Geomythology: an Approach for Attracting Geotourists (Case Study: Takht-e Soleymān – Takab World Heritage Sites)

Abstract

Geotourists may visit geosites for different reasons related to their goals, motivations and the characteristics of the geotourism destination. From the geotourism point of view, several factors can be mentioned in order to attract tourists to geosites in addition to individual motivations, such as the site being exceptional or unique or the magnitude of the event, the shape and the form of the phenomenon, the variety and contrast of colour, the specific and surprising smell and geomythology. Geomythology is any kind of our ancestors’ myths or customs that are sometimes integrated into branches of earth sciences such as geography, geology and volcanology. The existence of stories, fictions and myths in many cases is one of the reasons which attract people to come to a geotourism destination and observe features and processes operating in that area. The Takht-e Soleymān – Takab area is one of the best examples of these geotourism destinations in Iran. Words such as Takht-e Soleymān (King Solomon), Belgheis (Queen of Sheba), Demon, Dragon and Solomon’s Prison can be seen in the names of volcanic landforms, geothermals and karsts of this area and different stories and fictions are told about them. Local communities integrated these myths into the processes that shape the physical features of the Earth. Nowadays, these myths have an important role in attracting tourists, especially geotourists, to this area. An analytical-descriptive method with an emphasis on documentary data and field studies was used to investigate the geomythological aspects of this area’s landforms. The results illustrated that the geomythology of the Takht-e Soleymān area sites could have an important role in attracting people to geosites and in protecting them.