Geoheritage and the potential of Geotourism in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, South Africa.

African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure

Phillip Taru¹  Wisemen Chingombe² 

[1] Department of Wildlife Ecology and ConservationChinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe;School of Biology and Environmental Science University of Mpumalanga, South Africa ;

关键词: Golden Gate National Park;    Geotourism;    Geoheritage;    local economic development;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The aim of this paper is to explore the potential of geological heritage (geoheritage) in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park, which is an important milestone towards geotourism development. Drawing on focus group discussions with the Golden Gate community members, key informant interviews, personal observations and a questionnaire administered to a random sample of one hundred visitors to the park, it was established that the Golden Gate montane community would significantly benefit from the geoheritage in the park provided urgent conservation measures are proposed and implemented. The research further established that rather than the park concentrating on the promotion of conservation and marketing of mountain biodiversity, the montane community would potentially benefit from conserving the available geo heritage in the park which is an important milestone towards geotourism development. The research concludes that there is a serious need of developing a comprehensive marketing plan of the park as well as considering different markets in view of the scientific and touristic value of the present geo heritage. Consequently, this provides an important step towards geotourism development in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park for the benefit of montane communities living in and around the park.

【 授权许可】

Unknown