The Australian Alps: opportunities and challenges for geotourism

Abstract

Geotourism, as the concept of tourism based on geological features, has gained growing traction in recent years as evident not only from contributions in this book, but also from the Geopark movement and the number of recent conferences on the subject. Geotourism and particularly the Geopark concept build on the notion that fundamentally, geology is the underlying, defining and connecting factor for many natural and even social features of a region, including aspects such as biodiversity, landscape, patterns of human occupancy and use and even architecture. However, today these links are seldom explored or made explicit in the general tourism product even though they have the potential to provide an avenue for a holistic view of a region and its activities, landscapes and people. This chapter focuses on mountain areas as geotourism destinations, with specific focus on the Australian Alps. The first part of the chapter highlights the importance of mountain areas and in particular the Australian Alps for their ecological, economic and cultural values. The latter part of the chapter explores the case of Mount Kosciuszko, Australia's highest peak as a geotourism destination. The region has a diversity of tourism attractions based on geological features which lend themselves to providing a holistic approach to the interpretation of the region's features. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some of the opportunities and challenges for geotourism and tourism in general to the region.