Diversity as a general basis of tourism – system approach

The general basis for tourism consists in the diversity of natural and man-made environment. The diversity can be considered as a natural characteristic of natural and anthropogenic systems produced by them as a condition of its continuance and development at all levels. When assessing tourism, geodiversity, biodiversity and socio-economic diversity, which includes technological diversity might be defined. Geodiversity and biodiversity coupled with technological diversity for the basis of geoscience and montanistic tourism. In the case of biodiversity, in terms of tourism regional and structural types of diversity are particularly important that can be parallelized with a geotope and a geophenomenon. The aim is to highlight the need for system approach to the analysis of tourism as a complex phenomenon with a complex structure.Obecným základem turizmu je diverzita přírodního a antropogenního prostředí. diverzitu lze považovat za přirozenou vlastnost přírodních a antropogenních systémů, kterou si samy vytvářejí, jakožto podmínku svého setrvání a rozvoje na všech úrovních. Při posuzování turizmu lze vymezit geodiverzitu, biodiverzitu a socio-ekonomickou diverzitu, jejíž součástí je technologická diverzita. Geodiverzita a biodiverzita představuje spolu s trechnologickou diverzitou základ geovědního a montánního turizmu. V případě biodiverzity je z hlediska turizmu důležitá především regionální diverzita a strukturní diverzita, které lze paralelizovat s geotopem a geofenoménem. Cílem je poukázat na nutnost systémového přístupu k analýze turizmu jako komplexního jevu se složitou strukturou

The potential of permanent gullies in Europe as geomorphosites

Geotourism is a useful way to educate societies in the field of geomorphology and natural hazards. Geosites, including geomorphosites, represent the basis for the development of this type of tourism. This study describes twelve representative gully regions within nine European countries. The characteristics of 42 permanent gullies, gully systems and badland landscapes are presented and a geotouristic assessment of these gullies was made, based on scientific, educational, functional and touristic indicators. This assessment demonstrates a large difference between the selected gully sites, particularly with regard to functional and tourist values. The geotouristic potential of gullies is the highest in Italy and Spain and the lowest in Romania and Latvia. In some countries, permanent gullies are not regarded as geotouristic attractions at all, while in others they constitute a significant element of their tourism development strategy. Based on the analysis of scientific values of the gully sites, educational lessons to be learned were identified that are mainly related to i) gullies as a geological window, ii) present-day geomorphological processes, and iii) stages of historical gully erosion reflecting past human-environment interactions. These must be part of a broader strategy for the development of geotourism in gully regions. Gullies are potential geosites within existing or planned geoparks. Values of gullies for other forms of tourism (active, cultural, nature), should be also emphasized

Contribution for an urban geomorphoheritage assessment method. Proposal from three geomorphosites in Rome (Italy)

Urban geomorphology has important implications in spatial planning of human activities, and it also has a geotouristic potential due to the relationship between cultural and geomorphological heritage. Despite the introduction of the term Anthropocene to describe the deep influence that human activities have had in recent times on Earth evolution, urban geomorphological heritage studies are relatively rare and limited and urban geotourism development is recent. The analysis of the complex urban landscape often need the integration of multidisciplinary data. This study aims to propose the first urban geomorphoheritage assessment method, which originates after long-lasting previous geomorphological and geotouristic studies on Rome city centre, it depict rare examples of the geomorphological mapping of a metropolis and, at the same time, of an inventory of urban geomorphosites. The proposal is applied to geomorphosites in the Esquilino neighbourhood of Rome, whose analysis confirm the need for an ad hoc method for assessing urban geomorphosites, as already highlighted in the most recent literature on the topic. The urban geomorphoheritage assessment method is based on: (i) the urban geomorphological analysis by means of multitemporal and multidisciplinary data; (ii) the geomorphosite inventory; and (iii) the geomorphoheritage assessment and enhancement. One challenge is to assess invisible geomorphosites that are widespread in urban context. To this aim, we reworked the attributes describing the Value of a site for Geotourism in order to build up a specific methodology for the analysis of the urban geomorphological heritage

