Geotourism and Climate Change

Abstract

Geotourism has achieved considerable prominence since the early 1990s as a means of conserving geological and geomorphological heritage. However, most accounts of the effects of geotourism are at a site-specific level while interpretation tends to focus on deep geological time rather than the Anthropocene. This restriction in consideration of time and space has meant that the broader effects of geotourism-related travel throughout the tourism system have been ignored, along with the potential role of climate change in affecting geosites and attractions. These issues are discussed with respect to the paradoxes of geotourism in polar regions with the polar cryospheric environment being both threatened by climate change yet simultaneously becoming more accessible and attractive to tourists. The article concludes that, like any form of tourism, geotourism needs to be understood within the broader context of tourism and physical systems rather than in isolation in order to fully access its contribution to geoconservation.

Geobibliography and Bibliometric Networks of Polar Tourism and Climate Change Research

“…Fifteen of these additional articles [19][20][21][22][23][26][27][28][29][33][34][35][36][37]39] were already covered by either the SROCC [4] or the Stewart et al review [14]. The rest [18,24,25,[30][31][32]38,40] was familiar to the authors but were not captured by the queries for several reasons such as missing databases, journal language, and spatial scope, i.e., not described as polar but northern. Together with these additions and after removal of 84 duplicate records between Scopus and WoS, the final count of records to be screened was 183.…”

BR-174 highway, geotourism and socio-environmental conflicts in the northern remote regions of the Amazon

“…As a legacy of past generations, but also a legacy for the coming years, the geotourism activity can contribute not only to the sustainability of Amazon but also to the identification and enhancement of persistent environmental issues, thus promoting policies to safeguard the humanity's common goods (Hall & Saarinen, 2010;Vieira, 2014). Furthermore, it is an activity that brings socioeconomic benefits through the sustainable use of geological structures and unique landscapes (Mikhailenko & Ruban, 2019;Veras et al, 2020a;Wu, 2013).…”

“…It is worth noting that a sustainable geotourism plan can define strategies for living in harmony with Nature, in common with the participation of the local communities, thus allowing to point out the best practices for safeguarding both the natural and cultural resources, in addition to observing the carrying capacity (Veras, et al, 2021a(Veras, et al, , 2021b of specific regions towards sustainability (Assante et al, 2012). GRL can be considered as potentially touristic areas, thus offering a specific geotouristic destination that will depend on the available potential recreational and environmental security in forests, ski slopes, lakes, rivers, mountains or golf courses, where it is possible to contemplate the highlighted physiographic characteristics, and where the right to enjoy a healthy environment is also considered indispensable (Balaguer & Cantavella-Jordá, 2002;Hall & Saarinen, 2010;Ogunmola & Daniel, 2020). The geotourism approach is anchored in the local culture and supports and enhances the identity of the territory, being crucial in advancing the SDGs.…”

20 years of Nordic climate change crisis and tourism research: a review and future research agenda

“…A substantial body of research has focused on the actual and potential implications of climate change for winter-oriented tourism businesses (Brouder & Lundmark, 2011) as well as specific products, including skiing (Demiroglu et al, 2018;Falk & Hagsten, 2017Falk & Vieru, 2017;Haanpää et al, 2014;Landauer et al, 2015;Neuvonen et al, 2015;Schrot et al, 2019;Scott et al, 2019b;Steiger et al, 2019), glacier tourism (Furunes & Mykletun, 2012), Christmas tourism (Hall, 2014), cruising (Palma et al, 2019), geotourism (Hall & Saarinen, 2010c), rural tourism (Nicholls & Amelung, 2015), and nature-based tourism (Saeþórsdóttir et al, 2019;Tervo-Kankare, 2008;Tervo-Kankare, 2019). A special issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism was produced on Nordic Perspectives on Tourism and Climate Change Issues in 2014 (Vol.14(1)).…”