Investigation into the Contribution of Social Tourism Programmes to the Satisfaction of Entrepreneurs in the Hospitality Sector

Social tourism, as a form of special interest tourism, gives the opportunity not only to members of society who are unable to meet their tourist needs by their own means but also to entrepreneurs in the hospitality sector to participate in social tourism programmes aiming at the financial growth of their businesses. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the value of the contribution of Greek Social Tourism programmes given to the hospitality sector by evaluating the level of satisfaction of entrepreneurs according to the effectiveness of their implementation and with respect to both their socio-demographic and business’ profile. The empirical research of this study was conducted among all entrepreneurs in the hospitality sector of Greece, who have implemented social tourism programmes during the last ten years. The inventory method was used for the collection of the data, and a sampling in proportion to the population was collected, i.e., 287 questionnaires. Descriptive (numerical data summaries) and inductive statistics (cluster analysis, chi-square test) were used for data analysis. Through this research, the significance of the implementation of social tourism programmes in hospitality businesses was highlighted. This is because according to the respondents, social tourism contributes both to financial development and to the mitigation of seasonality. The majority of the respondents expressed their satisfaction with both the implementation of the programmes and the benefits and conditions of their participation. This research is the springboard for future planning of social tourism programmes not only in Greece but also worldwide. In several cases, in which Greece faced crises, such as the refugee crisis or the more recent health crisis (COVID-19), social tourism has been considered to be a “panacea” for tourism development.