Geotourism and local development based on geological and mining sites utilization, zaruma-portovelo, Ecuador

This study offers a detailed assessment of the geosites and mining sites present in the Zaruma-Portovelo mining district (Ecuador) through their qualitative and quantitative assessment. It shows up the potentiality of this area taking advantage of its geological-mining heritage. The methodological process includes: (i) compilation and inventory of all the sites within the study area with particular geological or mining interest; (ii) preparation of reports and thematic cartography, (iii) assessment and classification of the elements of geological-mining interest; (iv) SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis and TOWS (Threats, Opportunities, Weaknesses, Strengths) matrix preparation seeking strategies to guarantee the viability of geotourism. A total of 16 sites of geological interest and 11 of mining interest were identified. The 77% of these sites was proved to be of high and very high interest in scientific terms. Likewise, their susceptibility to degradation assessed from their vulnerability and fragility was found to be high or very high in the 30% of the cases. As for the protection priority, all the studied sites obtained a medium-high result. Finally, the study based on the SWOT-TOWS revealed the possibility of applying action strategies in order to facilitate the compatibility of geotourism with the current productive activities, despite the difficult situation in the study area created by mining activities

Ibero-American Research on Local Development. An Analysis of Its Evolution and New Trends

Local development is a subject that arouses significant interest in the international scientific community in general, and in the Ibero-American one, in particular. The process of globalization has transformed the management of local development, altering the role that is played by local and regional entities, and it is the object of an important follow-up and analysis by academia. This research uses a bibliometric methodology and a fractional counting method, reviewing the 738 articles from the Scopus database in order to understand the state of Ibero-American research on local development, and analyze the scientific literature on the topic. The results show a significant increase in the number of publications in the 21st century, with Spain and Brazil leading the way. In addition, this research provides interesting results regarding the most influential authors on this topic, the most relevant journals, and the most important institutions and funding organizations. There are several areas of knowledge involved since local development is a transversal field, such as Social Science, environment, business, economics, and agriculture. A deep analysis of authors’ keywords identified new trends, linking local development with tourism, education, geotourism, climate change, local sustainable development, social innovation, and creativity, which provides academia with potential new lines of research

Geotourizm marketing in Lake Constance’ region

Aim of this work is to evaluate factors responsible for these developments and to show chances for other regions by adopting thismarketing strategy. Besides marketing, interaction of tourism, industry and state was important. Many reasons can be found that shouldresult in a worse development of the region around the Lake of Constance . But instead, today this region has a higher populationgrowth than the average of Baden-Württemberg and is the best economic region outside of urban centers. Scientists spoke aboutan overheated economic growth during the last years that in 2008 comes to a normal but still high level. To attract high potentialworkers and engineers to support further growth, the region has one main advantage to many other regions – its environment. In caseof “Lake of Constance” region, different marketing strategies were used. The complexity of successful marketing for a region is highand finding the right combination of marketing strategies is difficult but can positively influence the development of a region, itseconomy and tourism. At the same time, the marketing for economy and tourism positively reflects degree of popularity in the region

Geological dimension of the cultural heritage: A case example of the Ajanta Caves (Maharashtra, India)

[Abstract]International development for the both geoconservation and geotourism requires attention to all kinds of (potential) geological heritage. The Ajanta Caves (western Maharashtra, India) is a famous cultural object consisting of 30 caves carved in the Deccan Traps and inscribed to the UNESCO list of the World Heritage Sites. Its examination permits to indicate four geological features, which are the artificial caves themselves (these mark geological activity of the man in the historical past), the end-Cretaceous flood basalts (these demonstrate the emplacement of Large Igneous Province and the relevant palaeoenvironmental catastrophe), the gorge of the Waghora River (this is peculiar landform resulted from the river erosion of hard rocks), and the rockfall hazard (this is an interesting engineering geological phenomenon linked to the caves construction/maintenance). Geological heritage value of these features is argued. Unfortunately, there is not any geotourism activity at the Ajanta Caves presently. The content analysis of the principal on-line resources (web pages) devoted to this cultural site reveals the absence of sufficient geological information that would 68 Gontareva, E.F et al. CAD. LAB. XEOL. LAXE 38 (2015) facilitate geotourism. Generally, judgements about the Ajanta Caves and the other similar sites in the geological dimension permit to consider the wide spectrum of the geological heritage. They also highlight some extra opportunities for geotourism, which can benefit by its development at cultural sites with thousands of visitors

