Landscape of the Mangystau region in Kazakhstan as a geomorphotourism destination: A geographical review

Abstract

One of the ideas of using landscape, that a section of terrain can be appreciated as an object with visual, aesthetic, historical-cultural, scientific and socio-economic values, is the development of geomorphotourism. This type of tourism is well demanded especially in developed industrialized countries. However, it is largely underestimated and undeveloped in Kazakhstan due to insufficient information, while there are many forms and types of landscape that potentially have natural, cultural and historical values. This paper based on site-visits of geomorphic landforms of the Mangystau region in Kazakhstan have been reviewed and discussed the geomorphotourism potential of some of the geomorphosites of studied area. The geographical review shows that the landscape of the Mangystau region has the higher capability to develop ecotourism and geomorphotourism. Therefore, development of tourism in the study area is depending on the level of management and investment and further work under UNESCO Geoparks development programme on preserving the natural environment and sustainability of the tourism resources of the region.