Climate change, unsustainable water use by the tourism sector, and short-term-based decisions by policymakers create additional stress on limited water resources in arid and semi-arid tourism destinations. Non-conventional water resources are playing an important role in making additional water available for these destinations, and the use of desalination plants has gradually increased. However, they can create additional externalities on the environment that can compromise the sustainability of the tourist destination. The decisions of key stakeholders and cooperation among them hold vital importance for the sustainability of tourism and the availability of water resources. Mykonos Island (Greece) is a globally recognized tourist destination in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The island has suffered significant water-scarcity problems in recent years, in particular during the peak tourist season, and desalination plants are being built to reduce stress on the water supply. The first objective of this work was to analyze the perceptions of hospitality stakeholders regarding water shortages and climate change in Mykonos. A second objective was to assess whether the same hospitality stakeholders feel that desalination plants are the solution to water scarcity in island-tourism destinations such as Mykonos. The results show that (i) hospitality stakeholders have significant awareness regarding water-scarcity problems and the impacts of climate change on tourism activity, (ii) they do not view desalination plants as the only solution to water scarcity, and (iii) they perceive a significant lack of coordination among actors who participate in the decision-making process. These results provide clues regarding the importance of awareness, coordination, and cooperation of each actor involved in the decision-making process and can be of interest to policymakers and public authorities in tourism destinations facing water-scarcity problems.

The Cyclades Islands are significant to Greece’s economy, and their role has grown dramatically during the two crisis periods of the Greek Financial Crisis in 2009 and the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020. The crises shaped the Cyclades Islands’ tourist and water resource management due to water crisis events that took place between 2012 and 2024. The heavy dependence and emphasis on tourism revenues and less focus on water quality regulations made the situation more complex. Taking Mykonos and Santorini Islands (Greece) as a case study, this research’s main aim is to analyze hospitality stakeholders’ perceptions concerning water quality problems and reveal the ways of operation (modus operandi) that trigger shifting between stages in the lifespan of tourism destinations. Data are gathered through face-to-face interviews with hospitality stakeholders. The results show that the hospitality stakeholders believe that water quality issues exist in connection with short-term water resource management and tourism activity on the islands. Secondly, water quality issues and water shortages have begun to have a detrimental influence and negative cumulative impact on water availability and quality on the islands. These findings shed light on the critical points of the stage changes in the lifecycle and modus operandi of destination evolution.

A new political structuring took place in Iraq after 2003. During this period, sub-national political movements came to the fore along with the United States (USA). Institutions of the Iraqi state after Saddam Hussein were formed in 2003-2005. This structure does not make Iraq successful today. However, in the 2005 elections, a large part of Iraqi society cast their votes for sub-national parties. The study aims to analyze the reasons behind the social support of ethnic parties which do not allow Iraq to be a successful state. For this purpose, political psychological concepts were used to understand the Iraqi society within the conditions of the period. The data reflecting the political psychological attitudes of Iraqis were collected and the reasons for social polarization and support for ethnic parties were analyzed. In this study, it was concluded that when a new situation arises in a country and sub-national groups feel threatened, they tend to polarize and reflect it on their political behavior.