You Say Geotourism, I Say Tourism Geology! (Second Edition, 2022)
This book is not about geotourism, but rather focuses on Tourism Geology as a new applied geology dedicated to tourism. Tourism Geology, includes all aspects of tourism-related geological idea, such as attraction, activity, safety factor, difficulty rating of a physical activity, physical impact on attraction, and the contribution of Tourism Geology to tourism in the future. The book covers the philosophy of tourism geology and describes research into tourism geology. See; https://yudispurnama.com/my-book-2/
Tourism Outlined
Tourism is the act and process of spending time away from home in pursuit of recreation, relaxation, and pleasure. Tourism overlaps with other activities, including pilgrimage and business travel. By the early 21st century, international tourism had become one of the world’s most important economic activities. The first connection between tourist and geological feature is established when tourist assess that (at least) there is a character of the geological feature has an attraction. See; https://yudispurnama.com/tourism-types-connect-to-geology/
The evolution of Geotourism
Geotourism definition by Hose (2012):
“The provision of interpretative and service facilities for geosites and geomorphosites and their encompassing topography, together with their associated in-situ and ex situ artifacts, to constituency build for their conservation by generating appreciation, learning and research by and for current and future generations.”
Geotourism definition by Newsome and Dowling (2010):
“Geotourism is a form of natural area tourism that specifically focuses on geology and landscape. It promotes tourism to geosites and the conservation of geodiversity and understanding of earth sciences through appreciation and learning. This achieved through independent visits to geological features, use of geo-trails and viewpoints guided tours, geo-activities and patronage of geosite visitor centres.”
The need of conservation of geological feature was the background and the world trend since 90’s decade. It was commenced by Tom Hose experience where he was the first person who popularize geotourism term. He wrote in an article in 1995 which years later gain popularity by UNESCO Geopark Program. It was the first geotourism definition in 1995. Among many geotourism definition and many books published, they share the same messages. It is the geological feature as the main tourist attraction for geologic interest, great attention to increasing visitor experience on geological feature, in context of geo-conservation spirit, sustainable tourism and to stimulate local economic growth with positive environmental impact. Thus, geotourism definition should cover all the message.
The definition of tourism geology.
The first person who popularizes the term tourism geology was Prof. Chen Anze and Yunting Lu from China in 1991. Later on, the Peking University also mentioned in their book “The Principle of Geotourism” (2015) and “Dictionary of Geotourism” (2020). The second person was Prof. Ibrahim Komoo from Malaysia in 1997. He stated the term in a paper “Conservation Geology: A Case for the Ecotourism Industry of Malaysia.”
In tourism geology there are two components (tourist & geological feature) interact in three relations: attraction, activity, impact. Yudispurnama follows the definition of Tourism Geology as follows; (Purnama, 2020, p.92): “Study of man interaction with geological features where the features control non-living naturally tourist attraction, tourist activity -carried out in varying degrees of difficulty (if any) and taking into account safety factor-, and the impact caused by tourist activity on the feature.” See; 4) Tourism Geology and Geotourism Definition - Yudispurnama
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