Quantifying Geotourism: A Demoscopic Study for the “Litoral del Biobío” Geopark project (Chile)

Geotourism as a tool for local and social development requires evaluating how geology is perceived by society and how the geology can contribute to solve society’s needs and perspectives. This research is the result of a survey undertaken in the “Litoral del Biobío” geopark project (Chile) from April to September 2019. This survey consists of over 400 people and is a direct geoturistic demoscopic study on local communities. It covers a large diversity of social setting (ranging from urban to rural indigenous) and also a diverse level of education. Salient points of the results includes more than 80% of the community are aware of the sites of tourist interest in their community, while less than 20% recognize the geology and/or geosites of the territory. The need for economic development (21%) and tourism in natural areas (82.5%) stand out as the main tourism focus and tool for generating sustainable economic resources for the territory. Geodiversity and geotourism play an important role (48.1%), but are subordinate to biodiversity (76.7%) in the territory. Furthermore, geotourism is far from the perceptions of crime (23%), given that it is still a minority tourism sector. Finally, there is a certain level of resignation in the community regarding the medium-term development of its territory (52%), with education on geological and environmental risks (77%) being one of the main priorities. This study shows that, although there are basic needs to be covered in the territory, such as security and public infrastructure, there is also a great interest in developing tourism in natural areas. In this scenario, geotourism becomes relevant as a tool that can contribute to local sustainable economic development, education on geological risks, awareness of the geological value of the territory, as well as the revaluation of the cultural heritage in the study area.