Geotourism — A geographical review of the literature

Abstract

Geological tourism (geotourism) is a global activity that represents an important research direction. The latter is very “young”, but has spread rapidly since the 2000s. The geographical pattern of geotourism research can be examined through a bibliographical survey. A total of 165 journal articles were selected on geotourism published by 417 specialists from 45 countries during the 2012–2014 term. Authors' affiliations and the focus of regional research were analyzed. The results demonstrate that geotourism research concentrates in Europe, East Asia, the Middle East, and South America. The largest research communities are active in Italy, Brazil, China, and Poland. Overall, geotourism studies are conducted on all continents (except for Antarctica). The results demonstrate the global scale of geotourism research. The spread of this concept also is shown by the evidence of the growth of national and international networks of specialists. There is no good explanation for the documented world distribution of geotourism research that can be fully confirmed. Such an outcome implies that the geographical pattern of this rising scientific discipline is determined by a set of puzzling factors that may be equally important.