HTT530 TOPIC 9

• Carrying Capacity (CC) and Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) are used to reduce visitor impacts on an area or a resource
• Carrying Capacity (CC) defined:

  • WHEN: 1960s
  • WHAT:
  • "the maximum number of people that may visit a tourist destination at the same time, without causing destruction of the physical, economic, socio-cultural environment and an unacceptable decrease in the quality of visitors’ satisfaction" (UNWTO, 1981)
  • "the maximum number of people who can use a recreational environment without an acceptable decline in the quality of the recreational experience" (Mathieson & Wall, 1982)
• • Social CC: the maximum use of a tourist resource that can take place without causing unacceptable levels of local negative feeling towards tourism
  • Ecological CC: the maximum use level that can take place without causing unacceptable damage to the natural environment of the resource
  • Political CC: the maximum use that can take place of a tourist resource without causing political instability
• Categories of Carrying Capacity (CC) (Getz, 1983):

  • Physical CC: the maximum use of the resource that can take place by tourists before the resource begins to be unacceptably degraded
  • Economic CC: the maximum use of the resource that can take place by tourists before leading to an unacceptable level of economic dependency on tourism in the area
  • Perceptual CC: a measurement of tourist’s perceived level of carrying capacity in a tourist resource, beyond which tourists perceive the resource as over-crowded
• Carrying Capacity (CC) deals with maximum numbers of tourists at one time to prevent damage

  • Examples: Sipadan Island = 120 dive permits; Taj Mahal = 40,000 tourists daily/3-hour cap; Inca Trail – 500 trekkers daily
  • Questions: How many is too many? How do you come up with the maximum numbers? (judgment)
• Effectiveness of Carrying Capacity (CC):

  • McCool and others (2007) state that the experience of recreation CC in resolving issues associated with recreation and tourism development has been a failure
• Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) introduced in the 1980s

  • A process that requires area/resource managers to define desired conditions and take action to maintain/achieve those desired conditions
• Types of desired conditions for Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC): resource, social, and management
• Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) deals with impacts on area/resource

  • Aims to minimize changes but doesn't prevent damage completely
  • Management by objectives approach or an indicator-based approach to management
• Steps for Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC):

  • Identify desired conditions
  • Identify indicators to indicate the desired conditions
  • Identify standards to quantitatively measure indicators
  • Balance desired conditions with reality
  • Determine management strategy
• Effectiveness of Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC):

  • Introduced in response to the failure of carrying capacity
  • Proven to be more effective in reducing visitor impacts
  • A re-framing of the fundamental question in visitor management