Tourism Potentials of Fossil Parks as Geoheritage Sites: A Study in Western and South Western Region of West Bengal, India

Abstract

Fossils are paleontological treasures manifesting preserved remains, impression, or traces of organisms that existed in past geological ages. Fossil parks are one of the major geotourism attractions especially when they attain the status like world heritage sites. From geotourism promotion perspective, the fossil parks have exceptional heritage and scientific values as admired by UNESCO. Geosite and geomorphosite tourism is still at its juvenile stage in India despite of the positive efforts of Geological Survey of India who recognized 26 geological sites as National Geological Monuments including the seven fossil parks. With increasing interest on fossils as geoheritage, geopark network of the country has been strengthened with inclusion of new sites. In the year 2006, angiosperm wood fossils have been discovered from Illambazar forest of Birbhum District in and around a tribal village named Amkhoi. A fossil park is inaugurated in the year 2018, and its success encourages its extension and further planning for geotourism. This paper is an attempt to apply SWOT-AHP analysis on Amkhoi Fossil Park, the first fossil park of West Bengal which is youngest among the fossil parks of the country in order to evaluate its sustainability aspects.