文章基本信息

标题：Geosites and Geotourism in the Local Development of Communities of the Andes Mountains. A Case Study
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作者：Paúl Carrión-Mero ; César Borja-Bernal ; Gricelda Herrera-Franco 等
期刊名称：Sustainability
印刷版ISSN：2071-1050
出版年度：2021
卷号：13
期号：9
页码：4624
DOI：10.3390/su13094624
语种：English
出版社：MDPI, Open Access Journal
摘要：The inventory and assessment of a geosite in a territory provides a sound basis for the protection and use of its geological heritage. This article aims to evaluate the most relevant geosites in the province of Chimborazo (Ecuador), applying the Spanish Inventory of Sites of Geological Interest (IELIG, in Spanish) method, and proposing alternatives for geotourism development in the studied area. The methodological process was based on: (i) the inventory and preliminary selection of geosites; (ii) a semi-quantitative geosite assessment and proposal of travel itineraries for geotourism; and (iii) the application of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) matrix to establish geotourism development strategies within a framework of sustainability. The global assessment of scientific, tourist, and academic interests demonstrates that 25% of the 20 evaluated geosites have very high interest and 75% have high interest. The top three geosites with the highest degrees of interest are the Chimborazo Volcano, known as ‘Earth’s Closest Point to the Sun’, the Pallatanga geological fault, and the geosite named Comunidad Cacha. The SWOT analysis reveals that travel itineraries that combine cultural heritage elements and geosites could offer a real alternative for the region’s sustainable development through geotourism.