Functionality Assessment Checklist for Evaluating Geoportals Useful in Planning Sustainable Tourism

Karol Król (), Dariusz Zdonek and Wojciech Sroka
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Karol Król: Digital Cultural Heritage Laboratory, Department of Land Management and Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Land Surveying, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Balicka 253c, 30-198 Krakow, Poland
Dariusz Zdonek: Department of Economics and Informatics, Faculty of Organization and Management, Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Akademicka 2A, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Wojciech Sroka: Department of Economics and Food Economy, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Al. Mickiewicza 21, 31-120 Krakow, Poland

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 12, 1-16

Abstract: Sustainable tourism minimises the adverse impact of tourism on the natural environment and local culture while stimulating the socioeconomic development of regions or even countries. Geoportals and (geo)informational mashup portals significantly affect sustainable tourism planning through modern computer solutions for more sustainable planning of tourist activities on the demand and supply sides. This study had two research aims: (1) to develop a checklist for assessing the functionality of tourist geoportals and evaluate it and (2) to assess the inventory of functions useful for sustainable tourism planning available at selected geoportals with the checklist. The aims were pursued with an original research tool, the Functionality Assessment Checklist (FAC). The FAC is a set of original criteria useful for assessing the quality of tourist geoportals. This study investigated the following research questions: (Q1) What functions should be included on a checklist for assessing the functionality of geoportals useful for sustainable tourism planning? (Q2) What functions should be included in a geoportal to facilitate sustainable tourism planning? The original contributions of this article are (1) the checklist for assessing the functionality of tourist geoportals and (2) the assessment of the impact of geoportal’s functionality on the possibility of planning sustainable tourism. The functionality assessment revealed that the tested geoportals have most of the tourism, informational, educational, and use-related functions. This suggests they can be useful for sustainable tourism planning.

Keywords: checklist; geoportal; sustainable tourism; geoinformation; functionality assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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