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Sustainable Geo-Resources for Tourism and Recreation
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Sustainable Geo-Resources for Tourism and Recreation

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 October 2019) | Viewed by 12700

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, University of Iceland
Interests: tourism impacts; environment; sustainability; environmental impact assessment; sustainable development; governance; environmental management; natural resource management; land use planning; environment protection; society and environment; wilderness
Prof. Dr. Colin Michael Hall

grade E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
Interests: tourism and human mobility; regional development and social/green marketing; human dimensions of global environmental change and conservation; environmental history, especially national park history & wilderness conservation; the use of tourism as an economic development and conservation mechanism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Travelling and practicing recreational and leisure activities generally leads to the exploitation of, and competition with, geo-resources. The term “geo-resources” refers to all geological resources that are used by humankind: groundwater, mineral resources, energy production, underground space for construction and storage, and the surface geology and landscape. Groundwater is extremely significant for water supplies around the world. Mineral resources include not just metals but also consist of salt and aggregates that are essential for building and infrastructure construction, while geo-energy includes fossil fuels, uranium, lithium, and geo-thermal energy. Underground space is becoming important for construction and storage in many parts of the world, including transport infrastructure developments, and surface geology and geomorphology have become integral to geo-tourism as well as constraining or enabling tourism development.

Most geo-resources, especially raw materials, are inherently non-renewable resources. Therefore, their relative sustainability is an important component of wider thinking about natural resource conservation and use. Travelers are, for example, heavy users of water and energy, while a great deal of land is occupied by hotels, restaurants, and tourist activities. Therefore, in an era of immense growth in tourism and recreation, the sustainable use of geo-resources for tourism and recreation is of vital importance.

The use of geo-resources in general can also lead to conflict with tourism and recreation; however, geo-resources can also be attractions in and of themselves. Utilizing hydro power can, for example, make waterfalls disappear or diminish, while information centers at geothermal power plants can become popular places for travelers to visit due to their educational component and influence attitudes towards renewable energy production. The Special Issue therefore responds to the need for a critical review of the challenges of the sustainable utilization of geo-resources in tourism and recreation, as well as the sustainable management of the relationship between tourism and recreation and geo-resource exploitation in general.

Prof. Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir
Prof. C. Michael Hall
Guest Editors

Keywords

  • Energy production
  • Groundwater use
  • Geo-tourism
  • Speleology
  • Sustainable caving
  • Mining
  • Land use
  • Geomorphology
  • Underground space
  • Geo-resource competition

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 3342 KiB  
Article
Renewable Energy in Wilderness Landscapes: Visitors’ Perspectives
by Edita Tverijonaite, Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir, Rannveig Ólafsdóttir and C. Michael Hall
Sustainability 2019, 11(20), 5812; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11205812 - 19 Oct 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3959
Abstract
Increasing the share of renewable energy in the energy mix is of crucial importance for climate change mitigation. However, as renewable energy development often changes the visual appearance of landscapes and might affect other industries relying on them, such as nature-based tourism, it [...] Read more.
Increasing the share of renewable energy in the energy mix is of crucial importance for climate change mitigation. However, as renewable energy development often changes the visual appearance of landscapes and might affect other industries relying on them, such as nature-based tourism, it therefore requires careful planning. This is especially true in Iceland, a country rich in renewable energy resources and a popular nature-based tourism destination. The present study investigated the potential impacts on tourism of the proposed Hverfisfljót hydropower plant by identifying the main attractions of the area as well as by analyzing visitors’ perceptions, preferences and attitudes, and the place meanings they assign to the landscape of the area. The data for the study were collected using onsite questionnaire surveys, interviews with visitors to the area, open-ended diaries, and participant observation. The results reveal that the area of the proposed power plant is perceived as wilderness by its visitors, who seek environmental settings related to the components of a wilderness experience. Visitors were highly satisfied with the present settings and preferred to protect the area from development to ensure the provision of currently available recreational opportunities. The results further show that the proposed Hverfisfljót hydropower plant would reduce the attractiveness of the area to its visitors, degrade their wilderness experience, and therefore strongly reduce their interest in visiting the area. Moreover, the participants perceived the already developed lowlands of the country as more suitable for renewable energy development than the undeveloped highland areas, which is in line with the principles of smart practices for renewable energy development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Geo-Resources for Tourism and Recreation)
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27 pages, 2801 KiB  
Article
Contested Development Paths and Rural communities: Sustainable Energy or Sustainable Tourism in Iceland?
by Anna Dóra Sæþórsdóttir and C. Michael Hall
Sustainability 2019, 11(13), 3642; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11133642 - 02 Jul 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 7915
Abstract
The Icelandic economy has transitioned from being dependent on fishing and agriculture to having tourism and refined aluminum as its main exports. Nevertheless, the new main industries still rely on the country’s natural resources, as the power intensive industry uses energy from rivers [...] Read more.
The Icelandic economy has transitioned from being dependent on fishing and agriculture to having tourism and refined aluminum as its main exports. Nevertheless, the new main industries still rely on the country’s natural resources, as the power intensive industry uses energy from rivers and geothermal areas whereas tourism uses the natural landscape, where geysers, waterfalls and thermal pools are part of the attraction to visitors. Although both industries claim to contribute to sustainability they utilize the same resources, and land-use conflicts can be expected, illustrating the contestation that can occur between different visions and understandings of sustainability. This paper focuses on the attitudes of Icelandic tourism operators towards power production and proposed power plants using data from questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. Results show that the majority of Icelandic tourism operators assume further power utilization would be in conflict with nature-based tourism, and they are generally negative towards all types of renewable energy development and power plant infrastructure. Respondents are most negative towards transmission lines, reservoirs and hydro power plants in the country’s interior Highlands. About 40% of the respondents perceive that existing power plants have negatively affected tourism, while a similar proportion think they had no impact. According to the respondents, the two industries could co-exist with improved spatial planning, management and inter-sectoral cooperation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Geo-Resources for Tourism and Recreation)
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