The meaning of geological tourism

1. Geological tourism, geological relics and geological parks

1. Geological tourism

Geo-tourism activities began to sprout in the18th century, and only developed in the last 30 years, becoming an important new type of tourism. People's understanding of geological tourism is still very vague. Up to now, there is not a unified and clear concept of geological tourism in the world, and scholars from different countries have different interpretations of geological tourism. The accepted definition of geo-tourism mainly comes from the definition of geo-tourism put forward by Hose( 1995) in the mid-1990s. In his view, geo-tourism is a kind of aesthetic experience for students, tourists and temporary leisure entertainers, which transcends ordinary art appreciation, and can acquire geological and geographical knowledge of heritage sites through professional explanations and excellent services. In 1997, the National Federation of Geography and Tourism Industry of the United States put forward the term "geo-tourism" with different meanings, holding that geo-tourism is a kind of tourism, which is a tourism activity to maintain and improve the geographical characteristics of a place's environment, culture, art and heritage and the good life of local residents. This meaning has been recognized by some scholars, but it has also been questioned by many scholars. They think that it does not fully reflect the concept of nature, ecology and sustainable development, but is just a kind of geographical tourism, which confuses geological tourism and is completely out of sync with other parts of the world. Stueve et al. (2002) believe that geo-tourism focuses on protecting the geographical features of a destination-the features that distinguish the whole human beings and nature in a certain place from other places. Geo-tourism includes not only the cultural and environmental problems of the destination, but also the impact on local community tourism, individual economy and lifestyle. Newsom and Dowling (2006) have different definitions of geo-tourism from Stuvi. They believe that geo-tourism is a mixture of geology, geomorphology and related natural resources such as landscape, topography, fossils, rocks and minerals with tourism, and emphasize the process of understanding these characteristics that are being or have been created. Stokes et al. (2003) believe that geo-tourism is an emerging market for sustainable tourism, and its focus is to maintain and improve the geological characteristics of tourist destinations. Therefore, once geological tourism is established, it will provide tourists with a beautiful travel experience while maintaining the independent personality of the destination. Tongkul(2006) defined geo-tourism as the utilization of geological heritage resources based on tourism education. James and Hose(2008) believe that geo-tourism is a particularly beneficial form of tourism, mainly focusing on geology and landscape morphology. Dowling(2009) thinks that five key principles are very important for geo-tourism, namely, geo-tourism is based on geological foundation (that is, based on geological heritage), sustainable (economically feasible, enhancing communities and increasing geological diversity), education (realized through geological interpretation), local interests and improving tourism satisfaction. The declaration of the first World Geological Tourism Conference held in fremantle, Australia in August, 2008 holds that geological tourism has a strong educational element, which transmits earth science knowledge to the public, strengthens the connection between human beings and the earth, and makes people begin to perceive the inanimate landscape of the earth. People are attracted by this inanimate element to a great extent and carry out geological tourism, so geological tourism is to protect important geological features and get excellent development and display in protection.

Xia Shufang (1987), a domestic scholar, thinks that geological tourism is different from ordinary tourism, such as sightseeing, getting in touch with folk customs, buying local products, writing travel notes, etc., but scientific tourism that learns professional knowledge by means of tourism. The purpose of geological travel is to understand the geomorphological characteristics along the way, the stratigraphic age along the way, the ins and outs of mountains and rivers, the relationship between mineral resources, biological and human activities and mineral deposits along the way, the relationship between economic geography and geology along the way, and the relationship between scenic spots and geology, and to understand geological events from cultural relics and archaeological materials. Chen Anze (2006) proposed that geo-tourism is closely related to tourism geology, which is the product of the combination of tourism geography, tourism geology and the investigation, evaluation, development and protection of related tourism resources. Zhuang Shouqiang (2006) thinks that geological tourism is a new understanding, new orientation and new combination of people's tourism activities from the perspective of geology. Therefore, although geological tourism is closely related to geology, its essence belongs to tourism. It is considered that geological tourism is a kind of tourism activity closely related to geology, which is based on geology and only comes from geology. It is superior to other kinds of tourism because of its interesting, knowledgeable, participatory and environmentally friendly characteristics, and it is completely in line with "Scientific Outlook on Development" and so on. Chen Hui (2009) thinks that geological tourism refers to a kind of theme tourism with human activity relics directly related to geological bodies as the main tourism resources, and geological tourism is a tourism activity aimed at visiting geological landscapes with ornamental and scientific research value.

