Canyons and Gorges As Potential Geotourism Destinations in Serbia: Comparative Analysis from Two Perspectives – General Geotourists’ and Pure Geotourists’
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Open Geosci. 2015; 7:531–546 Research Article Open Access Sanja Božić and Nemanja Tomić* Canyons and gorges as potential geotourism destinations in Serbia: comparative analysis from two perspectives – general geotourists’ and pure geotourists’ DOI 10.1515/geo-2015-0040 1 Introduction Received July 03, 2014; accepted December 06, 2014 Abstract: Serbia represents one of those countries which Since the late 18th century, canyons and gorges have have not yet dierentiated themselves on the world become popular tourist destinations. This trend contin- tourism map. However, it has an immense but still unre- ues to the modern day, when a large number of people vealed potential for geotourism development. In this pa- visit these popular sites every year. Places like the Grand per we analyzed several remarkable canyons and gorges Canyon (USA), Antelope Canyon (USA), Verdon Gorge of great scientic importance and geotourism potential. (France), Samaria Gorge (Crete), Three Gorges (China), These sites include the Djerdap Gorge and Lazar River Vintgar Gorge (Slovenia) and Tara Canyon (Montenegro) Canyon, located in Eastern Serbia and the Ovčar-Kablar are certainly among the most popular geotourism attrac- Gorge and Uvac Canyon located in Western Serbia. One of tions today. the main goals of this paper was to analyze and compare In recent years, there has been a rapid expansion of the current state and tourism potential of these geosites by tourism interest in such geological formations and land- using the M-GAM model for geosite assessment. However, scapes [1]. Due to this fact, geoheritage has become an im- the principal aim of the paper is to analyze how important portant part of the tourist oer of many countries. This is is each subindicator in the assessment process for dier- especially the case in some countries that are still outside ent market segments. In this paper, we also analyzed how of major tourism ows and are competing for their posi- giving dierent importance to subindicators can inuence tion on the global tourism market. The potential tourist at- the position of the geosites in the matrix indicating dif- tractions of these countries are still unrevealed and new to ferent assessment done by two chosen market segments. most of the world. The research showed that general geotourists appreciate Moreover, new trends on the world tourism market put considerably dierent values when assessing a geosite in these countries in a favorable position. The fact is that comparison to pure geotourists. The paper can be used as tourists are becoming more sophisticated than they used framework for developing the tourism management strat- to be in the past [2], so they want more than just a clas- egy of geosites taking into consideration the needs and sic vacation at popular destinations of mass tourism. They preferences of the target market segments. want to discover and explore new places and visit desti- nations ‘o the beaten track’ which do not have an im- Keywords: geotourism; market segments; geosites; age of developed tourism destinations [3]. Thus, the coun- canyons; M-GAM (Modied Geosite Assessment Model); tries that possess undiscovered places with pristine envi- Serbia ronment and which do not focus on mass tourism have a great advantage on the global tourism market. Serbia represents one of those countries which have not yet dierentiated themselves on the world tourism map. Its rich geodiversity lies in the fact that it possesses approximately 650 distinctive geosites [4]. Among these sites there are several remarkable canyons and gorges of Sanja Božić: University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Depart- great scientic importance and geotourism potential. Nev- ment of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management, Trg Dositeja ertheless, geotourists in Serbia still represent a small mar- Obradovića 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia, ket niche, as it is also the case in the rest of the world [5, 6], *Corresponding Author: Nemanja Tomić: University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel while the country’s immense potential is not adequately Management, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia, used for geotourism development [7]. E-mail: [email protected] © 2015 S. Božić and N. Tomić, published by De Gruyter Open. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. The article is published with open access at www.degruyter.com. Brought to you by | Gazi Universitesi Authenticated Download Date | 1/19/16 8:30 PM 532 Ë S. Božić and N. Tomić According to a denition by Newsome and Dowling [8] stand these geosites in a good stead for providing visitors geotourism specically focuses on geology, geomorphol- with enhanced experience in future. ogy and landscape. It promotes tourism to geosites and Since geotourism is focused on geology and geomor- the conservation of geo-diversity and an understanding phology, most tourists visiting geosites in Serbia belong of Earth sciences through appreciation and learning. This to a small market segment which already possesses some is achieved through independent visits to geological fea- knowledge in geology and other related elds. Apart from tures, use of geo-trails and view points, guided tours, geo- them, geosites in Serbia are increasingly visited by tourists activities and patronage of geosite visitor centers. How- who have very little or no interest and knowledge in geol- ever, geotourism has been redened by Hose who pro- ogy. They are mainly interested in other aspects of geosites vided a comprehensive denition of geotourism: “The pro- such as aesthetic and other additional values which are vision of interpretative and service facilities for geosites their primary motives for visit. This raises the question of and geomorphosites and their encompassing topography, how well is one geosite adjusted to dierent market seg- together with their associated in-situ and ex-situ artefacts, ments. to constituency-build for their conservation by generating For the purpose of this paper, we selected two canyons appreciation, learning and research by and for current and and two gorges as good representatives of the geomorpho- future generations” [9]. logical heritage of Serbia. Very few of the mentioned activities and facilities According to Goudie’s [13] encyclopedia of geomor- are currently present at geosites in Serbia, especially at phology, gorges may be hundreds of meters deep and are canyons and gorges. Geotourism at these places is still caused either by incision of a river against an uplifting largely based on self-guided tours which usually do not of- landmass, the superimposition of a channel across resis- fer the same quality experience as tours with professional tant rock, the outburst of oodwaters across a landscape, guides. The problem lies in the fact that majority of those or by the head-ward retreat of a knickpoint or waterfall. places does not have brochures and maps of geosite attrac- The same author also states that canyons are similar to tions to underpin those self-guided tours. One of the main gorges, but the side-walls are usually not as steep, and reasons for this current situation is closely related to the canyons are typically larger than gorges (e.g. the Grand management of these sites which has done very little in Canyon contains an ‘Inner Gorge’ through which the Col- order to enhance the visitors’ experience and attract more orado River runs). Canyons are formed by running water tourists to visit these places. and they present a long, deep, relatively narrow, steep- For instance, there are no websites and virtual tours sided valley, often cut through bedrock which forms pre- as important interactive tools whose main purpose is to in- cipitous clis along the valley walls. The term is typically form potential visitors and entice them to visit these sites. used for such features in arid and semi-arid regions, such In addition, the absence of interpretive panels, trekking as the western United States (e.g. the Grand Canyon in routes and visitor centers also contributes to a low qual- Arizona, USA). They are typical of mountainous regions, ity visitors’ experience [10]. In order to avoid the possible but are also found cutting high-elevation plateaus (e.g. the problem where the increase in number of tourists could re- Black Canyon of the Gunnison on the Colorado Plateau duce the visitors’ experience, the management should fo- in Colorado, USA). They occur where stream erosion sig- cus on more frequent but smaller groups of tourists which nicantly outpaces weathering. Streams in canyons fre- would enable an increase in visitor numbers but at the quently ow through bedrock channels. same time contribute to a higher quality of individual ex- However, in our case, it is dicult to distinguish what perience. is a canyon and what is a gorge according to these deni- There is a need for the visitor to be involved in the ex- tions which tend to be imprecise when it comes to the four perience. The more knowledgeable the visitors are about geosites that are analyzed in this paper. Marković, Pavlović the site, the more involved and interested they become and Čupković [14] give a more suitable and concrete deni- – they engage and develop empathy towards the visited tion which distinguishes gorges and canyons according to site [11]. The scholarly market wishes to engage and there- the shape of the cross-section and its depth (H) and width fore considers the place as special with a need to interact (D). This denition