Geotourism destination development: Scale development and validation

Tourism companies can attain sustainable development goals by comprehending the geotourism destination development phenomenon. Although extensive literature has dealt with the geotourism concept, limited studies have focused on geotourism destination development. This paper developed the quantitative measurement geotourism destination development characteristics scale, the first scale to concentrate on sustainable tourism. In this paper, a total of 476 geologists and geotourism experts from various nations participated. They were found using Amazon Mechanical Turk, and their responses were analyzed using confirmatory composite analysis. Findings refer to a four-dimensional scale consisting of geotourism services, legislative requirements, experiential geotourism, and scientific, preservation, aesthetic, and recreational values. The dimensional structure and scale validity were determined to be supported by geotourism development characteristics. Additionally, this paper discovered that these characteristics have significant effects on geotourism destination development. Findings provide tourist businesses with the chance to employ this new scale to identify their destinations' geological features.