Geotourism in Volcanic and Geothermal Environments: Playing with Fire?

Abstract

Volcanic and geothermal landforms have unique features which make them attractive destinations for geotourism, ecotourism and adventure tourism. Vast numbers of volcanic environments worldwide combined with a special geodiversity offer an extensive range of outdoor activities including the opportunity for education about geoheritage as well as an insight into their significant value for regional culture, religion and history. The importance of volcanic and geothermal environments for the tourism sector has been recognised with the development of volcano-based National Parks and more recently, National and Global Geoparks where geomorphosites containing volcanoes which are currently active and volcanoes classed as active due to their past activity during the Holocene as well as geothermal landscapes are promoted as tourist attractions. Given the growing popularity of volcanic and geothermal destinations, it is paramount that management authorities make visits to active environments as safe as possible. To date, there is a paucity of publications in the academic literature on risk management in volcano and geothermal tourism. This article aims to contribute to closing this gap in the tourism literature.

The Communication and Risk Management of Volcanic Ballistic Hazards

“…The risk environment (the hazard, the number of people and assets exposed and their associated vulnerability) will determine the strategies, tools and methods of communication, and their relative importance, utilised in the overall risk management strategy. The volcano tourism industry is also growing (Sigurdsson and Lopes-Gautier 1999;Erfurt-Cooper 2011), increasing the number of people exposed to ballistic hazard in proximal areas. In addition, population growth in many volcanic regions means increasing numbers of people are settling closer to and on volcanoes (Small and Naumann 2001;Ewart and Harpel 2004).…”

Geotourism at the Natural Park of La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone (Catalonia, Spain): Impact, Viability, and Sustainability

“…One particular type of geotourism is "Volcano Tourism" [8][9][10][11], as volcanoes and volcanic terrains have a worldwide fascination and many are visited by huge numbers of people each year (e.g., Iceland, Canary Islands, Hawaii, Yellowstone, Etna, and Vesuvius). These visits to both live and extinct volcanic landscapes provide much public recreation, adventure, and enjoyment.…”

Geothermal fields of New Zealand in tourism industry – the case of complementary assets and competitive products

“…It also subscribes to a recent line of research at the interface between tourism and conservation (Hall, Lew, 2009), how to organize access to sites which are very special but also highly fragile or even dangerous. The latter issue is particularly relevant to volcanic tourism, which has great educational potential and can offer a truly unforgettable experience, but it also means an exposure of tourists to natural hazards and elevated risk (Erfurt-Cooper, 2011;Newhall, 2014). Indeed, hydrothermal eruptions are not uncommon on geothermal fields of New Zealand (Browne, Lawless, 2001) and occasionally caused fatalities among visiting tourists (Warbrick, 1934).…”