Analysis of network activities in geoparks as geotourism destinations

Abstract

Geoparks as an innovation for the protection of natural and geological heritage play an important role in the development of geotourism and knowledge exchange. The European Geopark Network and the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network have introduced geotourism as one of themaintargetforgeoparksinparallelwithconservationandeducation.Forthatpurpose,itiscrucialtoapplythenetworkconcepttogeotourism activities. This paper is aimed at analysing network activity between geoparks and evaluating the connectivity rate of the Global Geoparks Network and the European Geoparks Network. It was concluded that UNESCO Global Geoparks Network and European Geoparks Network have concentrated their network activities on the areas of meetings, conferences and exchange of knowledge. Moreover, the authorities of geoparks have attempted a development of tourism marketing in their territory.