Geotourism starts with accessible information: the Internet as a promotional tool for the georesources of Lower Silesia
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Open Geosci. 2018; 10:275–288
Research Article
Krzysztof Widawski, Agnieszka Rozenkiewicz*, Janusz Łach, Alicja Krzemińska, and Piotr
Oleśniewicz
Geotourism starts with accessible information:
the Internet as a promotional tool for the
georesources of Lower Silesia
https://doi.org/10.1515/geo-2018-0021 hensive presentations of this kind of resources in Poland.
Received Mar 01, 2018; accepted Jun 05, 2018 In the following part, another analysis was presented re-
garding information on natural resources promoted on the
Abstract: This paper investigates the state of information
websites of public administration, or local authorities. Se-
on geoheritage or, in a wider perspective, a geotourist offer
lected websites were examined for their accessibility and
that can be found on the Internet, the basic source of in-
the manner in which the georesources are presented. The
formation for the potential tourist, at the example of Lower
main result of the conducted research is highlighting the
Silesia. In order to achieve the intended aim, firstly a dis-
fact that geotourism as a distinctive tourism category is
cussion concerning the division of the tourist resources
not sufficiently promoted online. The reason behind it is
in the literature was presented. It served as the starting
the dispersion of geotourist resources being categorised
point for the selection and analysis of particular resources,
under divergent umbrella terms. A set of actions for the
and their online promotion techniques. A place of the geo-
implementation of changes that can possibly improve the
tourist resources within this group was highlighted. Next,
present situation was suggested.
the analysis of official documents that constitute the ba-
sis for actions aimed at the promotion of tourist resources, Keywords: geoheritage; Internet; geotourist information;
with the geotourist ones in particular, was carried out. Pre- promotion
dominantly, they comprised the strategies of tourism de-
velopment at different levels, i.e. the level of voivodeship,
and the selected counties, where crucial georesources, or
geoheritage complexes of the region are located. One of the
1 Introduction
most important examples is the Kłodzko County, officially
In the digital era, it is hard to imagine undertaking travel
referred to in its strategy as “the Tourist County.” The au-
that has not been proceeded by, or accompanied by the use
thors also indicated the nature-based tourist resources of
of the Internet. Undeniably, it is the first source of informa-
Lower Silesia, placing special emphasis on the resources
tion that is increasingly becoming more and more power-
presented in the Geotourist Catalogues - the most compre-
ful in terms of the number of potential and actual tourists
who avail themselves of it on a daily basis. However, a se-
ries of questions arises: is the tourist information provided
*Corresponding Author: Agnieszka Rozenkiewicz: University online accessible? Or, more importantly – does it refer to,
of Wrocław, Institute of Geography and Regional Development and promote the types of tourism that are crucial from the
Wrocław, Poland; Email: agnieszka.rozenkiewicz@uwr.edu.pl
point of view of a certain area? And finally, is the tourism-
Krzysztof Widawski, Janusz Łach: Department of Regional Ge-
ography and Tourism Institute of Geography and Regional Devel-
related websites’ network for the particular area or region
opment Faculty of Earth Sciences and Environmental Management adequate enough, interlinked and sufficiently easy to nav-
University of Wrocław 32 Wojciech Cybluski st., 50-205 Wrocław, igate, so as to ensure that visitors are led by the hand prior
Poland to, or during their visit? And therefore, encouraged to stay,
Alicja Krzemińska: Department of Geomorphology Institute of Ge- rather than discouraged by the lack of information. The
ography and Regional Development Faculty of Earth Sciences and
worst-case scenario for tourists consulting online sources
Environmental Management University of Wrocław 1 Uniwersytecki
square, 50-137 Wrocław, Poland is being provided with information that is inadequate, or
Piotr Oleśniewicz: Department of Tourism Institute of Tourism misleading. It most likely leads to the visitors’ feeling of
and Recreation Faculty of Physical Education University School of
Physical Education 35 I. J. Paderewski st., 51-612 Wrocław, Poland
Open Access. © 2018 A. Rozenkiewicz et al., published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License
276 | A. Rozenkiewicz et al.
disappointment, and as a result, prevents consequent vis- – The Act of 25 June 1999 on the Polish Tourism
its from happening. Organisation [Journal of Laws from 2016, item
The above-mentioned questions and issues have be- 156; Journal of Laws from 2017, item 1089].
come the basis for the research into the phenomenon of
Documents by the Polish Tourism Organisa-
geotourism in the region of Lower Silesia (Poland) and its
tion (original: Polska Organizacja Turystyczna –
online presentation and promotion. The focus of attention
POT)
was placed on the qualitative analysis of the selected legal
and planning documents, catalogues of geotourist sites – tasks of POT regarding online promotion;
and official websites administered at national, regional – tasks of POT regarding the Polish Tourist In-
and local levels (all specified in the section of methods). formation System.
