Sustaining the Character of a Place through Geotourism and Geoparks

Dear Colleagues,

Geotourism sustains the character of a place. It is an expansive and inclusive concept that celebrates and empowers communities through the recognition of Abiotic (i.e., ‘non-living’) and Biotic (i.e., ‘living’) features, elements, and culture. That which encompasses geotourism differs throughout the world, with some countries and regions focusing on the experiences of leisure tourist appreciation of landscape, scenery and education, and others situating recreational pursuits and extreme sports in the physical and biological landscape.

Some geotouristic elements and experiences are found and practiced in protected areas, such as national parks, reserves, and wilderness. The infrastructure, interpretive materials, and social license of hoteliers and guides to operate in protected areas is sometimes a cause for local tensions and potential environmental or cultural artifact degradation. Other ventures actively embrace, or even celebrate, landscape transformation and development using the built environment, mine sites, and quarries to tell the stories of modern and historic practices and the inherent cultural heritage associated with these.

Geoparks represent the intersection between a range of different geotouristic endeavors. They represent a new form of UNESCO protection specifically designed to help sustainable development goals for society and the environment. They protect geodiversity and biodiversity and, at the same time, preserve and celebrate local culture and history. Geoparks are often used to alleviate poverty and improve social and educational outcomes for society, and to this end, they have been very important in developing nations. In other places, geoparks function as protected areas, often to promote geoscience and geodiversity—an initiative that has improved career outcomes and options for geologists and aspiring earth scientists and geomorphologists. Therefore, geoparks are but one means to capture the essence of sustainable geotourism and may differ in their focus across the world.

We are pleased to invite you to submit your manuscript to this Special Issue entitled “Sustaining the character of a place through geotourism and Geoparks”, which we see as both an engaging and potentially instructive issue for interested hospitality and tourism practitioners and researchers alike.

This Special Issue aims to highlight the ways of conducting studies and the lessons learned as a result of planning, constructing, and implementing geotourism ventures and experiences, including geoparks. We encourage interested authors to consider the impacts of geotourism ventures, sustainable development goals, and values considered when writing their articles. Multi-author, multidisciplinary articles written for a broad audience are especially encouraged.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Geotourism and geoparks ventures especially issues related to recreation and leisure tourism elements, economics, and experiences;
• Geotourism and geoparks in protected areas;
• Social license to operate in protected areas;
• Geotourism, geoparks and sustainable development goals;
• Geotourism and geoparks for poverty alleviation and eradication;
• Digital tools in geotourism and geoparks, especially those designed to increase accessibility and uptake of information for diverse audiences;
• Cultural aspects of geotourism;
• Geotourism and geoparks celebrated elements and experiences, such as astronomy, environmental restoration, secondary geodiversity, and post-mining landscapes.

Please be encouraged to include photographs, maps, and supplementary materials in your submissions, subject to the instructions for authors in this journal.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Melinda McHenry
Dr. Ng Young
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Tourism and Hospitality is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• geoheritage
• sustainable development
• mining
• culture
• society
• biodiversity
• geodiversity
• values
• heritage
• nature-based tourism