Can tourism be a mean for promoting inclusive development? A textual analysis of funded projects in Greece

Given the increasing global focus on inequalities and the growing academic interest in inclusive tourism, this research investigates the social implications of tourism development in Greece and its potential to foster greater equality and inclusion. Tourism is often portrayed as a driver of economic growth, but its capacity to address social disparities remains underexplored. This study examines the relevance of inclusivity aspects in the development of the touristic in Greece, a country where the sector plays a crucial economic role. We analysed EU-funded projects (2014–2020) using a topic modelling approach (BERTopic) and a large language model (Mistral-7b) to identify tourism-related initiatives and assess how they dealt with vulnerable populations. Our preliminary findings suggest that while tourism actually plays a key role in Greek development projects, its primary focus is on infrastructure and business development. When vulnerable populations are directly involved, they are mos...