The predominant research aim was to determine the level Planning documents:
of accessibility of information on “geoheritage’ and “geo- at the national level:
tourism” in the sources given above.
– The Tourism Development Programme until
The research results might be of practical use for the
2020 (original name: Program Rozwoju Tu-
designers of official tourism websites (OTWs) in terms of
rystyki do 2020 roku);
the adequate content presented in accordance with the ty-
pology of tourism in the academic literature that would at the level of the voivodeship:
be cohesive and consistent in its nature. Another poten- – The 2020 Development Strategy for the Lower
tial interest group encompasses advertising experts in the Silesia Voivodeship (original name: Strategia
tourism industry oriented towards geotourism and pro- rozwoju województwa dolnośląskiego 2020);
moting nature-based resources. – The Update of the Tourism Development
Programme for the Lower Silesia Voivode-
ship (original name: Aktualizacja Programu
2 Methods Rozwoju Turystyki dla Województwa Dol-
nośląskiego);
The main hypothesis in the article is an assumption that at the level of the county:
both the quality of the information regarding geoheritage
– the Kłodzko County Development Strategy for
and the way in which it is presented online has an im-
the Years 2016-2020 (original name: Strate-
pact on the development of geotourism. The key research
gia rozwoju powiatu kłodzkiego na lata 2016-
aim, i.e. determining the level of accessibility of online in-
2020).
formation on geoheritage and geotourism at the example
of Lower Silesia, was achieved applying the method of a Official tourism websites (OTWs):
qualitative analysis of the information sources given be- at the national level:
low. The selection process enables the readers to see an – a web portal administered by POT, available
overall view of the current situation perceived from the na- at: www.polska.travel;
tional, regional and local perspectives.
at the level of the voivodeship:
Catalogues of geotourist resources:
– a web portal administered by the Lower
– The Catalogue of Geotourist Sites in Poland Silesia Marshall’s Office, available at: www.
from 2006; dolnyslask.info.pl;
– The Catalogue of Geotourist Sites in nature re-
serves and monuments from 2012. at the level of the county:
Legal documents: – a web portal administered by Kłodzko County,
available at: www.powiat.klodzko.pl;
– The Bulletin of Public Information, the Min-
istry of Sport and Tourism, the Department of
Tourism, information on departments, the ac-
tion range of the department;
Geotourism starts with accessible information | 277
tives [18]. The previously indicated call for an interdis-
3 Literature review ciplinary evaluation model, that would incorporate both
qualitative and quantitative research approach, has found
3.1 The Internet as a source of information its answer in the form of a Web Quality Index (WQI) ap-
for tourism plicable to OTWs, examined and described in the Spanish
context studies [14]. Notwithstanding, there still is no com-
The Internet and online applications have revolutionized mon agreement among academics upon an efficient and
the contemporary image of tourism in terms of destina- exhaustive website evaluation model that would be seen
tion marketing and applicable promotion techniques [1– as universal in its nature for the tourism industry [16, 18,
4], and have also become indispensable components of 19], and the questions asked above, at least partly, remain
modern travelling [5]. The initial assumptions in the sub- unanswered thus far.
ject matter and the possible potential of the phenomenon Even though the potential of the Internet in gener-
in question [6–8] are now an undeniable fact [9]. The In- ating tourist interest and consequently tourist traffic is
ternet is the predominant information source that tourists commonly recognized [1], among other examples Ameri-
nowadays refer to [10]. In the context given, information can [12] and Chinese [20] context studies clearly indicate
can be compared to “the lifeblood of the tourism industry” the critical issues that hinder the effectiveness of its use.
[11, p. 633 after 12] and the Internet to the heart that cir- It particularly refers to OTWs that either lack consistency
culates it [12, p. 815]. Accessible information, as indicated among their elements, or restrict the scope of interest to
in the article title, being given a broader technological basic tourist information only, as stated in the aforemen-
perspective and understood as “individual tourist support tioned research respectively. The Internet utility effective-
system within the context of information services and an ness in the tourism destination marketing sector can be
all-encompassing technology” can even be equated with raised ensuring high information accessibility, providing
the very notion of “Smart Tourism” [13, p. 293]. Official a proper online image of the destination, together with
tourism websites (OTWs) are considered to constitute the adjusting position strategies [21]. While creating an effec-
channel for the provision of information that is crucial in tive website DMOs (Destination Marketing Organisations)
the decision-making process of the potential tourists and should also recognize the linear relationship between the
their choice of destination [14]. website’s complexity and its performance, as well as rely
What factors make an informative website then? What on proper market segmentation [22].
