Geoparks: Destinations for Tourism and Geotourism
In a Note produced for its Roundtable Discussion on “Regional Policy and Tourism”, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) highlighted the obvious link between tourism and regional development¹. Tourism is identified as one of the world’s major service and growth industries. However, the growth of tourism policies at national, regional and local levels as drivers for economic development and job creation present challenges, both for the present and future, which include:
• Supporting tourism as an instrument for territorial development with strategies designed for the sustainable conservation of an area’s heritage.
• Creating new forms of marketing linked to quality standards which meet the requirements of a global market.
• Encouraging the emergence of new, less developed regions as competitive tourist destinations and revitalizing existing tourism areas experiencing a slow down in growth.
• Establishing cooperation between regions
• Raising awareness of the social impacts associated with the growth of tourism