A METHODOLOGY FOR EXAMINING GEOTOURISM POTENTIAL AT THE KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

In contrast to Europe, Asia and South America where geotourism is actively pursued, geotourism activities in South Africa have not to-date been a focus of tourism products. The purpose of this paper is to propose a field methodology that can be used to assess the potential for geotourism development. Existing procedures to establish geotourism site potential are reviewed and a new methodology that accounts for more characteristics than currently found in documented methods is proposed. This consists of three phases: creating a standardised manner of inventorying the sites; standardising field rank scoring for each site by geotourism value, cultural value, ecological sensitivity, accessibility, de velopment requirements, currently available academic literature, and, developing a final multi-site database assisting the South African National Parks to preserve geoheritage sites. Based on previous studies, the Kruger National Park has geoheritage sites that could form the basis for geotourism development: therefore, the methodology was piloted in its northern regions at well-known geoheritage sites. The findings of this study intend to assist the South African National Parks, local community leaders, the private sector (including existing tour operators) and government departments in achieving a national database of geoheritage sites to ultimately be associated with sustainable tourism activity led by local communities.