makes it a successful communication tool, especially be- Another question arises: what factors are the key ones
tween the official tourism entities and the public? Merely in the decision-making process of the person surfing the
the online presence does not suffice with respect to meet- Internet whose aim is to choose a particular tourism des-
ing the demanding customers’ needs anymore [15]. A com- tination, and/or purchase a certain tourism product? For
prehensive overview of the existing website evaluation some researchers, it is the link between the information
methods in tourism research in the time range of 1996- per se presented on tourism-related websites and its credi-
2009 can be reached [16]. It is suggested that the future bility that leads to the potential tourists’ buying intent [23].
research approach should combine the qualitative and For others, high levels of customer retention can be en-
quantitative website evaluation methods, taking into con- couraged by the use of visuals, together with a complete
sideration the theories and models proposed by other dis- layout of destinations to be visited [24]. The positive per-
ciplines, especially psychology and computer science [16]. ception of a website should include being easy to navigate
Similar studies conducted in an identical time range pro- and user-friendly [25], as well as having irresistible fea-
posed the adoption of the evaluation framework based tures appealing to customers [26]. Information provided
on three distinctive variables, namely phase, features (i.e. on high-quality destination websites should be complete,
website content, website content and design, website de- credible, usable and persuasive [27]. Other constituents
sign) and features combined with effectiveness (i.e. expert of great importance in the hospitality industry context in-
evaluation, consumers’ intention, user satisfaction) [17]. clude the websites’ usability, ease of use, entertainment,
This website evaluation structure, to a large extent, sum- and complementarity [28]. Also, a customer to customer,
marizes the research results in the subject matter to date. or a customer to potential customer interaction and the re-
Another attempt to collate the existing state of research in viewing process accompanying it, in other words, the e-
this realm of interest in the new millennium provides an word of mouth, cannot be underestimated. It is perceived
extended framework showing interrelations between the to be an influential communication channel for online des-
marketing-, customer-, technical- and internal perspec- tination marketing [29, 30]. Therefore, strategic employ-
278 | A. Rozenkiewicz et al.
ment of social media by national tourism organisations portance. Good examples are viewpoints, national parks,
(NTOs), as a powerful source of destination marketing and landscape parks, forest preserves, and sanctuaries.
promotional tool, cannot be ignored. In order to boost lev- Even though cultural resources are of lesser impor-
els of social engagement, continued attention needs to be tance for geotourism, some of them (especially architec-
paid to visual content and to ensuring the weekend post- tural monuments) might still be found attractive due to the
ing, as concluded from the research performed analysing material they were erected with.
the use of NTO’s Facebook buzz amongst ten top countries
ranked by international arrival between 2013 and 2015 [31].
4 Results
3.2 Tourist resources and their division
4.1 Tourism, information and promotion –
The geotourist potential of any region, including Lower an intrinsic link in the legal and
Silesia, is presented through different channels of distri- planning documents
bution, including one of the most important, if not the
most important – the Internet. Regardless of the chan- Tourism development is such a significant element of the
nel type, the scheme of the presentation is based on economic and social growth of our country that special in-
the division of tourist resources proposed in the Pol- stitutions responsible for the correct course of the process
ish literature. A similar approach is presented by Ro- were established at the national, regional and local lev-
galewski [32], Warszyńska and Jackowski [33], Lijew- els. At the national level, the Ministry of Sport and Tourism
ski, Mikułowski and Wyrzykowski [34], Kowalczyk [35], is responsible for the tourism sector. Within this Ministry,
Kruczek [36], Nowakowska [37], or Kurek [38]. The most there is the Department of Tourism. It is assigned 19 main
detailed division comprises three basic groups, and was tasks dedicated especially to tourism [39]. One of those is
proposed by Lijewski, Mikułowski and Wyrzykowski [34]: the supervision of the Polish Tourism Organisation (POT).
This organisation is crucial for the tourist promotion of the
1. Leisure tourist resources
regions and resources of Poland. POT was established by
2. Sightseeing tourist resources
the virtue of the Act of 25 June 1999 [Journal of Laws from
3. Qualified tourist resources
2016, item 156; Journal of Laws from 2017, item 1089]). Its
Concerning the inanimate environment – the natu- first article points to the need to strengthen the promotion
ral setting for the geotourist resources – the most impor- of tourism both in the country and abroad. The third ar-
tant is the second group, i.e. the sightseeing resources. ticle of the Act defines the basic tasks of POT. In the first
In this group, there are elements of the natural environ- and third points of the article, the promotion of Poland as a
ment, or the products of human activity. The sightseeing country attractive for tourism is stressed. At the same time,
resources are divided into two more groups: the first one the need to ensure the functioning and development of
comprises the natural sightseeing resources, and the cul- the Polish system of tourist information both in the coun-
tural sightseeing resources belong to the second one. The try and worldwide is underlined. To fulfil its tasks, the or-
first group is of greater importance from the perspective ganisation is granted the right to create regional and local
of geotourism development. The multiplicity and variety tourist organisations (art. 4). Their tasks, among others,
of these resources implicates another division according are the tourist promotion in the region of their supervision,
to the degree and character of human interference in the as well as the help given to the functioning of the tourist
resource creation process. Here, obviously, the most im- information system.
