Creative Commons

Lesvos, an island of the eastern Aegean, rich in natural environment and in historicalcultural monuments, have begun to develop tourism in recent years. But these islands are experiencing very intense a complex phenomenon, the migratory, because of their close distance from the Turkish coast, which is the result of the crisis in Syria and the surrounding countries. The main objective of this work is to investigate its impact the refugee and migration crisis in the tourist product of the major island of the North Aegean Region, Lesvos. More specifically the research focuses on examining the views of Greek and foreign tourists on how they are perceived and influenced by the presence of refugees and immigrants to the two islands, and how they themselves perceive this crisis to be affected the image of the island. In addition, her views were studied local community of the island on the issues of its treatment migration and the refugee crisis, and how they have been affected the tourism-related businesses. The findings of the survey showed that tourists do not appear to have been largely negatively affected by the migrant, while the greater a percentage of local business entities seems to have the opposite view. Bodies and businessmen on the islands believe that the island suffered in its tourist traffic due to the pictures they made all around the world and dealing with the refugee / migration issue. Also, the main sources of information for tourists are the internet, personal experiences and friends. As for the tourist image of the two islands there is lack of tourist profile due to being in the early tourist stages development and there should be a coordinated effort from local businesses and other private - public entities in this direction. In general, the migrant / refugee crisis is by its very nature one a phenomenon that is quite difficult to deal with successfully as it is one a multilevel issue that makes managing it extremely difficult though it seems that significant efforts have been made by local stakeholders for address it. It is a common assumption that this crisis goes beyond their narrow limits and islands should be addressed at national and European level.