Real and promoted aesthetic properties of geosites: New empirical evidence from SW Russia

Abstract

Aesthetic properties of natural heritage objects are determined by their physical properties. Online promotion of these objects to potential tourists requires adequate representation of these properties on web pages. The Shum waterfall is a small, but notable and tourism-important geosite of southwestern Russia. Its real aesthetic properties were examined in the field, and 20 web pages devoted to local tourism were examined to judge its promoted aesthetic properties. Eleven criteria of the common tourists’ judgments of beauty were used for this purpose. A significant discrepancy between the real and promoted properties is found. Particularly, the web pages exaggerate the scale of the waterfall and do not mention crowds of tourists. This may cause disappointment of the latter. The findings of the present study allow for making several practical recommendations for more efficient promotion of the Shum waterfall, as well as providing general advice to the geotourism industry.