portant ones for geotourism are those resources that are As emphasised by the Polish Tourism Organisation
created without any human interference, such as the cu- “(. . . ) the Internet is one of those marketing tools of the
riosities of fauna and flora; rocks and groups of rocks; most rapid development being both modern and efficient.
gorges, valleys, and watershed; waterfalls, springs; caves Thus, the promotion of the tourist regions through the In-
and grottos; erratic rocks, the group of rocks and finally ternet is nowadays the most popular tool enabling both
other geological sites. The second group consists of the personalization, interactivity and global reach” [40]. The
man-made resources, like monumental parks, museums of aim of the online projects is to build the brand awareness
nature, botanical gardens and zoological parks. The last of Poland and to solidify the image of Poland as an at-
category of natural resources is a group for which human tractive destination. The role of an official POT website (as
interference had no influence on their character and im- owned by POT), being a digital part of the Polish System of
Geotourism starts with accessible information | 279
Tourist Information (PSIT) is highlighted. As it was men- are further divided into environmental (natural) and cul-
tioned on the official website of the organisation: the digi- tural resources [43, p. 61].
tal part of PSIT is the answer to the ever-changing market It is important to draw attention to this approach, as
needs and to the new emerging channels of information it is mirrored in the manner of tourist resources promotion
distribution. The key point of the Polish Tourism Organi- on the Internet, the responsibility for which is held directly
sation is creating the national base of data, the so-called or indirectly by institutions setting regional and national
Tourism Information Repository (original name: Repozy- developmental directions (also in the tourist context).
torium Informacji Turystycznej). It is being prepared to-
gether by POT and ROTs (Regional Tourism Organisations)
and the National Tourist Portal (Poland’s Official Travel 4.2 Information on geotourist resources of
Website: www.polska.travel), which is available in 23 lan- Lower Silesia in the Catalogues of
guages [41]. Geotourist Sites in Poland
It is worth stressing again that the tourist resources
(including the geotourist ones) presentation scheme gen- The geotourist resources are a significant potential that
erally overlaps with the division in the Polish source liter- still awaits a detailed study. In the 21st century, only two
ature. Tourism Development Programme until 2020 being attempts to achieve this goal were made. They resulted
a resolution no. 143/2015 of the Council of Ministers, is- in publishing two catalogues of the most important geo-
sued on 18.08.2015, prepared for the Ministry of Sport and tourist resources of Poland. Both catalogues were devel-
Tourism [42, p. 23], points to three resource groups: nat- oped by an academic team of professor Tadeusz Słomka,
ural, cultural and spa, understood broadly as the leisure representing the Kraków scientific community, supported
resources. This division is the basis for the promotional ac- by the scientists from other Polish universities. The re-
tivity of the departmental agendas and is used to present search for both catalogues was co-financed by the National
the resources of every voivodeship. Found of Environmental Protection and Water Manage-
The same approach to the promotion of resources pre- ment. The first catalogue of the geotourist sites in Poland
sented according to a particular scheme was noticed at presents a selection of the geological sites of scientific doc-
lower organisational levels (voivodeship and county). The umentation, while the second one describes (as declared
2020 Development Strategy for the Lower Silesia Voivode- in the title of the publication) geotourist sites in nature re-
ship, which is a general document mapped out under the serves and monuments. It is worth checking how the geo-
Marshal of Lower Silesia voivodeship for the years 2014 – tourist potential of the region is presented in both publica-
2020, delineates the main points of the regional develop- tions.
ment policy, financial perspectives, system of implementa- In both publications, the role of Lower Silesia as a re-
tion etc. One of the eight main spheres influencing the de- gion particularly predisposed to the development of geo-
velopment is tourism. While presenting its potential land- tourism is clearly visible. According to the first catalogue,
scape, natural, cultural and leisure resources are enumer- developed in 2006, the number of geotourist sites places
ated pointing in particular to the role of Lower Silesian dolnośląskie voivodeship (the voivodeship of Lower Sile-
spas [43, p. 18]. This division is even clearer in the doc- sia) in the third position in the country (Table 1). The
uments relating to the programmes of tourism develop- higher positions are taken only by two other regions,
ment in the region. The Update of the Tourism Develop- namely Małopolskie and Podkarpackie. Among 100 sites
ment Programme for the Lower Silesia Voivodeship was pre- described in the volume, 13% of the georesources rep-
pared by the Polish Agency of Tourism Development (Pol- resent Lower Silesia. The significance of the region in-
ish original name: Polska Agencja Rozwoju Turystyki) in creases in the next juxtaposition of the resources. The cata-
2009. In the description of tourist attractiveness of Lower logue from 2012 ranks the Lower Silesian potential on the
Silesia voivodship, the natural and cultural resources were second position, just behind the Małopolska region. The
mentioned [44, p. 20]. A similar situation concerns the geosites recognized as important for the development of
Kłodzko County Development Strategy for the Years 2016- geotourism account for 17.5% of the country’s potential.
