3G’s for Modern Geotourism

Abstract

Since the initial recognition and definition in the early 1990s of geotourism in the UK by a few academic geologists, and its emergence in Europe as a niche form of sustainable tourism, new stakeholders have become involved; the latter’s background is often commercial and lacking in any significant academic or scientific engagement. Consequently, the geosite/geomorphosite management and promotional approaches they adopt are usually founded on practitioner and supply side led approaches rather than the geoconservation requirements of geosites/geomorphosites and the needs and expectations of their geotourists. This is probably because the new stakeholders have limited knowledge and understanding of the relevance of the history, development and philosophy of landscape conservation and promotion (that is geohistory), and the lessons that can be gleaned from such considerations in managing and promoting geosites. This paper seeks to redress this situation by providing an outline of the historical and theoretical underpinnings of geotourism and approaches to its sustainable management. It especially examines and defines, underpinned by UK examples, three key interrelated aspects (the ‘3G’s’) of modern geotourism: geoconservation, geohistory and geo-interpretation. It further updates a prior published geohistorical model and provides a new summary topology and a geotourism chronosequence. Finally, it addresses, within the framework of the new definition and its approach, some of the issues generated by the development of geoparks in Europe in the first decade of the twenty-first century.