Bridging the Conversion Gap: Governance, Distributive Justice, and Destination Activation in the Kütralkura Geopark, Chile

UNESCO Global Geoparks are recognized as instruments for territorial development. However, limited research explains how emerging geoparks can transform distinctive territorial assets into sustainable and inclusive tourism destinations. This study examines the Kütralkura UNESCO Global Geopark in Chile and asks how its tourism potential can be activated by addressing governance gaps, territorial capacity constraints, and destination visibility. Adopting a pragmatic approach, we analyzed an open-ended survey of 32 tourism ecosystem actors across the Geopark. Thematic analysis identified four interrelated dimensions shaping tourism development. First, sustainable territorial competitiveness depends on strategically leveraging geo-natural capital, biocultural heritage, and territorial identity as tourism assets. Second, strategic destination governance requires multilevel coordination and sustained vertical institutional commitment. Third, territorial tourism capacity highlights the need to balance tourism development and visitor use with environmental conservation and local capabilities. Fourth, destination activation and visibility involve negotiating local and international branding while strengthening residents’ geoheritage literacy. The findings demonstrate that tourism potential in emerging geoparks depends not only on resource endowment but also on governance, territorial capacity, and destination activation. The study contributes practical insights for geopark management and proposes landscape management as an integrated approach to sustainable tourism development in emerging economies.