THE CURRENT WORLDWIDE STATUS

In the last three decades there has been a worldwide “botanical renaissance” led by Europe and North America. Indicatively, it is reported that in Western Europe, the consumption of medicinal plants has tripled in the last decade. Also, the systematic study of many plants has provided many new substances and uses, for example herbal medicine and aromatherapy, which uses various essential oils, all of them with therapeutic properties. Its spread began in the 1930s following scientific research. Nowadays, there are hundreds of scientific journals (in the citation index system) that deal with the therapeutic actions of AMP and the use of essential oils against human diseases, animal diseases, bacteria, fungi and viruses, insect repellent, and generally for promoting well-being.

Currently, even the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic could have been effectively reduced using essential oils such as eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus, Eucalyptus sp.) which has bronchodilator and mucolytic properties (Asif et. al., 2020, Usachev et. al., 2013, Punikar et. al., 2021). As has been shown in many cases, chemically prepared substitutes for essential oils have less therapeutic, aromatic and flavouring value than the essential oils which are naturally produced from aromatic plants. It is estimated that over 3000 essential oils are known for their uses, of which 150 are of paramount importance in the global market (Baylac et al., 2003; Burt 2004; Delmare et al., 2007; Sivropoulou et. al., 1997). Essential oils are absorbed by 35% in the food and beverage industry, 29% in perfumes, cosmetics and aromatherapy, 16% in home use and 15% in pharmaceutics (E.F.E.O. 2017).

In parallel with the production process of the AMP, there is an important new activity related to them called aromatourism. In essence, excursions are organized to places with a high production of aromatic plants and their processing units. There, tourists can enjoy the natural beauty of the locations they visit and at the same time get to know various aromatic plants up close by visiting plantations, processing workshops and distilleries and acquiring essential oils and other products directly from the production source. Such tourist activities have until now been developed in Australia, France, Turkey and Indonesia.