In order to halt the migration from rural areas to the cities and to encourage people to return or move to rural regions, it is critical to examine the local residents' views on different development paths. Employing the techniques of social psychology, this study investigates residents' views on the present situation and development potential in the Regional Unit of Drama in Greece. The analysis indicated that most residents were dissatisfied with the degree that the beautiful locations as well as the events, products and services are promoted by various bodies. At the same time, they were willing to support the establishment of a single body which would undertake the management and exploitation of local natural resources while they considered that such body could create new jobs and coordinate actions more effectively.
Urbanization together with rural population’s inward migration led to uneven
development and to the expansion of differences among various Regions in Greece
The major economic changes with the most important being the transformation of
the economy, make the development in less-favored areas a particularly challenging
issue
Against this background, the present paper aims to investigate residents’ views on the current situation as well as the development potential in the Regional Unit of Drama. The investigation of their views is important for designing effective communication strategies and targeted actions in the future. 2
The area of study was the Regional Unit of Drama which is part of the Region of East Macedonia and Thrace, in Greece. The Regional Unit of Drama is located in the northernmost part of Macedonia and in the westernmost part in the administrative Region of East Macedonia and Thrace. The research instrument was the questionnaire and in total 500 residents completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 23 items and most of these items were closed-ended questions with four- and fivepoint Likert scales as well as few dichotomous questions. The collection of the questionnaires started in November 2016 and ended in September 2017. To scrutinize the obtained data, the SPSS 23 was used and, in specific, descriptive statistics and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were conducted. 3
3.1 Socioeconomic characteristics
In terms of gender, female respondents (68.4%) outnumbered their male counterparts (31.6%). Regarding age and education level, 39.4% were aged between 41 and 50 years and many respondents were university (34.2%) and high school graduates (28.6%). Regarding occupation, a considerable share of respondents was employed in the public sector (18.4%) while the majority, by 70.4%, was married and a significant share had two children (39.4%). 3.2 Communication policy on the promotion and exploitation of local resources
Communication policy as a means to harness local resources can be characterized by multiple and different objectives. In this study, the residents’ responses were analyzed according to the measures of central tendency and dispersion (mean, median and standard deviation) (Table 1). First, the residents were required to evaluate three major objectives that communication policy sets in order to exploit local resources. As it can be seen in Table 1, the ‘Promotion of local products’ was the highest ranked objective (mean=4.10) followed by the “Promotion of alternative tourism types” (mean=3.95) and “Public awareness about environmental protection” (mean=3.83).
Next, respondents were asked which media should be used to promote local resources. As shown in Table 2, the “Internet” and “Television-Radio” were regarded as the most suitable media to promote local resources. These were followed by “Newspapers-magazines”, “Posters-banners” and “Printed advertising material”.
The attraction of specific tourist groups consists an important strategy to promote tourism. According to the residents, efforts aiming at promoting tourism in the Region should focus primarily on “Greek tourists” while the following preferred tourist types were “Tourists travelling in groups”, “Foreign tourists” and “High-profile tourists” (Table 3).
Media Internet Television – radio Newspapers – magazines Posters – banners Printed advertising material
Then, residents’ satisfaction with various bodies, in terms of their efforts to promote local natural resources, was examined. Overall, the residents expressed a low level of satisfaction with all bodies, however, “Municipality”, “Regional administration” and the “Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism” received the highest rankings (Table 4).
The Regional Unit of Drama involves characteristic products, monuments and events which could attract visitors. The residents, however, perceived that they are promoted at different degrees and, in specific, the events of “Oneiroupoli (Dream city)” (mean= 4.21) followed by the “International short-film Festival of Drama” (mean= 3.55) were the most promoted events (Table 5).
To scrutinize residents’ responses regarding the promotion of events, products and
services, Principal Component Analysis was performed
The residents were positive to the establishment of a single body which would be responsible for the management and exploitation of local natural resources as they considered that it would result in the “Creation of new jobs” and “Creation of better conditions for increasing income” (Table 7).
The residents were finally asked whether they would be willing to participate in a single body for the management and exploitation of local natural resources. As presented in Table 8, the respondents were divided with 55% being willing and 45% being unwilling to participate.
Any communication policy is doomed to failure unless it consists part of a wider strategy targeted towards the future local development of the Region. For this reason, coordination between various local bodies, who undertake production activities or own businesses, and residents is necessary. In the context of a wider coordination, a communication strategy ought to be targeted while setting clear and realistic objectives.
According to the residents of Drama, the main objectives of communication policy ought to be the promotion of local products through the Internet and the attraction of tourists. It was also interesting that, in terms of the promotion of local natural resources, the residents were dissatisfied with the actions of the Municipality and the Regional Administration but were satisfied with tourism offices, the media and the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism. In addition, they perceived that there is a ‘two-speed’ promotion of local resources with the first being the well-known events “Oneiroupoli” (Dream city), the “International short film festival of Drama” and “Draminognosia” (Wine tasting in Drama) and the low speed being the beautiful natural sites and landscapes as well as the local traditional products of the Region. Finally, more than half residents (by 55%) were positive to the establishment of a single body for the management and exploitation of local natural resources and perceived that it could create new jobs and better conditions for increasing income.