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Global Geotourism PerspectivesEdited By Ross K. Dowling and
David Newsome. GoodfellowPublishers <
www.goodfellowpublishers.com > 2010,xii + 250 pp. (figures,
maps, photographs, references, indices)29.99 Pbk. ISBN:
978-1-906884-17-8
Alexander E. GatesRutgers University, USA
Ross Dowling and David Newsome continue to establish themselves
as leadersin eld of scholarly geotourism with their third
outstanding edited volume infour years. This volume is considered
to be a companion to the Newsome andDowling (2010) edited volume
and contains papers on additional geotourism re-sources and
scholarly topics. Among the three volumes (including Dowling
&Newsome, 2006 ), Dowling and Newsome have managed to cover a
signicant pro-portion of the geotourism resources of the world.
This is a real contribution tothe eld and will serve as a benchmark
for future work. It is a tribute to theirreputation in the
profession that they are consistently able to solicit papers
from
some of the true leaders in geotourism. The range of topics in
this third volumeis as impressive as the previous two, covering
many aspects of the eld of geotou-rism as well as many locations of
the world. The descriptions of geotourism re-sources cover numerous
countries on six continents including Australia, Brazil,Greece,
Japan, Hong Kong, Ireland, Malaysia, Mauritius, Oman, South
Africa,and the United States.
As with the previous two volumes, there is a variety of the
aspects of geotou-rism, both in terms of the geology and tourism as
illustrated in the examplesby location. There is a very thorough
and excellent paper on the many aspectsof geotourism in volcanic
areas on a global basis but with emphasis on Japan.Two papers
describe the politics and legislative processes in developing and
pre-
serving geotourism resources in Australia especially with regard
to dealing withstakeholders. One paper describes how geotourism
interfaces with recreationalrock climbing in Australia. There is
even a paper on geotourism in a game re-serve in South Africa
(Kruger National Park) that presents many concerns forsafety that
are not considered in most places. There are several very solid
papersdescribing the geotourism resources that have been well
developed and are wellattended and operated in certain countries or
regions. These areas include Aus-tralia, Brazil, Greece, Ireland,
and Oman. Several of these are excellent and com-plete and written
by some of the world authorities on geotourism includingNickolas
Zouros, one of the founders of the geopark concept. A paper on a
geo-park in Hong Kong is also excellent and with complete coverage
but adds someconsiderations for developing resources in an urban
setting especially with regardto mobile technology. There are also
several papers that simply describe the re-sources for geotourism
in a single country or area that have minimal develop-ment but that
might be developed in the future. These areas include
Malaysia;Mauritius, and South Africa. Finally, there are two papers
by Dowling and New-some that place geotourism into a global
perspective including where the re-sources are well developed and
utilized and where there is great opportunity to
Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 521522,
2012Printed in Great Britain
Publications in review / Annals of Tourism Research 39 (2012)
503522 521
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develop them in the future. These papers are well written and
poignant as isusual for Dowling and Newsome.
There are a few shortcomings to the volume. Although many of the
papers are well written and appropriate, the quality is variable
among others. One paper onthe Grand Canyon, although well written,
has no references making it more of adescription or book chapter
than a scholarly article. Another paper on Australiahas references
but barely uses them and instead is a discussion on the
difcultiesof dealing with stakeholders of geotourism in a
colloquial manner. The various pa-pers are not grouped by location
or type but rather are intermingled. The volume would have appeared
more organized and been easier to navigate if they had beengrouped
and labelled. In many cases, the maps and photos in the papers are
of poor quality, too small or incomplete which is a detraction
considering that thereare numerous breathtaking views and features
in almost all of the areas described.They stand out in sharp
contrast to the well thought out and executed papers.Finally,
unlike the other edited volumes by Dowling and Newsome, this one is
a
bit Australocentric with several of the papers on the geotourism
of Australia whichgives the volume a bit of a bias. As usual for
Dowling and Newsome, the positive aspects of the volume far
out-
weigh the shortcomings. This volume is yet another signicant
contribution to thestudy of the rapidly growing eld of geotourism.
It is a pleasure to read and pro- vides a wealth of new
information. This is yet another volume of required readingin
geotourism.
Alexander Gates : Department of Earth and Environmental
Sciences, RutgersUniversity, Newark, NJ 07102, USA. Email .
REFERENCESDowling, R., & Newsome, D. (Eds.). (2006).
Geotourism . Amsterdam: Elsevier, Ltd.Newsome, D., & Dowling,
R. (Eds.). (2010). Geotourism: The tourism of geology and
landscape . London: Goodfellow Publishers Ltd.
Assigned 10 August 2010. Submitted 23 September 2010. Accepted
21 December 2010.
doi: 10.1016/j.annals.2011.11.012
522 Publications in review / Annals of Tourism Research 39
(2012) 503522
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.11.012http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.11.012
