ABSTRACT
Despite limited indenterences by a few authors to tourism and geology (e.g. Komoo, 1997; Martini, 1994), until the early 1990s ‘geotourism’ was neither a published nor a defined term. The first widely available, and Australian, account of geology and tourism (Jenkins, 1992) employed ‘fossicking’. ‘Tourism geology’ has been employed in Malaysia for a branch of applied geology that could support ecotourism's growth and promote geoconservation, much like bioconservation (Komoo, 1997) does for the biological heritage. Seemingly the first widely published definition appeared in a commissioned article for a British professional interpretation magazine (Hose, 1995:17):
The provision of interpretive and service facilities to enable tourists to acquire knowledge and understanding of the geology and geomorphology of a site (including its contribution to the development of the Earth sciences) beyond the level of mere aesthetic appreciation.
