Coming events

The VIII International ProGEO Symposium The European Association for the Conservation of the Geological Heritage − ProGEO and the national organizing committee are pleased to invite you to participate in the VIII International ProGEO Symposium that will be held in Reykjavik, Iceland from 8th to 12th of September 2015. Iceland Travel Conferences Skogarhlid 12, 105 Reykjavik, Iceland. Phone: +354 585 4200; Fax +354 585 4390; E-mail: conferences@icelandtravel.is ........................................................ Geological Heritage Inventories: Achievements, challenges and perspectives European Congress 2015. The aim of this conference is to review the various regional, national and international actions that have been undertaken so as to understand how European public policies approach geological heritage. 23–26 September 2015, Muséum de Toulouse, France. ............................................................ Meetings on EGN and GGN geoparks The coming events and meetings of the European Geoparks Network (EGN) are announced on their web site http://www.europeangeoparks.org/. The coming events and meetings of the Global Geoparks Network (GGN) are announced on their web site http://www.globalgeopark.org/english/ and on Unesco's web site http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/earth-sciences/geoparks/.

Geotourism in Australia

A review of Geotourism in Australia

With many thanks to Associate Professor E. B. Joyce for sending below links via email to finding out some interesting information about Geotourism in Australia

http://web.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/Joyce/heritage/geotourisminaustralia.html

and (with some overlap):

http://web.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/Joyce/heritage/geositesofaustralia.html

and also:

http://web.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/Joyce/geology/Joycepublicationsonline.htm

Geointerpretaion

Geo - Interpretative  provision

“ The key to making geotourism  accepted by tourists is through  proper  interpretation”(Dowling&  Newsome  2006). Geointerpretaion  is  an Art of story-telling in order to give their audience really great Geo-tours! There  are the 15 basic principles of modern interpretation(Beck  & Cake  1998): 1.   Lighting a Spark 2.   Interpreting in the Information Age 3.    Importance  of the Story 4.    Provocation 5.    Holistic  Interpretation 6.    Interpretation Throughout  the  Lifespan 7.    Bringing the  Past  Alive 8.    Modern  Tools  of Interpretation 9.     Enough  is  Enough 10.  Technique  Before  Art 11.   Interpretive  Writing m 12.  Attracting Support and Making Friends 13.  Interpreting  Beauty 14.  Promoting  Optimal  Experience 15.  Passion Interpretation  preparation make understanding of geology possible for general people and bring Geology on Our Door step with proper interpretation( Sadry 2009). Also  An  interpretative strategy, such as geotourism , should generate the public  pressure  required  for  the  promotion and  protection  of  the ‘geoheritage’(Hose,2005). Geotourism’s success depends upon identifying and promoting its physical basis, knowing and understanding its user base and, perhaps most difficult but most importantly, developing and widely disseminating communicatively competent interpretative media(Hose 2006).

Beck L. and Cake TT (  1998) ‘ Interpretation for the 21st Century: Fifteen Guiding Principles for Interpreting Nature and Culture’ , USA, Sagamore Publishing, 242 pp.  Dowling, RK. and Newsome, D. (2006)   Geotourism’s issues and challenges. In Dowling, R. and Newsome, D. (eds.), Geotourism. Elsevier/Heineman Publishers, Oxford, UK, pp.242-254 Hose, Thomas A.,:Geotourism and interpretation,In:Dowling R.K.&Newsome  D.(Eds):Geotourism-221-241, Oxford-Burlington(Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann)2006. Hose, Thomas A.,: Geotourism – Appreciating the deep time of landscapes ,In: Marina Novelli (Eds): Niche Tourism:Contemporary issues, trends and cases -27-38, Oxford-Burlington(Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann)2005. Sadry  BN (2009) Fundamentals of geotourism: with special  emphasis on Iran. Samt Organization Publishing, Tehran, Iran   (English Summary available Online at: http://physio-geo.revues.org/1217 )

The Italian Geotourism Association

  The Italian Geotourism Association

In  2001, set up the Italian Geotourism Association (Associazione Geoturismo in italian) ,The  mentioned association managed the web site as :

The Website Add., in English Version : www.geotourism.it  

(Italian versione is  www.geoturismo.it)

 

With many thanks to Dr. Matteo Garofano for sending the above informations.

