Hong Kong Geopark: a paradigm of urban sustainable tourism

Geotourism is a form of sustainable tourism that specifically focuses on geology and landscape. Geotourism has five essential characteristics, namely, being geologically based, environmentally sustainable, informative, beneficial and tourist-satisfactory. In the recent decade, many countries have set up geoparks as a means to promote geotourism and nature conservation. A geopark is a designated area where outstanding and rare geological landforms are protected and where a sustainable economic development strategy is in place. Hong Kong Geopark was open in 2009 as an urban geopark established in the setting of a densely populated metropolis. Because of proximity, Hong Kong Geopark integrates with the city to form a geopark-city tourism system in such a way that the park and the city play separate but complementary roles in the development of geotourism. The major aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between Hong Kong Geopark and geotourism and explain how the park achieves sustainable tourism.