2020 (Polish original name: Strategia Rozwoju Powiatu Interestingly, both lists, at least in the case of Lower Sile-
Kłodzkiego) enacted by the Kłodzko County Council [45]. sia, are two independent collections that do not overlap.
The richness of tourist resources of Kłodzko Land is di- Therefore, it can be stated that in 2012, the total of 41 dif-
vided into three basic groups: leisure resources, qualified ferent geosites important for the geotourism development
resources, and sightseeing resources while the last ones was presented. Not to get into details of why this happened280 | A. Rozenkiewicz et al.
Table 1: The number of geotourist sites divided by voivodeships in Bogs at Zieleniec; the Linden Gorge; the Myślibórz Gorge;
both catalogues. the Siedmica Gorge; the Wolf ’s Mountain; the Wilczka
Stream Waterfall; the Forgotten Rocks.
Number of geotourist sites Catalogue Catalogue
Although the lists above may give the impression that
in each voivodship . . . (2006) . . . (2012)
the topic has been exhausted, one should be aware that
1 Podkarpackie 17 12 this catalogue is incomplete. There are no resources of the
2 Małopolskie 17 38 surface character like national or landscape parks created
3 Dolnośląskie 13 28 for the protection of the inanimate environment. There are
4 Śląskie 10 14 no geoparks either, although they were an important geo-
5 Świętokrzyskie 9 21 tourist product for the last two decades. Thus, to be pre-
6 Lubelskie 6 7 cise, the following must be mentioned as well: the Giant
7 Pomorskie 6 5 Mountains National Park, the Table Mountains National
8 Kujawsko-Pomorskie 4 4 Park, twelve landscape parks in Lower Silesia or geoparks
9 Lubuskie 3 3 such as Łuk Mużakowa, the Izerskie Mountains Geopark,
10 Warmińsko-Mazurskie 3 4 the Sudeckie Foothills Geopark, or the Mine of St. John
11 Zachodniopomorskie 3 6 from Krobica Geopark.
12 Wielkopolskie 2 3 All the above-mentioned resources are unique for sci-
13 Podlaskie 2 3 ence and may be a factor attracting geotourists. Notwith-
14 Opolskie 2 3 standing, without adequate information that would be
15 Mazowieckie 2 5 easy to obtain for tourists, these resources remain only
16 Łódzkie 1 4 the potential ones. However, easily accessible informa-
Total 100 160 tion, combined with professional promotion, can make
Source: own elaboration based on The Catalogue of Geotourist Sites them generate tourist traffic. Hence, together with accom-
in Poland [46] and The Catalogue of Geotourist Sites in nature re- panying tourist infrastructure, such resources can create a
serves and monuments [47] tourist region.
(it is a topic for a separate discussion), both lists are at least
worth mentioning. 4.3 Information on geotourist resources of
In the 2006 catalogue there are as many as 13 geosites, Lower Silesia on selected websites
i.e. the Kalwaria Hill in Bardo Śląskie; Paleozoic rocks
in the Wapnica Mt. quarry in Dzikowiec; the Shepherd’s The promotion of the geotourist resources of Lower Sile-
Rocks in Idzików; the melaphyres quarry in Kamienna sia was analysed in reference to the web portals admin-
Góra, the Rock Gate at the Trojak Mt.; the pillow in Lu- istered at a national, regional and local level. To begin
biechów; Black Wall in Lutynia; Rock wall in Radków; the with, it is worth presenting the phenomenon in question
flysch from Srebrna Góra; the granulites from Stary Gier- on Poland’s Official Travel Website. This national tourism
ałtów; the nickel ore mine in Szklary; the granites from portal, available at: www.polska.travel, is managed by the
Walim. Polish Tourism Organisation (POT). Figure 1 below shows
After six years, the set of resources was expanded, its homepage where successive links leading to particu-
both for Poland and Lower Silesia. From 160 sites con- lar categories are presented, and which are further briefly
sidered to be the most important in Poland, as many as characterized.
28 from the region of Lower Silesia were described. These The home page (in the Polish version) contains some
are: the Errant Rocks in the Table Mts.; the Red Rocks; basic categories that refer to different types of tourist infor-
the Dwarfs’ Boulders; the Choina Hill of the Owl Mts.; the mation:
Mount Ślęża; the Bear Cave, the Radochów Cave; the Daisy
1. AlePolska with the following subcategories:
Lake; the Stony Mountain in Lubań; the Ravens’ Rocks; the
Raven Stone; the Small Myślibórz Organs; the Wielisław – General practical information – an introduc-
Organs; the Ostrzyca Proboszczowicka; the Shepherds’ tory article,
Rocks; the River Ravins in Książ; the Rock with Medal- – Hits – the article presenting the most impor-
lion; the Perkun Cone; the Grand Szczeliniec; the Śnieżnik tant tourist attractions of the country and re-
Kłodzki; the Peat Bogs of the Izera River Valley; the Peat gions,Geotourism starts with accessible information | 281
Source: [48, ED 5.09.2017]
Figure 1: Homepage of Poland’s Oflcial Travel Website (www.polska.travel).
