Geoheritage Sites in the Function of Geotourism Development in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

The existence of various forms of mass tourism has led to development of special interest tourism destinations, including geotourism sites. Geological heritage sites are rare instances of outstanding geological, geomorphological, pedological and archaeological importance, used widely in recent years as a tool for the development of geotourism destinations. Over 600 geological sites have been identified in the Republic of Serbia, with only small portion of them being used for geotourism purposes. This paper identifies the most visited geodestinations by means of a questionnaire (Resava cave, Devil's town), as well as the level of tourist satisfaction with the destination, which could be described as very high. The directions for further development need to be set by identifying the existing condition of geoheritage sites in Serbia. The highest rated destinations need to expand their offer in order to attract a larger scale of visitors, while those not included in the list need to re-analyze and identify their limiting factors, and try to mitigate them. Apstrakt: Prisustvo različitih vidova masovnog turizma, uslovilo je pojavu turističkih destinacija od posebnog značaja, među kojima se nalazi i geoturizam. Objekti geonasleđa predstavljaju redak primerak od izuzetnog geološkog, geomorfološkog, pedološkog i arheološkog značaja koji se poslednjih godina u sve većem obimu koristi kao sredstvo za razvoj geoturističkih destinacija. Otkriveno je preko 600 objekata geonasleđa u Republici Srbiji, od kojih se samo mali broj koristi u geoturističke svrhe. U radu su primenom anketnog upitnika identifikovane najposećenije geodestinacije (Resavska pećina, Đavolja varoš), kao i stepen zadovoljstva geoturista destinacijom, koji bi se mogao oceniti kao izuzetno visok. Analizom postojećeg stanja geodestinacija u Srbiji pokušavaju se sagledati pravci daljeg razvoja. Ustanovljeno je da se od najbolje ocenjenih destinacija očekuje da svoju ponudu prošire u cilju privlačenja većeg obima posetilaca, dok je kod manje popularnih destinacija potrebno sprovesti ponovnu analizu, identifikovati nedostatke, a zatim ih otkloniti.

Speleological approach for geotourism development in Zlatibor county (West Serbia)

“…It is essential to recognize the necessity for the development of economically and environmentally sustainable forms of tourism and, as such, the development of geotourism is based on the development of various measures to regulate the conservation of geoheritage (Višnić et al, 2015 Exploring and assessing geotourism potential of Zlatibor county, by analyzing speleological objects was the main objective of this paper. The caves that are evaluated are representatives of speleotourism tradition in western Serbia and, as such, they include attractive geomorphological features.…”

“…Serbia is a country with very rich geodiversity existing in numerous forms (Đurović, Mijović, 2006). The geological diversity of karst regions in Serbia can bring a new level of under-standing about the natural heritage (Višnić, Began, 2015) and thus influence on the development of geotourism and speleotourism as its part. In Serbia, many caves are unexplored and not arranged for tourist visitation.…”