DTU Department of Tourism and Hotel Management 2009

Chapter-two
The concept of carrying capacity in eco-tourism

Definitions of tourism carrying capacity

Tourism carrying capacity is a now antiquated approach to managing visitors in protected

areas and national parks which evolved out of the fields of range, habitat and wildlife
management.
In any locality there is a strong relationship between society, economy and environment.
Environmental and other geographic features create locational advantages attracting people and
economic activities. Human activities and patterns of living are often based on local
environmental conditions and resources while at the same time they may affect them. Quite often
such effects have impacts on people and their activities. To the extent that such effects do not
disturb significantly the structure and dynamics of local human and natural ecosystems there is a
perceived state of balance or “harmony” perceived in a dynamic sense of continuing gradual
change and adaptation.
There have been many attempts to define carrying capacity.
Middleton and Hawkins (1998) define carrying capacity as a «...measure of the tolerance a site or
building are open to tourist activity and the limit beyond which an area may suffer from the
adverse impacts of tourism.»
Chamberlain (1997) defines it as «...the level of human activity an area can accommodate
without the area deteriorating, the resident community being adversely affected, or the quality of
visitors experience declining. »
Clark (1997) defines carrying capacity as a «...certain threshold level of tourism activity beyond
which there will occur damage to the environment, including natural habitats. » He also states
that the actual carrying capacity limit in terms of numbers of visitors or any other quota or
parameter is usually a judgment call based upon the level of change that can be accepted,
regarding sustainability of resources, satisfaction of resource users, and socio-economic impact.
The World Tourism Organization (WTO) proposes the following definition of the carrying
capacity: «the maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same time,
without causing destruction of the physical, economic and socio-cultural environment for present
and future generations and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors' satisfaction.

The Components of carrying capacity

On the basis of the main dimensions of development/environment interface, following a systemic
analysis, the impacts of tourism in an area can be analyzed in terms of three major axes: physical
environment (natural) social and economic. These can provide also the basis for analyzing and
assessing TCC in terms of main and distinct–but interrelated- components (PAP/RAC, 1997)

Physical-ecological component
The ecological carrying capacity comprises the “fixed” components refer to the capacity of
natural systems expressed occasionally as ecological capacity, assimilative capacity, etc. They
cannot be manipulated easily by human action and to the extent these limits can be estimated
they should be carefully observed and respected as such.
Levels of capacity for the components can be set –for example-in terms of:

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DTU Department of Tourism and Hotel Management 2009
 Acceptable level of congestion or density in key areas/spatial units such as parks and
protected areas. etc.
 Maximum acceptable loss of natural resources (i.e. water or land) without significant
degradation of ecosystem functions or biodiversity or loss of species.
 Acceptable level of air, water and noise pollution on the basis of tolerance or the
assimilative capacity of local ecosystems

Socio-cultural carrying

Socio-cultural carrying capacity of a tourist site can be in general defined as the optimum
number of visitors per day to which the maximum social utility due to congestion corresponds.
More specifically, in literature the scc of a tourist area is defined from two different points of
view. From the point of view of residents, the scc represents the social interaction between
residents and visitors, and it is the maximum number of visitors (mnv) tolerated by the host
population without reducing their quality of life. From the point of view of visitors, the scc
describes the interaction between the visitors themselves, and is defined as the mnv tolerated by
the visitors themselves without reducing the quality of the recreational experience or desiring to
go to an alternative site or return home. These two aspects of the scc may be in conflict, since the
mnv tolerated by the visitors themselves may be different from the mnv tolerated by residents.
The socio-cultural carrying capacity refers to those social aspects, which are important to local
communities, as they relate to the presence and growth of tourism. Social and demographic
issues, such as available manpower or trained personnel, etc. including also socio-cultural issues,
such as the sense of identity of the local community or the tourist experience etc. Some of these
can be expressed in quantitative terms. Social-cultural capacity threshold are perhaps the most
difficult to evaluate as opposed to physical-ecological and economic, since they depend to a
great extent on value judgments.
Political and economic decisions may affect some of the socio-demographic parameters such as,
for example, migration policies. Social carrying capacity is used as a generic term to include
both the levels of tolerance of the host population, as well as the quality of the experience of
visitors to the area.
Levels of capacity for this component may be expressed in terms of:
 Number of tourists and tourist/recreation activity types which can be absorbed without
affecting the sense of identity, life style and social patterns and activities of host
communities,
 Level and type of tourism which does not alter significantly local culture in direct or
indirect ways in terms of arts, crafts, belief systems, ceremonies, customs and traditions,
 Level of tourism that will not be resented by local population or pre-empt their use of
services and amenities.
 Level of tourism (number of visitors and compatibility of types of activities) in an area
without unacceptable decline of experience of visitors

Finally mass tourism determines crowding effects like noise, criminality and residents’ quality of
life and visitors’ recreational experience can deteriorate as the number of visitor’s increases.

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DTU Department of Tourism and Hotel Management 2009

Economic component of carrying capacity

This relates to a level of acceptable change within the local economy of a tourist destination, it is
the extent to which a tourist destination is able to accommodate tourist functions without the loss
of local activities, take for example a souvenir store taking the place of a shop selling essential
items to the local community and competition to other sectors. Economic carrying capacity can
also be used to describe the point at which the increased revenue brought by tourism
development is overtaken by the inflation caused by tourism.

Considerations of economic parameters may be also necessary to express divergence in values,

attitudes within the local community vis-à-vis tourism.
Levels of capacity for this component may be expressed in terms of:
 Level of specialization in tourism.
 Loss of human labor in other sectors due to tourism attraction.
 Revenue from tourism and distribution issues at local level.
 Level of tourism employment in relation to local human resources.

Aesthetical/facility carrying capacity:

The facility components of carrying capacity refer to primarily for infrastructure systems like
water supply, sewerage, electricity, transportation, social amenities (postal and
telecommunication services, health services, law and order services, banks, shops and other
services). The capacity limits of the infrastructure components can rise through investments in
infrastructure, taxes, organizational-regulatory measures, etc.
Levels of capacity for this component may be expressed in terms of:
 Acceptable level of congestion or density in key areas/spatial units such as parks,
museums, city streets, etc.
 Intensity of use of transport infrastructure, facilities and services
 Use and congestion of utility facilities and services of water supply, electric power,
waste management of sewage and solid waste collection, treatment and disposal and
telecommunications
 Adequate availability of other community facilities and services such as those related to
public health and safety, housing and community services, etc.

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