– Certificated – a short description of tourist – Nature,
products awarded the Golden Certificate by – Sport and recreation,
POT (since 2008), – Culture – entertainment – education,
– Ideas – the presentation of selected proposals – Spa & wellness,
and ideas for the weekend break, – Cuisine,
– Poland for – the tourist offer for specific clients – In the countryside.
grouped into categories: families with chil-
The most probable place for the geotourist attractions
dren, young but not only, for a conference, for
seems to be the subcategory called Nature. There the Inter-
shopping, for the disabled, for seniors,
net surfer will meet other subcategories such as:
– Unknown Poland – a set of articles on tourist
attractions which are less popular (according – Poland naturally – a short general information about
to the author of the category) among tourists, nature in Poland, together with links to the arti-
– History and tradition – sketches related to past cles concerned with experiencing both natural and
events or traditions, leisure resources,
– Poland travel advice – some practical informa- – National Parks – one can find here the links to 23 ar-
tion about traveling in Poland, ticles about every national park in the country,
– Landscape Parks – an article dedicated to this form
2. Regions and cities with the following subcategories:
of protection of the natural landscape in Poland,
– Regions – an interactive map redirecting to – Parks and gardens – information about the mon-
the administrative region, where the short de- umental parks, botanical gardens, zoological gar-
scription of the main tourist resources is pre- dens, city parks, arboreta to be visited in Poland,
sented, – Animal watching – general information about the
– Main cities, richness of nature in the countryside,
– At the seaside, – Geoparks – brief description and a link to three
– In the Mountains – articles describing the geoparks: Łuk Mużakowa, the St. Anna Mountain
mountain ranges in Poland, including the Geopark, the Giant Mountains National Park.
Sudety Mountain range in Lower Silesia,
The English version of the website promoting Polish
– Top 5 spas and leisure centers,
tourist attractions looks different and is reduced practi-
3. Attractions with the following subcategories cally to one category: What to see? This is one of the three
categories dedicated to attractions. Two others, namely
– Monuments and sightseeing,282 | A. Rozenkiewicz et al.
Source: [49, ED 5.09.2017]
Figure 2: www.dolnyslask.info.pl website – geotourist information.
About Poland and What to do? do not refer to the natural year of educational tourism. The information about natural
tourist resources. resources of the region (Figure 2) is presented in the form of
The What to see? category is divided into four dif- different articles describing tourist regions in Lower Sile-
ferent subcategories. Heritage, Unesco Sites, and Cities & sia, or particular tourist attractions of the natural charac-
towns barely relate to the natural attractions. However, ter.
within Regions, there is an interactive map leading to ad- The website of one of the most subsidized tourist sub-
ministrative regions described in a general manner. Ad- regions of Lower Silesia, the Kłodzko Land within the
ditionally, brochures with the more detailed information Kłodzko county, can serve as an example of the local pro-
can be downloaded. The last category – Nature – is di- motional activity. On its official website, there are six links:
vided into four subcategories: Highlights with the general county government, county, promotion, non-government or-
information and some articles on the mountain ranges in ganisation, information, and contact. Clicking on the pro-
Poland; National Parks with a short introductory article motion category, a virtual tourist can pick a subcategory
and links to more detailed articles on each national park of tourism, and there, tourist attractions link with a brief
and brochures to download; Animal watching which is a article. Natural attractions, with the short description of
translation of the Polish version and Did you know? with each attraction worth mentioning in the region (Figure 3),
the very brief general information about the most impor- are available on the website among many different types
tant sightseeing natural resources. of tourist attractions – as presented in the Polish literature
At the regional level, the website promoting a tourist (see the division above).
attraction, in this case, the Lower Silesia region, is
www.dolnyslask.info.pl administered by the Lower Sile-
sian Tourist Organisation (Dolnośląska Organizacja Tu-
rystyczna – DOT – created by the local government in
5 Discussion
2000). On the official website, one can find links relating
The importance of tourist resources promotion in the vir-
to different categories: Tourist Routes, Tourist Offer, Practi-
tual reality is unquestionable. Even though a lot has al-
cal info, or DOT library. Under Tourist Offer, the following
ready been done in this matter, the current situation still
subcategories are seen: spa tourism, ecotourism, business
needs improvement, both at national and regional levels.
tourism, cultural tourism, active tourism, ski resorts and the
The first problem is the information accessibility of in-Geotourism starts with accessible information | 283
Source: [50, ED 5.09.2017]
Figure 3: powiat.klodzko.pl website – natural resources.