Generally speaking, geological tourism is to visit and inspect a series of geological relics and geological landforms (geographical features and landscapes); A kind of eco-tourism and sustainable tourism, which enables people to understand relevant scientific knowledge, such as geology and geography.

2. Geological sites

Geological relic refers to the geological natural heritage formed, developed and left over by the geological action of internal and external forces in the long geological history of the earth evolution. Geological relics are the foundation of geological tourism.

Geological relics are an important part of historical culture and natural heritage, and have great scientific research and cultural and academic value. The integration of natural relics and human landscape is of great tourism value. It is of great significance to carry out geological tourism activities with geological relics and geological landscapes as the core content to publicize earth science knowledge and protect the environment.

The main types of geological relics include: geological landscape with great ornamental and scientific research value; Geological sections and structural features of great value; Ancient human sites and fossil remains of great value; Minerals and rocks with special value and their typical producing areas; Water resources with special significance; Typical geological disaster remains, etc. A geological relic may be a landscape, a group of landforms, a single landform, a rock outcrop, a fossil group or a single fossil. Geological relics are not only one of the natural heritages created and left by geological processes, but also have many values such as science, tourism, popular science and environmental education, and promoting economic development. Therefore, this is a unique natural resource.

Protecting geological relics is an objective requirement of social civilization and progress. In order to protect geological relics, UNESCO has established the World Geopark Network System for the Protection of Geological Relics, and plans to have 500 members of the World Geopark join the system in the future. In addition, for those areas that represent important stages of the earth's evolution history, important geological processes, biological evolution process and outstanding examples of the relationship between human beings and the natural environment, or have unique, rare or wonderful natural phenomena, landforms or rare natural beauty, UNESCO has listed these areas as world natural heritage through evaluation, such as the conical karst landforms and spectacular waterfalls in Jiuzhaigou, China, limestone structures, waterfalls and hot springs in Huanglong and more than 3,000 places in Wulingyuan. The well-preserved Messerkeng fossil site in Germany embodies the mammalian fossils that lived in the Eocene from 57 million to 36 million years ago. Volcanic landforms in Isoleoli (Iolia Islands), Italy; The canyons in the Grand Canyon National Park in the United States and their horizontally distinct rock formations, the volcanic lakes and geysers in Yellowstone National Park, the dreamy smoke and spewing magma of Mauna Loa Volcano and Kilauea Volcano in hawaii volcanoes national park, Hawaii; The columns, peaks and overlapping colored rock formations in the Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada have formed a peculiar wasteland form and a large number of dinosaur fossils. A large number of mammalian fossils are buried in Riversleigh/Naracote, Australia. The geological relics in these world heritage sites are unique geological phenomena formed during the evolution of the earth, showing important geological activity characteristics in a certain geological history period.

Some geological relics are also an important part of historical culture and natural heritage, which have great scientific research and cultural and academic value. The world's dual natural and cultural heritage is a typical representative of this kind of geological relics and humanistic history and culture, such as Huangshan, Taishan, Wuyishan, Emei and Leshan Giant Buddha in China and StKilda in Britain. Khahlamba/Drakensberg Park in South Africa, Hierapolis-Pamukkale in Turkey and Bandiagara Cliff in Mali are rich in natural relics, mainly geological relics, as well as the long history, culture and human landscape of local people. This mutual integration is an important resource element to attract tourists, so it has great tourism value.

Geological relics are the foundation of geological tourism. Geological relics not only bring magnificent and extraordinary landscapes to the earth, but also point out the prospects for the future changes of the earth. They are more of a direct aesthetic impression for tourists.

