Real and Promoted Aesthetic Properties of Geosites: New Empirical Evidence from SW Russia

Dmitry A Ruban,Natalia N Yashalova

doi:10.3390/heritage4010009

Abstract

Aesthetic properties of natural heritage objects are determined by their physical properties. Online promotion of these objects to potential tourists requires adequate representation of these properties on web pages. The Shum waterfall is a small, but notable and tourism-important geosite of southwestern Russia. Its real aesthetic properties were examined in the field, and 20 web pages devoted to local tourism were examined to judge its promoted aesthetic properties. Eleven criteria of the common tourists’ judgments of beauty were used for this purpose. A significant discrepancy between the real and promoted properties is found. Particularly, the web pages exaggerate the scale of the waterfall and do not mention crowds of tourists. This may cause disappointment of the latter. The findings of the present study allow for making several practical recommendations for more efficient promotion of the Shum waterfall, as well as providing general advice to the geotourism industry.

Highlights

The Shum waterfall is located near the town of Kamennomostskiy in the mountainous ous part of Adygeya—a tourism‐important destination in southwestern Russia (Figure 1)
Many tourists may be dissatisfied realizing the lesser scale of the waterfall than promised. This is especially the case of experienced travelers who have had a chance to see some waterfalls in the other regions
The example of the Shum waterfall demonstrates the importance of attention to the real and promoted aesthetic properties in geoheritage studies

Summary

Introduction

Aesthetic properties of natural heritage objects have two principal meanings. These properties are essential for visitor attractiveness of objects [3,4,5] (i.e., these permit heritage exploitation). Natural beauty may have different meanings to people depending on individual, group, or society preferences [6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. The aesthetic properties are related to some physical characteristics of heritage objects and; these are objective properties. The real, aesthetic-related characteristics can be used efficiently to promote a given natural heritage object for the purpose of tourism and other social activities [13,14]

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion