Waterfalls of the Eastern Carpathians (Ukraine) as objects of geoheritage and geotourism

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to cover the results of the study of mountain waterfalls in Ukraine in the context of assessment of the state and problems of geoheritage preservation and geotourism development in the Eastern Carpathians. The state of tourist infrastructure near waterfalls was analyzed in the study. For the first time the tendency and share of attraction of waterfalls by tour operators in programs of thematic geotours and mass excursion tours in the Carpathians were analyzed. A number of expert recommendations have been developed for regional authorities on the protection of waterfalls through the further development of the geoheritage network (opening small geoparks and local geodestinations with the status of “protected tracts”), the inclusion of attractive waterfalls in the branding and PR-promotion of values, routes and trails of sustainable geotourism in the Eastern Carpathians.