Geotourism: The Tourism of Geology and Landscape
A special issue of Tourism and Hospitality (ISSN 2673-5768).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2024) | Viewed by 12834
Special Issue Editors
Interests: geotourism and geoparks development, sustainability, impacts and opportunities; cruise ship tourism development, growth and industry impacts; ecotourism planning, development, management and impacts; regional tourism planning and development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
2. IDL-Instituto D. Luiz, University of Lisbon, 1649-013 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: geotourism; geoparks; geoscience communication; landscape interpretation; geological heritage conservation and management; climate change and tourism; inclusive tourism; product development and branding; tourism marketing
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to invite you to the Special Issue “Geotourism: The Tourism of Geology and Landscape”. Landscapes are a complex and dynamic composition that goes well beyond visual perception, with an extensive inheritance from geodiversity and how rocks have been shaped by external geological agents for millions of years. There is a growing number of tourists travelling around the world, experiencing first-hand novel approaches for understanding landscapes. Additionally, when landscape highlights become geological phenomena, there is an opportunity for the development of geotourism destinations and products.
Based on premises of social responsibility, favoring the role of local communities and environmental sustainability, preserving geological heritage for future generations, geotourism is the organization of tourism activity based on geological landscapes. This innovative type of tourism is growing all over the world, especially with the development of the UNESCO Global Geoparks initiative over the last 20 years. The impacts of geotourism strategies at different latitudes, and how they can be used as examples for the tourism industry, need to be discussed in a global framework, with the understanding that human activities pay a heavy price in climate change, the exploitation of natural resources and cultural homogenization.
This Special Issue aims to contribute to a broader discussion regarding benefits and adverse impacts created by establishing tourism in geological settings. Starting from how to reach visitors in outdoor activities with exciting news about our dynamic Earth, and ending with how to tell stories about the landscape and rocks in ways that empower local communities and promote beneficial outcomes. A central element is through the development of community-centered tourism activities and products focused on geological heritage. Another avenue of research is how to market geotourism destinations through the development of quality labels and standards. Equally as important is how geotourism can support local economies and cultural diversity. Other aspects to explore include improving the circular economy, networking, social and economic sustainability, the strengthening of community resilience to natural hazards, contributing to the reduction in tourism environmental impacts and adapting to climate change. We especially wish for contributors to explore how geotourism can help to develop a stronger tourism industry, more sustainable businesses and destinations, environmentally friendly products and be accessible for all. Experiencing the landscape for itself, from a local perspective, and bringing benefits for the locals.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Innovative geotourism products and/or destinations;
- Geotourism development in geoparks;
- The economic sustainability of geotourism projects;
- Outdoor geoscience communication and interpretation;
- Landscape dynamic interpretation;
- Geological heritage conservation and management for tourism use;
- Climate change and geotourism;
- Inclusive tourism adapted to geosites;
- Geodiversity product-based development and branding;
- Marketing geotourism;
- The definition of geotourists.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Ross Dowling
Carlos Neto De Carvalho
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Tourism and Hospitality is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- geotourism
- geoparks
- geoscience communication
- landscape interpretation
- geological heritage conservation and management
- climate change and tourism
- inclusive tourism
- product development and branding
- tourism marketing
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