Geotourism starts with accessible information: the Internet as a promotional tool for the georesources of Lower Silesia

Abstract

This paper investigates the state of information on geoheritage or, in a wider perspective, a geotourist offer that can be found on the Internet, the basic source of information for the potential tourist, at the example of Lower Silesia. In order to achieve the intended aim, firstly a discussion concerning the division of the tourist resources in the literature was presented. It served as the starting point for the selection and analysis of particular resources, and their online promotion techniques. A place of the geotourist resources within this group was highlighted. Next, the analysis of official documents that constitute the basis for actions aimed at the promotion of tourist resources, with the geotourist ones in particular, was carried out. Predominantly, they comprised the strategies of tourism development at different levels, i.e. the level of voivodeship, and the selected counties, where crucial georesources, or geoheritage complexes of the region are located. One of the most important examples is the Kłodzko County, officially referred to in its strategy as “the Tourist County.” The authors also indicated the nature-based tourist resources of Lower Silesia, placing special emphasis on the resources presented in the Geotourist Catalogues - the most comprehensive presentations of this kind of resources in Poland. In the following part, another analysis was presented regarding information on natural resources promoted on the websites of public administration, or local authorities. Selected websites were examined for their accessibility and the manner in which the georesources are presented. The main result of the conducted research is highlighting the fact that geotourism as a distinctive tourism category is not sufficiently promoted online. The reason behind it is the dispersion of geotourist resources being categorised under divergent umbrella terms. A set of actions for the implementation of changes that can possibly improve the present situation was suggested.

Keywords

• geoheritage
• internet
• geotourist information
• promotion