Harmonizing the Environment through Geo-tourism Niche Market - Paradigm for Socio-Economic Sustainability: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Geo-tourism and other concepts are being harmonized into socio-economic sustainability approaches for managing natural resources in the tourism industry. Since 2003, it has seen a growth in the geo-tourism concept surprisingly destination rich in geoarchaeological, geomorphological, and geological implications. Moreover, geo-tourism is causing an exciting new stream of research on topics such as geo-tourism for social sustainability and ecological justice, geo-tourism and geo-heritage potentials, investigation on Geo-tourism as a tool for tourism development, geo-tourism, and geo parks as novel strategies for socio-economic development in rural areas, and aesthetics-based classification of geological structures in outcrops for geo-tourism purposes. Adopting these research areas has stemmed from how concepts are organized at local and international levels, emphasizing opportunities for socio-economic development, niche markets, and rural development. However, despite a growing interest in scholarships, research on geo-tourism for socio-economic sustainability is limited and fragmented. Further research is needed to analyze the role of geo-tourism applications. In response to these combined issues—the fragmented nature of research and limited extant literature, we present a systematic review of the theme of this special issue and offer a nuanced understating of what is known, yet to be known, and future research directions to frame a future research agenda for socio-economic sustainability. We develop a conceptual framework that integrates research on geo-tourism and offers a cohesive base for future research endeavors. We also develop a set of testable propositions that serve as directions for future research.