, which does not allow for adequate contribution to the EU reporting framework.
Nevertheless, the research into social impacts of tourism in Kavala is successful in advancing the study of social impacts into a more qualitative research field. Moreover, the case study findings are valuable to the local tourism organization and other organizations that wish to understand and perhaps influence the perception of tourism for the better. Moreso, the findings are valuable for host communities, as organizations that wish to influence the perception of tourism most likely positively will favor local communities.