Karst Heritage as a Tourist Attraction: a Case Study in the White Desert National Park, Western Desert, Egypt

Abstract

Geotourism is a form of maintainable tourism that emphasizes the geoheritage characteristics of a district. Karst landforms are one of the most imperative appealing aspects of the theme of nature-based tourism. The geomorphological regionalization of the karst landforms contributes to a better understanding of Earthʼs evolution and provides the necessary provincial knowledge for resource utilization, ecological protection, and general economic improvement. To achieve this goal, an integrated geomorphological approach for inventorying, appraising, and evaluating sites of karst geoheritage within the framework of geomorphosite assessment method convoyed by SWOT analysis has been performed in the White Desert National Park (WDNP), Western Desert, Egypt. The paper aims to highlight the geotourism potential of the WDNP and offer strategic plans for identifying geotourist resources to a larger community through geoeducation and geoconservation. The WDNP is covered by Upper Cretaceous-Late Tertiary karstified carbonate successions and fluvioclastic rocks that host an interesting assemblage of diverse karst landforms (geodiversity) and amazing flora (bioturbation mangrove roots) together with fauna (biodiversity), revealing a geological open-air museum. The karst sites, which offer several phenomena with significant lithological, morphological, and paleogeographic features, embrace aesthetic, educational, scientific/scenic, and touristic values that will endure spectators of the geological evolution of this province. The brilliant conspicuousness, scientific excellence, innovative appeal, and distinctiveness of karst geomorphosites involving poljes/uvalas, karst lakes, natural sculptures, mushrooms, inselbergs, towers/bridges, dolines/sinkholes, cones/domes, and speleothems deliberate resources for the progress of geotourism. These landscapes can be considered tools for science and education because they give knowledge about rock/soil types and rock permeability, and paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic circumstances. Most of their landforms can be used as habitats for endangered bird species, which attract several sightseers, an indicative of ecological significance. This excellent karst geodiversity provides an appreciated tool for geotourism and geopark development that is preferred to raise the local economy for populations and reinforce rural growth in neighboring towns and cities. The paper’s findings reveal a comprehensive base for the improvement, planning, and management of the WDNP in order for it to become a geotourism endpoint. Furthermore, they improve the position of the WDNP in the tourist market and contribute to the local maintainable progress via giving socio-economic assistance to the local community for the advancement of geotourism through geoconservation and sustainability.