Geotourism Forum

The Geotourism Forum was launched by Ecotourism Australia at the 2013 Global Eco Asia Pacific Conference. It is a grouping of enthusiastic Ecotourism Australia members who are working to ‘add value’ to Australia’s nature-based tourism offering.

The main purpose of the Geotourism Forum is to advise how best geotourism can be promoted and to further Ecotourism Australia’s interest in inspiring environmentally sustainable and culturally responsible tourism.

Membership of the Geotourism Forum is open, at no additional cost, to any members of Ecotourism Australia who are interested in finding out more about geotourism or who have product offerings that are rich in landscape and geology features, all of which enhances visitor engagement, learning and enjoyment. Landscape and geology underpins almost all of a destination’s natural features and visitors are increasingly keen to learn about this distinctive part of the environment.

Links to Thrive 2030

The recently released THRIVE 2030 Visitor Economy Strategy (Action 7.5) of the Australian Government states ‘Grow and develop high-quality products and experiences around unique Australian locations and themes, including approaches which integrate sustainable nature tourism with economic opportunities for Traditional Owners, and capitalising on emerging tourism trends such as geotourism.’

Benefits

Joining the Geotourism Forum include the following benefits.

• Becoming part of a networked grouping dedicated to the development and advocacy of sustainable geotourism with emerging links overseas, particularly in the Asia-Pacific Region including Indonesia, China, and New Zealand.
• The opportunity to contribute to geotourism policy development activity, particularly relating to the formulation through Ecotourism Australia of contributions to the National Geotourism Strategy (recently branded as Geotourism Australia) launched in April 2021 by the Australian Geoscience Council.
• The opportunity to be engaged in any designated Forum work plan activity through participation by joining Dr Ronda Green of Araucaria Ecotours and Chair of Wildlife Tourism Australia (also representing Ecotourism Australia) in a National Geotourism Strategy working group.
  • Through another working group, the opportunity to learn about new digital technologies that capture and interpret information about natural and cultural heritage.
• The opportunity to participate in the LinkedIn Discussion Group – Australian Geotourism Development, a group which now comprises over 850 members.
• Access to information concerning the latest publications and global and regional geopark network conferences relating to geotourism.

More Information

For more information about geotourism and various exciting projects that are now emerging around Australia, please refer to the Geotourism Australia resource centre.

For more information about the Forum or if you are already a member of Ecotourism Australia and would like to join the Geotourism Forum, please contact the Ecotourism Australia office at eco@ecotourism.org.au or call 07 3256 6777.

If you would like to learn more about GeoRegions, Geotourism, Geotrails, and Geoparks as a tourism development opportunity for Regional Australia, you will find further information here.
If you would like to become part of the Geotourism Forum but are not a member of Ecotourism Australia yet, register now here..