formation. This especially refers to the information con- tourist potential of Lower Silesia is quite rich if compared
cerning the geotourist resources. This information is usu- to the potential of the whole country in this respect. Nev-
ally hidden under different website bookmarks of various ertheless, the information on the national portal is rather
names, not necessarily related to the concept of geoher- limited. In the category entitled regions, there is a short
itage. description of the Lower Silesia tourist attractiveness, to-
In case of the national travel website Poland, avail- gether with the link to the tourist website of the region
able at www.poland.travel/en/, the georesources are pre- available at www.turystyka.dolnyslask.pl. Under the book-
sented under different bookmarks. It might be confusing mark called in the mountains, there is a short description
for a geotourist trying to find the necessary information. of the Sudety Mountain range and the link to another por-
For instance, they are placed in regions and in in the moun- tal dedicated to this region owned by a private enterprise.
tains – both being the subcategories of regions & cities, as More information about the geotourist potential of the re-
well as – and in nature, which is a subcategory of attrac- gion can be found in the attractions category. In Poland
tions. Thus, to find some geotourist information, one has naturally, a set of articles offers, among others, a short text
to go through at least three subpages, which is the case of about waterfalls of the Sudety Mountain range. In National
the bookmarks called regions and in the mountains. Tak- Parks, there are articles presenting the national parks of
ing into account attractions, to reach information related Lower Silesia: the Giant Mountains National Park and the
to natural tourist resources, as many as four steps need to Table Mountains National Park. At the end of each text,
be taken, but still, there are six different categories under there are links to their official websites. Surprisingly, in the
which the geotourist information is further dispersed. The section named Landscape Parks, there is no specific infor-
only clear category is geoparks. There is an introduction mation about any of the twelve landscape parks of Lower
with a short article defining the notions of geotourism and Silesia. In the general text about this form of area protec-
geopark, followed by an active link to three websites that tion just the most important names are mentioned. In the
describe three national geoparks (two of them are located last category – geoparks – two geoparks of Lower Silesia
in the Lower Silesia region). Other, less clear, categories are mentioned: Łuk Mużakowa and the Giant Mountains
where the geoinformation appears are: Poland naturally, National Park. For more information, the tourist is directed
National Parks and Landscape Parks. to the websites of the Ministry of the Environment, or the
As it has been stated earlier in this article, the geo- Polish Geological Institute.284 | A. Rozenkiewicz et al.
Source: [51, ED 5.09.2017]
Figure 4: Link to the website of the Ministry of the Environment – a result.
The problem with the accessibility of the geotourist in- eral description of the selected park can be found. At the
formation can also be seen at the regional and local levels. bottom of the page, there is a link to the official website of
To obtain information about the natural resources on the this national park. It redirects the virtual tourist to a pri-
Lower Silesia official tourist website, a virtual tourist has vate portal: www.pulsar.net.pl, presenting some practical
to take at least three steps in order to reach a set of arti- information on practicing tourism, but none regarding the
cles dedicated to different natural attractions. This confu- Table Mountains National Park! A similar situation is ob-
sion stems from the lack of a clear structure on the web- served when seeking details about geoparks under Nature.
site. So as to find details on the geotourist potential, one After short general information, the reader is redirected to
has to look through all the articles presented in chronolog- the portals of the Ministry of the Environment and to the
ical order (according to the issue date). Fortunately, the lo- Polish Geological Institute. In the first case, the result is as
cal level website – at the example of the Kłodzko county – presented in Figure 4 – the website that you are looking for
shows fewer problems, as, after four steps, the information does not exist.
about the natural resources is accessible. Each attraction On the website of the Polish Geological Institute, the
is shortly described and additionally, a picture is attached. result is similar, it informs the user that such a website can-
Another question is the quality of the information not be found (Figure 5).
available on the national and regional websites dedicated In the English version of the web portal, the situation
to the tourist attractions of the country, or region. The anal- is identical. Under the subcategory of Highlights one can
ysis shows that in almost every case, the description is lim- read some general information about mountains in Poland
ited to the very basic data omitting the educational con- and after clicking on the link to the article on the Sudetes,
text. The geological aspect of the information is almost ab- yet again technical problems appear, and their result is as
sent. Apart from the limitation in the transfer of knowledge shown in Figure 6.
throughout the website, there is the technical aspect that Without a doubt, such problems should not take
influences the quality of the information. Some examples place. The image loss is difficult to measure, and what
can be seen on the national tourist website, which is sup- is more, it is obvious that the virtual tourist once disap-
posed to have the biggest impact on the image of tourism pointed, probably will not come back for the information
and its offer in Poland and abroad. If the virtual tourist on the geotourist potential, or when misled by the lack of
wants to find more detailed information about the Table adequate information, will not search for the region, as-
Mountains National Park – one of the richest geodestina- suming that such potential does not exist, or most likely,
tions in Lower Silesia – he or she has to look for it un- that it is not worth visiting . . .
der the subcategory of National Parks within the category
named Nature. Only there an article dedicated to the gen-Geotourism starts with accessible information | 285
Source: [52, ED 5.09.2017]
Figure 5: Link to the website of the Polish Geological Institute – a result.