  

The concept of Geosite

What is Geosite ?

The tourism component of geotourism  involves visitation  to geosites ! Geosites (geological sites , Geomorphological sites(or Geomorpho-sites), mining sites ,adventure based sites) needs to Geo-conservation measures(Sadry,2009); The human dimension  reflected in tourism activity, and indeed the tourism component of geotourism  involves visitation to geosites (Newsome& Dowling ,2006); Therefore, All  selected geodiversities  considered as potential geosites , after providing tourism infrastructures and geoconservation measures  will be change to a real geosites, and as a geotourism destination(Sadry,2009),And Finally there may be various forms of geosite planning and management in place(Newsome& Dowling ,2006). Geosites is divided into two parts or two sections of  geotourism destination :       1.       Primary Geosites (some of those generally mentioned above) 2.       Secondary Geosites ( such as : Geo-Museum , For more info about secondry geosites see Hose 2005 and 2006)

Hose, Thomas A.,:Geotourism and interpretation,In:Dowling R.K.&Newsome  D.(Eds):Geotourism-221-241, Oxford-Burlington(Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann)2006. Hose, Thomas A.,: Geotourism – Appreciating the deep time of landscapes ,In: Marina Novelli (Eds): Niche Tourism:Contemporary issues, trends and cases -27-38, Oxford-Burlington(Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann)2005 Newsome, D. and Dowling, RK. (2006) The scope and nature of Geotourisms. In Dowling, R. and Newsome, D. (eds.), Geotourism. Elsevier/Heineman Publishers, Oxford, UK, pp.3-25 Sadry  BN (2009) Fundamentals of geotourism: with special  emphasis on Iran. Samt Organization Publishing, Tehran, Iran(English Summary available Online at: http://physio-geo.revues.org/1217)

The International Association for Geotourism

“Our aim is to promote geo and mining heritage sites as tourist attractions, to promote interdisciplinary scientific research and comprehensive protection of nature and mining heritage sites, to promote business activity in geotourism and to grant scholarships for students and young scientists active in the field of nature and mining heritage protection” President  of IAGt, says .

To finding out more see the below wesite:

http://www.iageotour.com/

 

The Global Geotourism Conferences

Main conferences on the topic  :

The First  Global Geotourism Conference - Perth,Australia (2008)

the Inaugural Global Geotourism Conference held in Australia;

www.promaco.com.au/2008/geotm/venue.htm

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The Second Global Geotourism Conference , Miri Mulu , Malaysia (2010)

the Second Global Geotourism Conference held at Gunung Mulu World Heritage Region, Sarawak, Malaysia.

 www.globalgeotourism.com

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The Third Global Geotourism Conference, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman(2011)

The third global geotourism conference held in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman ,from October 30 to November 1, 2011 at the Grand Hyatt Muscat hotel.

  http://www.geotourism.om/ , Find out a report from this  event ,written by our esteemed friend Mr. John Pint , a world widely cave explorer,  at:

http://www.saudicaves.com/geotour/index.html

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The Fourth Global Geotourism Conference, Iceland (2014),
( Plz Attn:  2013 schedule is cancelled)

Regretfully, the fourth conference has been postponed until 2014

About the reason of changing the time from Aug. 2013 to 2014, Please find out more at : http://global-geotourism.blogspot.com/p/a-message.html

The Fourth Global Geotourism  Learning About Volcanic Activities  is being held in Reykjanes, Iceland in 2014. And the Conference Website address is:  www.icelandgeotourism.is.  If you wish to  know more, contact  the co-conenor directly on the email r.dowling@ecu.edu.au




...................................................................................... World Geotourism Conference Zhengzhou, China, October 2014 Contact Information Geological Association of Henan Tourism Development Secretariat Jun Dong (Secretary General): Tel +86 15639916119 E-mail 1138439856@qq.com Junfeng Zhao (in Chinese): Tel +86 18768866961 Email 765442301@qq.com Hanqi Li (in English): Tel +86 18614981679 Email 283004311@qq.com source http://www.geosociety.org.cn/?category=aW5mb0NlbnRlcm5vdGljZQ==&id=3765

