An integrative geotourism approach: bridging conflicts in tourism landscape research

Abstract

Landscapes have a central position in many rural tourism destinations. They provide both assets and bounds for tourism development, and they indirectly provide the framework in which tourism is often envisaged as a regional development tool. However, the complexity of the interactions between landscapes and tourism has resulted in multiple and sometimes contrasting interpretations and research focuses dealing with landscape-tourism interactions. These contrasts have impeded constructive discussion, dynamism and progress in tourism landscape research in general. To manoeuvre in this complex and 'chaotic' field, we argue that a reinterpretation of the concept of geotourism provides a structured way forward.A focus on geotourism, although highly contested as a scientific concept, creates opportunities to bridge the gap between tourism-centred and landscape-centred strands that dominate and hence divide current tourism landscape research. The adapted geotourism framework presented here, in which geotourism is re-interpreted as an approach to study landscape-tourism interactions instead of currently contrasting definitions as either geological niche tourism or a form of sustainable tourism, builds on the idea that landscapes and tourism are inextricably connected. Landscapes provide natural and cultural assets for tourism development, with destination images being constructed by emplaced social and power relations. Simultaneously, the created 'tourismscape' has constitutive power to shape the landscape and the processes within it. By building on this continuum between tourism and landscape, the proposed geotourism approach provides a solid conceptual foundation for future research on landscape-tourism interactions and the interrelations between tourism landscapes and regional development.

Critical engagements with nature: tourism, political economy of nature and political ecology

“…In their contribution to this special issue, Stoffelen and Vanneste (2015) analyse the interactions between landscapes and tourism and how they are mutually constitutive. They propose a re-interpretation of geotourism in order to provide a holistic analysis of landscape to incorporate various societyÀnature interactions and meanings, which recognises the active production and consumption of landscape in tourism.…”

“…Such an analysis of the relationships may prove useful in determining the feasibility and type of rural tourism to develop in particular areas based on pre-existing countryside capital. These produced rural 'tourismscapes' will then in turn shape the landscape and the socio-economic processes associated with it (Stoffelen & Vanneste, 2015).…”

“…They propose a re-interpretation of geotourism in order to provide a holistic analysis of landscape to incorporate various societyÀnature interactions and meanings, which recognises the active production and consumption of landscape in tourism. Stoffelen and Vanneste (2015) focus on the 'continuum of landscapeÀtourism dialectics' that spans the different combinations of the material and symbolic nature of landscapes. Geotourism with its two approaches, one focusing on the physical characteristics of landscape and the other on the intangible characteristics, may be well placed to integrate the material with the immaterial in the study of the dynamic interaction between lived landscapes (physical, natural and cultural) and tourism.…”

Using a social-ecological systems perspective to understand tourism and landscape interactions in coastal areas

“…Terkenli (2004) argues that the understanding of these complex interrelationships is largely unexplored. Tourism and landscapes have often been seen as separated from each other (Stoffelen and Vanneste, 2015). As an alternative to the traditional, reductionist perspective that sees society and nature as separate entities that are predictable and controllable (Armitage et al, 2009;Plummer and Fennell, 2009), the social-ecological systems perspective does not see nature and society as separate, but rather as an integrated whole (Amérigo et al, 2007;Cumming, 2011b;Levin et al, 2012).…”

Enhancing the Role of Geoconservation in Protected Area Management and Nature Conservation

“…The global growth of geotourism and geoparks offers a means to develop and promote the links between geoheritage and the cultural components of the landscape, as well as a means to enhance the visitor experience involving interpretation that encourages the rediscovery of a sense of wonder through the aesthetic and cultural connections of geoheritage (Martini 2000;Pralong 2006;Zgłobicki and Baran-Zgłobicka 2013;Gordon and Baker 2016). Such an approach, while retaining geology as a central focus, requires a more holistic integration of the geology, environment, culture, aesthetics, and heritage of an area (Martini et al 2012;Stoffelen and Vanneste 2015). This may include etiological and euhemeristic connections expressed through geomythology, local folklore, and legends in terms of supernatural forces or the actions of mythical beings (Vitaliano 2007;Kirchner and Kubalíková 2015), or through various forms of iconography including rock art.…”