Source: [53, ED 5.09.2017]
Figure 6: Link to the article about the Sudetes on the national tourist portal – a result
the tourism industry are insufficient at both national
6 Conclusions and and regional level;
recommendations for the future 2. There is no information transfer between the
providers of adequate and professional informa-
6.1 Conclusions tion on geoheritage, such as the authors of the cata-
logues listing and describing the geosites in Poland,
The conducted research enabled the authors to draw the or the authors of the websites devoted to particular
following conclusions: geotourist sites, and institutions responsible for the
promotion of tourism in the country and within the
1. The promotional measures connected with the geo-
region;
resources of Lower Silesia and their potential for286 | A. Rozenkiewicz et al.
3. Geotourism is not promoted as a separate and cru- – The necessity of promoting geotourism should also
cial subcategory of tourism. Nowadays, merely se- be emphasised as early as at primary and secondary
lected georesources are presented online, and the school educational levels, in order to ensure high
problem is that they are usually dispersed and hid- awareness of the phenomenon in question amongst
den under divergent umbrella terms, for instance: its recipients in the future.
natural, or nature tourism, nature-based resources or – It is worth thinking about creating an expert group
ecotourism; lobbying for geotourism in the institutions respon-
4. Even if the information regarding geotourism as sible for developing and implementing tourism de-
such, or its chosen aspects appears on the official velopment strategies at regional and national levels.
tourism-related websites, it is usually out of date, Such a solution would prevent geotourism from be-
insufficient, or completely inaccessible due to tech- ing omitted or misinterpreted. It is essential to en-
nical issues. Without a doubt, it is discouraging the sure close cooperation between academics, local as-
potential visitors from using the region’s geotourist sociations aimed at tourism development, and in-
offer altogether, or at least not to the fullest. As a stitutions preserving the inanimate nature, such as
consequence, the geotourism traffic to the area is of the authorities of national parks, nature reserves, as
lesser volume than it could be otherwise concerning well as the legislative representatives at local and
its possibilities and expectations. national levels.
5. In practical terms, the geotourist information is – Not only should the information on geotourism be
frequently inaccessible for international visitors. properly prepared, but it should also be accessible
Only Poland’s Official Travel Website provides some in the languages of tourists visiting Poland most fre-
knowledge on geoheritage of the country for speak- quently. Translation into English, perceived nowa-
ers of English. Nonetheless, this information, yet days as lingua franca, and into German should be
again, needs updating, or after clicking on a certain seen as an absolute minimum in this matter. The
link, it is impossible to reach. If the information does next recommended step is making it available for
appear on the screen, it is usually fragmentary in its the speakers of French and Czech.
nature, especially in comparison to the Polish ver- – Concerning the technical aspect of information ac-
sion of the website. The current situation clearly lim- cessibility, it is recommended that websites aimed at
its the potential significance of geotourism for the the promotion of certain tourism types would have
international inbound tourism market. a separate bookmark linking visitors to geotourism.
This category should be of equal importance ap-
posed to cultural tourism or active tourism.
6.2 Recommendations for improvement
Since the present situation needs to be changed, recom- 6.3 Limitations of the study and
mendations for the future encompass the following set of suggestions for future research
actions to be taken:
This study has several limitations that the authors would
– It is necessary to undertake measures aimed at pro-
like to address. Firstly, it eliminates social media and blogs
moting geotourism as a separate tourism category
that are relevant from the point of view of promotional
that is based on unique resources of abiotic nature.
techniques within inbound marketing. Therefore, to see
It is essential to emphasize its distinctive character
a holistic picture of accessibility of information on geo-
as opposed to the notions of nature-based tourism,
tourism on the Internet, further empirical studies in this
sightseeing, and other related tourism types.
field should incorporate them. Another research limita-
– It is of pivotal importance to ensure the sufficient
tion, and at the same time research opportunity for the
level of knowledge on geotourism and its charac-
future, includes referring to all the regions of the coun-
ter. It should take the form of educational training
try known for their geoheritage and making a compara-
within institutions and amongst persons responsi-
tive analysis of online information accessibility between
ble for the process of preparation of information on,
them. It would pose an attempt at assessing the online pre-
and promotion of geotourist resources of Poland and
sentation methods and selecting the most appealing ones
certain regions.
that facilitate travel for both lovers and amateurs of geo-
tourism.Geotourism starts with accessible information | 287
[18] Sun S., Fong D.K.C., Law R., He S., An updated comprehensive
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