An Assessment of Geosites and Geomorphosites in the Lut Desert of Shahdad Region for Potential Geotourism Development

Abstract

In the fields of geology, economics, history, cultural studies, and ecology, tourism can be the basis for proper planning, for sustainable tourism management, and for economic development. The Dasht-e Lut is one of the most significant desert areas in Iran due to its exemplary desert patterns and world-famous landscapes, such as the kaluts and nebkhas landforms. Furthermore, it is the hottest spot in the world and can attract adventurous tourists, amongst others, from around the globe. The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the most suitable geomorphosites for better sustainable tourism planning using three methods of evaluating geotourism as proposed by Pereira et al., Pralong, and Reynard et al. The results show that the geomorphosites of kaluts, nebkhas, and Gandom Beryan had the greatest potential for different reasons. In addition to geosites and geomorphosites, the night sky was also demonstrated to have a high potential to attract tourists. Using the economic criteria of the Reynard method, all geomorphosites had similar scores. The familiarity of officials and tourism planners with the tourist capabilities of this region can lead to economic and cultural capacity building for the Indigenous people and the tourism industry.

Landscapes of the Yazd-Ardakan Plain (Iran) and the Assessment of Geotourism—Contribution to the Promotion and Practice of Geotourism and Ecotourism

“…The present study employed the Pralong method, as did other studies [37,62,66,67], and its results indicated that using the Pralong method to study geotourism and regional tourism is appropriate and has produced results for a variety of tourism sites in the study area. Geomorphosites can also be prioritized using the Pralong method, such as similar works that were conducted in different regions of the world, where the relationship between geomorphosites and landscapes matters [87].…”

“…Of particular interest in this study is the pursuit of the benefits of transdisciplinarity through which local or indigenous ecotourism is conducted [16], the importance of ecotourism in the sustainable development of thematic products, and activities belonging to geoparks [34]. In other studies, geotourism is based on geology and landscapes [10,35], including features of natural, subnatural, and humanised landscapes [36,37]. Landscapes themselves become territorial resources for tourism [38,39], promoting the image of the countryside [40,41] and conservation [42][43][44][45], geotourism and recreation activities, and preservation [31,46,47].…”

Geosite Assessment and Communication: A Review

“…Other interesting geosite assessment efforts are the ones performed by Tomić and Božić [95], Štrba [106], Kubalíková and Kirchner [107], Suzuki and Takagi [108], and Raeisi et al [109]. All the above works have one point in common, i.e., to have performed the assessment of geosites and geomorphosites for geotourism development purposes.…”

Geomorphosites as Geotouristic Resources: Assessment of Geomorphological Heritage for Local Development in the Río Lobos Natural Park

“…The demand for tourism products linked to geoheritage exploitation in NPAs and interest in the study of the geotouristic potential of geomorphosites are increasing [6,7,[12][13][14][15]. A wide range of assessment methodologies to determine the geotourist potential of geomorphosites and to improve their management and conservation have been developed over the past few years [6,[11][12][13][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”