Introducing geotourism to diversify the visitor experience in protected areas and reduce impacts on overused attractions

Daminda Sumanapala; Isabelle D. Wolf

doi:10.3390/land11122118

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Introducing geotourism to diversify the visitor experience in protected areas and reduce impacts on overused attractions

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Introducing geotourism to diversify the visitor experience in protected areas and reduce impacts on overused attractions

Daminda Sumanapala and Isabelle D. Wolf

Land (Basel), Vol.11(12), Art. 2118

2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/land11122118

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Abstract

Environmental Sciences & Ecology

Environmental Studies

Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Science & Technology

Sri Lankan National Parks are highly popular among international and local visitors, as they offer close-up encounters with large animal species. Yala National Park is one of the top five parks in the country attracting larger crowds than any other parks especially during the holiday season. Most visitors flock to the park to observe the highly sought-after Asian Elephant and Asian Leopard. This has led to safari operators pursuing these animals aggressively to satisfy visitor expectations, thereby threatening wildlife populations. In this article, we present a straightforward methodology to identify high-potential geotourism sites in order to diversify visitor experiences as a means to alleviate pressure from wildlife tourism. To identify sites, firstly this study has evaluated various place characteristics important for the development of geotourism, including scientific, tourism and 'additional' value indicators. As a result, three sites out of four were selected to promote geotourism in Yala National Park. Secondly, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was performed, which builds on the results from the numerical evaluation but provides a more in-depth narrative assessment. Ultimately, this study serves as an example of how to seize the opportunities that geotourism offers for diversifying tourism offers in protected areas.

Details

Title: Introducing geotourism to diversify the visitor experience in protected areas and reduce impacts on overused attractions
Authors/Creators: Daminda Sumanapala - Curtin Univ, Tourism Res Cluster, Perth, WA 6150, Australia
Isabelle D. Wolf - University of Wollongong
Publication Details: Land (Basel), Vol.11(12), Art. 2118
Publisher: MDPI
Number of pages: 15
Identifiers: 991005564670107891
Murdoch Affiliation: College of Law, Arts and Social Sciences
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Citation topics: 6 Social Sciences; 6.223 Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism; 6.223.2522 Geotourism & Geoheritage
Web Of Science research areas: Environmental Studies
ESI research areas: Social Sciences, general