Key Geotourism Elements

A  more holistic approach to geoconservation, is  ensuring a sound future for the physical or abiotic resources of the planet, we must learn to work with nature rather than seeking to dominate or subjugate it (Gray,2003);Geoconservation measures coupled with tourism promotion are key geotourism elements( Hose,2006), Also  in the book , fundamentals of Geotourism(Sadry,2009),the  Author mentioned that   :      ... It  is better to consider  geoconservation         through   geotourism window …      A. Tourism Promotion      Tourism elements of Geotourism industry   (see             Newsome& Dowling, 2006 ;and Sadry 2009)  : 1.     Planning and Management of Geosites 2.     Geo-Interpretation  3.     Geo-Activities 4.     Geo-Tours 5.     Accomodation 6.    Geological ,Geomorphologial and Mining Heritage  Attractions B. Geoconservation Measures      To Finding out more about geo- conservation :            Finding out more about geo- conservation** Organisation Function Website ProGEO European association for geological conservation http://www.progeo.se/ English Nature*  Government agency responsible for geological conservation in England http://www.english-nature.org.uk/ Scottish Natural Heritage Government agency responsible for geological conservation in Scotland http://www.snh.gov.uk/ Environment and Heritage Service, Northern Ireland Government department responsible for geological conservation in Northern Ireland http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/ Joint Nature Conservation Committee Government agency responsible for the Geological Conservation Review (GCR) and for UK-wide geological conservation issues. http://www.jncc.gov.uk/ Countryside Agency* Government Agency responsible for countryside issues including landscape protection http://www.countryside.gov.uk/ UKRIGS Association of RIGS groups in the UK http://www.ukrigs.org.uk/ The Geology Trusts A partnership of RIGS groups working as ‘trusts’ Various websites, for example http://www.glosgeotrust.org.uk/ GeoConservation Commission of the Geological Society of London The GeoConservation Commission is a forum for geological conservation in the UK. The major organisations and groups interested in geological conservation are represented on the commission http://www.geoconservation.com/ Countryside Council for Wales Government agency responsible for geological conservation in Wales http://www.ccw.gov.uk/ British Institute for Geological Conservation An independent group of geoscientists committed to geological conservation See ProGEO website Geologists’ Association An organisation serving the interests of both amateur and professional geologists in the UK http://www.geologist.demon.co.uk/ Geological Society of London UK national society for professional geoscientists, hosts the GeoConservation Commission http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/ Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site Team Management of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site http://www.jurassiccoast.com/ UNESCO Selection and inscription of World Heritage Sites http://whc.unesco.org/ European Geopark Network Coordination of European Geoparks http://www.europeangeoparks.org/ Geological Curators Group An organisation dedicated to improving the status of geology in museums and raising the standard of geological curation www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/gcg Natural History Museum Promotion and curation of world class rock, fossil and mineral collections http://www.nhm.ac.uk/ British Geological Survey National geological survey for Great Britain http://www.bgs.ac.uk/ Quaternary Research Association Organisation for Quaternary research http://www.qra.org.uk/ British Geomorphological Research Group Professional organisation for eomorphologists in Great Britain www.bgrg.org British Caving Association Organisation for British caving http://www.british-caving.org.uk/ Palaeontological Society Professional organisation for palaeontologists www.palass.org Rockwatch Nationwide club for young geologists www.rockwatch.org.uk * From October 2006, the current roles of English Nature, the Landscape, Access and Recreation division of the Countryside Agency and the environment activities of the Rural Development Service will be brought together to form a new independent body – Natural England. Source : English Nature 2006, http://www.english-nature.org.uk/

Gary M.,2003 Geodiversity: Valuing and Conserving Abiotic Nature, John Wiley , Chichester 434pp. Hose, Thomas A.,:Geotourism and interpretation,In:Dowling R.K.&Newsome  D.(Eds):Geotourism-221-241, Oxford-Burlington(Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann)2006. Newsome, D. and Dowling, RK. (2006) The scope and nature of Geotourisms. In Dowling, R. and Newsome, D. (eds.), Geotourism. Elsevier/Heineman Publishers, Oxford, UK, pp.3-25 Sadry  BN (2009) Fundamentals of geotourism: with special  emphasis on Iran. Samt Organization Publishing, Tehran, Iran   (English Summary available Online at: http://physio-geo.revues.org/3159?file=1 )

**Prosser C , Murphy  M, and Larwood J  (2006) Geological conservation: a guide to good practice, English Nature