[O-04] Geoparks in Japan

[O04-P23] How to Create the Geotour

*yusei miyanaohara¹ (1.Kirishima Geopark Promotion Council)

Keywords:Kirishima Volcanoes, Geostory, Geotourism, Regional Diversity

Kirishima Geopark, which hosted the 6th National Conference on Japanese Geopark Network, had launched a networking group about a year before for the geotour, one of the program on the conference. The most of its member were geoguides and they put together a geotour. The “geotour” mentioned above is the tour that takes place on the last day of the conference and is specifically for people involved with Geopark. About half of the participants on conference took part in it and it could be an investigation on the spot. Since participants of the geotour have different knowledge (some of them being administrative officers, geoguides, scholars and businessmen), it allows the geoguides to give more advanced tour than the ones given to locals and tourists.
On the other hand, According to current trend, participants are no longer satisfied with just a bus trip. In our tours it is quite common for the travel time to be longer than tour time, because geosites could locate far from each. In addition, though the geoguides know much about each geosites, they must also have broad knowledge such as the connection between geosites and a scenery seen from a car window, along with speaking skill. Therefore geotour should include not only local history and culture but also an activity. We need to create a new tour that participants will not be bored with using forms of transport other than buses.
This poster beside me focuses on what we though was important in planning a geotour while taking the one held on the conference for example and I would like to consider a potential on new geotourism in Kirishima Geopark