Geoheritage and Geotourism Resources

Abstract

<jats:p>This Special Issue wants to outline the role of Geoheritage and Geotourism as potential touristic resources of a region. The term “Geoheritage” refers to a peculiar type of natural resources represented by sites of special geological significance, rarity or beauty that are representative of a region and of its geological history, events and processes. These sites are also known as “geosites” and, as well as archaeological, architectonic and historical ones, they can be considered as part of the cultural estate of a country. “Geotourism” is an emerging type of sustainable tourism, which concentrates on geosites, furnishing to visitors knowledge, environmental education and amusement. In this meaning, Geotourism may be very useful for geological Sciences divulgation and may furnish additional opportunities for the development of rural areas, generally not included among the main touristic attractions. The collected papers focused on these main topics with different methods and approaches and can be grouped as follows: (i) papers dealing with geosites promotion and valorisation in protected areas; (ii) papers dealing with geosites promotion and valorisation in non-protected areas; (iii) papers dealing with geosites promotion by exhibition, remote sensing analysis and apps; (iv) papers investigating geotourism and geoheritage from the tourists’ perspective.</jats:p>

Caves as geoheritage resource in remote desert areas: a preliminary evaluation of Djara Cave in the Western Desert of Egypt

“…Geoheritage constitutes an important natural (geological) resource, which can be exploited for the purposes of science, education and tourism (Ehsan et al, 2013;Brilha, 2016;Bétard et al, 2017;Brilha et al, 2018;Santangelo & Valente, 2020). The utility of the proposed Djara geosite can be analysed in the light of available information.…”

Bridges as Geoheritage Viewpoints in the Western Caucasus

“…Geoheritage and geotourism studies have intensified in the past decade [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Aside from documentation of hundreds (if not thousands) of new geosites, new dimensions of geoheritage diversity have been revealed.…”

“…Fuertes-Gutiérrez and Fernández-Martínez [7] and Migoń and Pijet-Migoń [9] noted that viewpoint geosites can differ significantly, and they can be either natural and artificial. One can imagine many objects, standing on which offers views of unique geological and geomorphological features and panoramas of geoheritage landscapes.…”

“…One can imagine many objects, standing on which offers views of unique geological and geomorphological features and panoramas of geoheritage landscapes. Evidently, the practical importance of such objects is outstanding because they facilitate inventory and monitoring of geosites for the purposes of geoconservation, as well as enhancing comprehension of geoheritage by visitors and provide emotional satisfaction [7,17]. Therefore, establishing a diversity of viewpoint geosites and paying attention to their particular types are crucial research tasks.…”

Geoheritage Meaning of Artificial Objects: Reporting Two New Examples from Russia

“…Geoheritage is an important resource [1][2][3]. Several specialists have argued that it is tied to cultural, historical, archaeological, and other categories of heritage.…”