Land, water and tourism in Aitutaki, Cook Islands

Most island governments in the South Pacific have placed a great deal of faith in a continued annual increase in numbers of tourists as a guarantee of national economic growth. This is particularly the case in the Cook Islands. The response by local, mostly small-scale entrepreneurs has been to invest in the building of tourist accommodation, not only on the main island of Rarotonga, but also on the island of Aitutaki. Until recently the piecemeal development of accommodation on that island has occurred with little reference to the impact on the environment

Analysis of Opportunity on Geoheritage Activities in Muroto Global Geopark : Through the Comparison Between 2 Geological Conservation Program

This research aims to clarify the differences of 2 UNESCO geological conservation programs, World heritage program and Global Geoparks program, in terms of their evaluation and monitoring system by organizing UNESCO official documents. In addition that, through the case study of Muroto grobal geopark, the author attempts to grab the perspectives toward geopark of local people related to geotourism. The data was collected through qualitative method using interviews with residents related to 3 geotourism in Muroto. In conclusion, in both programs, evaluations are performed by the professionals who have specific knowledge of geology and both are put importance on its outstanding value as geological sites. World heritage programs retain the continuous monitoring system which is operated cooperation with external NGOs, academia and scientific professionals throughout both online and onsite monitoring after inscription, on the other hand, global geoparks only perform its monitoring every 4 years through the onsite evaluation. Moreover, the interview appears the truth that some residents involve themselves into geotourism without knowing of geopark concepts and objectives. Involving not only geological aspects but wide range of perspectives like world heritage program might help to establish sustainable geoheritage activitis.Art and Design Research for Sustainable Development ; September 22, 2018Conference: Tsukuba Global Science Week 2018Date: September 20-22, 2018Venue: Tsukuba International Congress Center Sponsored: University of Tsukub

Northeast Minnesota: New Possibilities in the North Country

This is the second of four case studies examining the opportunities and challenges in Greater Minnesota. In the first report, Walljasper examined some of the big ideas coming out of the southeast, including the development of the Destination Medical Center in Rochester, the vibrant arts scene in Lanesboro, and many other examples of economic diversification. In this report, he heads to the beautifully diverse landscape of northeast Minnesota. He finds that some conditions have hardly changed from 30 years ago, including the heated debates over the effects of mining as communities consider ways to preserve both livelihoods and the environment. Such dire economic pressures are precisely what led to the inception of the Minnesota Initiative Foundations, six independent regional philanthropic organizations that have disbursed more than $285 million a year since their founding in 1986. Under the direction of Virginia McKnight Binger, then board chair of McKnight, and Russ Ewald, then president, McKnight created these unique entities because it believed that the people in the best position to lead in Greater Minnesota were those who lived and worked in the communities themselves. Thirty years later, we still hold on to that principle and remain committed to a prosperous and resilient Greater Minnesota. This report explores communities north of the metro area and east of Brainerd and Bemidji. Walljasper reports that the region's economy now goes far beyond mining to include tourism, education, health care, aviation, and advanced manufacturing. Mining makes up only 12 percent of the economy in the six-county region that encompasses the Iron Range. Duluth, with unemployment at 2.9 percent, is winning national accolades. Outside magazine recently named it "America's Best Town" and lauded its access to adventurous outdoor recreation such as trout fishing and downhill skiing. Aitkin County has been recognized for offering innovative senior services, and cities like Proctor and Pine City are reviving their downtowns with high levels of community engagement. As in all regions of the state, the challenges faced by the people in northeast Minnesota are not easy to overcome. For answers, local leaders are increasingly taking a deeper look at their community's entire range of assets and resources. We hope this report will spark more interest in this bountiful region and offer a fresh lens through which we can see all its potential