Geoheritage and Geotourism Contribution to Tourism Development in Protected Areas of Slovakia—Theoretical Considerations

Ľubomír Štrba,Branislav Kršák,Dušan Kudelas,Csaba Sidor,Jana Kolačkovská

doi:10.3390/su12072979

Ľubomír Štrba, Branislav Kršák + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su12072979

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Apr 8, 2020
Citations: 43	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Technical University of Košice

Abstract

Slovakia is renowned for its remarkable and rare natural beauty, abundant in natural resources with several noteworthy geological features. However, the protection of nature has primarily been understood as the protection of biodiversity in Slovakia. For the conservation of geological diversity and landforms, very little has been done. Geoconservation or the protection of geodiversity is being applied to specific places known as geosites, where significant earth elements (geological, paleontological, geomorphological, hydrological and pedological) are protected, preserved and managed. Most geosites benefit from existing protected areas. Their protection is random and does not result from the recognition of their values. As discussed in the paper, geotourism related activities can undoubtedly contribute to promoting the protection of geosites in protected areas. Besides, through a geotourism approach, geodiversity can obtain public attention and positively influence the state of protected areas by its activities. Such initiatives not only can improve the protection of geological sites but also can play a crucial role in sustainable tourism development.

Highlights

Names such as defense or protecting the homeland denoted the first intentions of protecting rare natural sites in the past [1,2]
Geotourism plays a crucial role in this context because it puts into practice geoconservation and promotes its understanding among the general public [48]
The territory of Slovakia, thanks to varied geological structure (Figure 1) and complex geomorphological evolution, includes geodiversity of various values (Figure 2, Table 2) that may be used as a remarkable resource oftourism development in geopark areas

Summary

Introduction

Names such as defense or protecting the homeland denoted the first intentions of protecting rare natural sites in the past [1,2]. As many protected areas have become important tourist destinations, [17,18] they are suitable for raising public awareness of all aspects of nature, biological and geological [19,20]. These protected areas are already recognized by local authorities and people who live and work in such locations. Geotourism plays a crucial role in this context because it puts into practice geoconservation and promotes its understanding among the general public [48] Authors such as Reynard [49] and Zouros [50] suppose that the protection of geological heritage depends on the public perception that it must be preserved. Recognizing the role of geoparks in sustainable use and protection of geoheritage, many publications on various aspects of this topic have been written in the last decade e.g., [63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71]

Nature Protection and Geoheritage in Slovakia

Tourism in Protected Areas in Slovakia

Findings

Discussion