Scenic beauty is one of the most-commonly used indicators in the inventory and assessment of geosites for geoconservation, geoheritage management and geotourism development. It is an important driver of tourists to visit natural areas and it also provides support for the protection of natural heritage. Previous studies on scenic beauty mainly focused on landscape preference and physical characteristics of geosites that affect scenic beauty appreciation. The relationships between the scenic beauty of geosites, their scientific value and the geoscience knowledge of tourists has not been empirically investigated in detail. Hence, this study investigates this relationship using 34 geosites from southeastern Spain. For this purpose, 29 respondents with a geoscience background and who all visited the 34 geosites, 43 respondents with a geoscience background but who did not visit the geosites, and 104 respondents with no geoscience background and who did not visit the geosites, participated in a survey. The first group rated the scenic beauty and the scientific value of the geosites based on a direct field visit during which the scientific background of these geosites was given. On the other hand, the latter two groups rated scenic beauty using representative photos of the geosites. A five-point Likert scale was used to rate the scenic beauty and the scientific value of the geosites. We found a significant relationship between the scenic beauty of geosites and their scientific value, and this relationship becomes more significant if the geoscientific knowledge of the respondents increases. One-way ANOVA results indicated that a geoscience background contributed to higher perceived scenic beauty, especially for those geosites that in general were considered as more scenic by all the respondent groups. It was also found that geosites with viewpoints received in general higher scenic beauty and scientific value ratings.

Geotourism is a sustainable type of tourism that focuses on the geological and geomorphological heritages of an area, and the associated cultural and biodiversity features. Though the popularity of geotourism is rapidly growing, research on the demand side, particularly on segmenting tourists to geosites and understanding their profiles, is limited. This obviously makes the designing of effective tourism policies that aim at developing geotourism sustainably very difficult. Hence, the main objectives of this study were to segment and profile tourists to geosites based on the benefits sought, and to show its implications for sustainable development of geotourism. With a survey of 415 tourists, this study clustered tourists to geosites in the southern Lake Tana region in Ethiopia based on the benefits sought. A factor–cluster method was applied to segment the tourists. The study identified four distinct segments: Activity–Nature Lovers, Culture Lovers, Nature–Culture Lovers, and Want-It-Alls. These segments differed in their demographic, trip, and behavioral characteristics. The findings implied that for sustainable development, destination managers and marketers need to customize their geotourism product development and marketing strategies based on the needs and characteristics of each market segment.

As an inherently fragmented and multisectoral phenomenon, tourism requires the involvement of a diverse range of stakeholders. The main aim of the present study is to map local tourism stakeholders and analyze governance networks. The researchers recruited respondents from key tourism stakeholders through purposive sampling techniques. Closed-ended questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions were used for collecting data. We applied the power–interest grid for mapping local tourism stakeholders. In addition, guided by the concept of resource dependency theory, the Social Network Analysis technique was employed for mapping local tourism governance networks. The findings disclosed that the local tourism stakeholder map primarily comprises government institutions, tourism businesses, local communities, and civil society organizations. Although tourism government institutions and large tourism businesses established strong linkages, the network density was found to be moderate. Implementing effective stakeholder mapping techniques and strengthening local tourism governance networks is crucial to promoting sustainable tourism. This study makes a substantive contribution to academia by providing insights into the methods and techniques essential for mapping tourism stakeholders and governance networks. Moreover, the study has practical implications for destination management organizations, policymakers, and destination administrators.

Tourism, being an inherently fragmented and multisectoral phenomenon, requires the involvement of a diverse range of stakeholders. The main aim of the present study is to map local tourism stakeholders and analyze governance networks. The researchers recruited research participants from key tourism stakeholders through purposive sampling techniques. Closed-ended questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions were used for collecting data. This study applied the power-interest grid for mapping local tourism stakeholders. In addition, by applying the concept of resource dependency theory, the Social Network Analysis technique was employed for mapping the local tourism governance networks. The findings disclosed that the local tourism stakeholder map primarily comprises government institutions, tourism businesses, local communities, and civil society organizations. Even though tourism government institutions and large tourism businesses established strong linkages, the network density was found to be moderate. Implementing effective stakeholder mapping techniques and strengthening local tourism governance networks is crucial to augment sustainable tourism. This study makes a substantive contribution to academia by providing insights into the methods and techniques essential for mapping tourism stakeholders and governance networks. Moreover, the study has practical implications for destination management organizations, policymakers, and destination administrators.