Geo-based technology in support of creating a seamless free-choice learning experience on minor water-heritage sites. Lessons learned from the EUWATHER project.

Tourism has the potential to persuade people to adopt pro-environmental principles and practices. Nature-based tourism, or ecotourism, particularly aims to influence tourists’ behaviour in their home environments by offering a free-choice environmental learning experience. The academic body of literature on the impact of ecotourism practices on cognition, attitudes, and behaviours of tourists confirms the positive correlation between travel and learning. However, the permanence of free-choice environmental learning experiences has been debated. We argue that geo-based technologies provide multiple opportunities for encouraging knowledge acquisition and experiences on ecological landscapes. These technologies can, if employed in a well-organised manner, contribute to a seamless free-choice learning environment, and as such, to a better understanding and appreciation for nature and local culture. The ecotourism project European Water Heritage (EU.WAT.HER) investigates how the use of geo-based technology can contribute to tourists’ connectedness with the landscape and how it can stimulate pro-conservation values and attitudes toward the ecological landscape. This paper provides an overview of the current lessons learned in using geo-based technology to promote minor water-heritage sites. It explores literature on the connections between tourism and informal learning, especially the promotion of pro-conservation values and attitudes, and how geo-based technologies can contribute to this field.