New ‘Regenerate Arcadia’ Initiative to Revive Peloponnese Villages

Agios Athanassios church in Timios Prodromos Monastery, Gortynia, Arcadia. Photo © Konstantinos Ntougkas

Tourism professionals, authorities and academics met in Dimitsana recently to discuss ways to revive villages in Arcadia, and particularly in the Gortynia municipality in the Peloponnese.

The event, organized by the Arcadia Hotels Association and the Peloponnese Tourism Organization (PTO) in collaboration with local associations, brought together local stakeholders who explored ways to

– restore and revive dying out villages and communities in a sustainable way;
– utilize the unique characteristics of the destinations in order to create a common quality of life across all the villages; and
– tap into the cultural heritage and history of Arcadia in order to create incentives that will attract entrepreneurship and younger generations.

Indicatively, according to data presented by PTO President Konstantinos Marinakos, in the last four decades the population of Arcadia has decreased by 25 percent, compared to that of Corinthia, where it rose by 20 percent and of Argolida (+4 percent). The population in the remote Gortynia municipality decreased by 20.7 percent in the last decade alone. Analysts attribute the decline to lack of business opportunities and operations as well as to small visitor numbers despite the area’s great tourism potential.