Scenic America is a member of the Global Geotourism Partnership, led by the National Geographic Society’s Center for Sustainable Destinations (CSD). The CSD is a mission program within the Society dedicated to promoting the principles of geotourism.

Geotourism is defined as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place – its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.

As the only national nonprofit organization actively dedicated to protection of the visual environment, Scenic America is an important resource for entities that are trying to protect the aesthetic character and appeal of a destination.

To view the CSD’s landmark CHOICES video, click here.

Geotourism links:

Scenic Beauty Ranks Highest in Survey of Visitors to Northern Rockies (PDF 1mb)

Following the completion of the National Geographic’s "Crown of the Continent" Geotoursim Map for the northern Rockies of Montana and Canada, a survey was conducted to determine how visitor values for geotoursim principles aligned with user expectations. The survey determined that the aesthetics of a destination was the most valued principle by visitors to the area.

The purpose of this study was to answer the question: "to what degree do visitors in the 'Crown of the
Continent' share the values of geotourism?" The geotourism survey instrument (GSI) was constructed to measure the dimensions of culture and heritage, environment, aesthetics, and well-being of the local people using previously tested instruments such as the New Ecological Paradigm (Dunlap, et al., 2000), scales from other studies, and the creation of some additional questions to fully assess geotouristic tendencies. The GSI was pre-tested for validity and reliability.