3. Geopark

"Geopark" is a kind of natural park and a new term created by UNESCO in the feasibility study of "Geopark Plan". Geopark is a unique natural area with geological relics with special geological scientific significance, rare natural attributes, high aesthetic appreciation value and a certain scale and distribution range as the main body, which integrates other natural landscapes and human landscapes. It not only provides people with high scientific grade places for sightseeing, vacation and leisure, health care and recuperation, culture and entertainment, but also is a key protected area of geological relics landscape and ecological environment and a base for geological science research and popularization. It is a nature reserve with special geological significance and rare and beautiful landscape characteristics, and is a typical representative of geological history, geological events and formation process in this area.

Geoparks contain important geological relics and geological landscapes, and are the main places to carry out geological tourism. The connotation of "geology" in a geopark refers to the geological relics it contains, which must exist in a natural state. It is its "geological relics" content that distinguishes geoparks from other types of parks and shows that it has the value of scientific research. The "park" characteristics of geoparks illustrate their social functions and their economic and aesthetic values. Geopark, as a kind of park in a broad sense, not only has the functions of satisfying people's enjoyment, leisure and outdoor entertainment, but also has its own characteristics, which are mainly determined by the contents of its geological relics. Therefore, the geological park is not only a place for people to carry out general tourism activities, but also an important base for geological tourism to inherit geological culture, explore earth secrets and publicize earth science knowledge.

Many countries in the world are establishing and developing geoparks. At present, 100 countries have successively established 1500 national geoparks or national parks. Among them, China has established national geoparks since 2006, with 5438+0, and there are 82 national geoparks up to now. The European Geopark Network (EGN) was established in 2000 with only four members. By April of 20 10, it has developed into a network system with 37 members, covering Europe 15 countries. In 2002, the Department of In-situ Studies of UNESCO (now the Department of Ecology and Geography) proposed to establish a network of geoparks, namely the Global Geopark Network (GGN). Since 2004, the World Geopark Network has formally absorbed 25 members from China and Europe, and by 20 10, 10, the number of network members has reached 77, distributed in 24 countries around the world. At present, the world has basically formed a three-level network system of world geoparks, intercontinental geoparks and national geoparks.

Second, the relationship between geological tourism and tourism geology

With the development of science and technology and the improvement of people's living standards, tourism has become a high-level demand of many people, and the content of tourism is becoming more and more abundant. From the traditional scenic tourism, to the later cultural tourism of nationalities, folk customs and ancient buildings, to the recent industrial tourism and agricultural eco-tourism, the scope of tourism is becoming more and more extensive. Obviously, geological tourism with diverse contents belongs to a branch of tourism family, and in this branch, it is at the same level as landscape tourism, ethnic folk tourism and industrial agricultural tourism.

Tourism geology is different. Although it is composed of tourism and geology, it belongs to geology. At present, the textbooks of tourism geology in China are: Introduction to Tourism Geology edited by Chen Anze and Lu (199 1), Tourism Geology edited by Lu Jinggang (2003), Tourism Geology edited by Yang and Yang (2006) and Tourism Geology newly edited (2006) This paper mainly expounds the classification and characteristics of tourism geological resources, focusing on the formation process and final performance characteristics of geological relics landscape with tourism development value. So theoretically speaking, tourism geology is to understand and study geology from the perspective of tourism, so it is juxtaposed with hydrogeology, structural geology and mineral geology, and its essence is geology. The most basic unit of tourism geology should be various types of geological points, such as trilobite fossils and Cambrian-Sinian geological boundary in Bagongshan National Geopark in Huainan, Anhui Province, unconformity surface and celestite deposit in Xiongershan-Baodugu National Geopark in Zaozhuang, Shandong Province.

Generally speaking, geological tourism belongs to the category of tourism and is a tourism activity closely related to geology. It is a kind of eco-tourism and sustainable tourism that integrates interest, knowledge, participation and environmental protection. Tourism geology, on the other hand, belongs to the category of geology, and it is a marginal subject that studies and serves the popularization of geological knowledge in tourism activities.