Tourism carrying capacity (TCC) is an imperfect but useful approach to managing visitors in vulnerable areas. The TCC concept evolved out of the fields of range, habitat and wildlife management. In these fields, managers attempted to determine the largest population of a particular species that could be supported by a habitat over a long period of time. "Tourism Carrying Capacity" is defined by the World Tourism Organization as "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". Whereas Middleton and Hawkins Chamberlain (1997) define 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" what both these definitions pick up on is that the carrying capacity is the point at which a destination or attraction starts experiencing adverse effects as a result of the number of visitors. Although it is challenging to pinpoint a specific number of visitors beyond which damage begins, even an imperfect estimate of the TCC can guide policies that cap the number of visitors and reduce the environmental impact of tourism. For example, the government of Peru limits the number of hikers on the Inca Trail to 500 per day, because geologists warned that a larger number could cause serious erosion. One example of managing tourism carrying capacity is evident in the Inca Trail, particularly during high-demand months like March. The Peruvian government has implemented strict regulations, including limiting the number of daily permits for trekkers, to preserve the environment and the cultural heritage of the trail. As outlined by Life Expeditions, understanding the climate and preparing adequately for the trek, such as by choosing the right time to visit and following environmental guidelines, plays a crucial role in mitigating the impact of tourism on this fragile ecosystem. At the extreme, in areas where the objective is to maintain pristine conditions, any level of visitor use creates adverse or negative impacts, suggesting that the carrying capacity is zero. The acceptable level of damage is a matter of human judgment. Understanding what is acceptable is the focus of the limits of acceptable change planning process referred to later in this article. There are numerous forms of carrying capacity relevant to tourism. This article will focus on the four most commonly used.
Physical carrying capacity This is the maximum number of tourists that an area is actually able to support. In the case of an individual tourist attraction it is the maximum number that can fit on the site at any given time and still allow people to be able to move. This is normally assumed to be around 1m per person. "PCC per a day = area (in metres squared) x visitors per metre x daily duration" (Mowforth and Munt) This is a formula which has been used to calculate the physical carrying capacity.
Economic 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. 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
Social carrying capacity This relates to the negative socio-cultural impacts associated with tourism development. The indicators of when the social carrying capacity has been exceeded are a reduced local tolerance for tourism as described by Doxey's Index of irritation. Reduced visitor enjoyment and increased crime are also indicators of when the social carrying capacity has been exceeded.
Biophysical carrying capacity This relates to the extent to which the natural environment is able to tolerate interference from tourists. This is made more complicated by the fact that because it deals with ecology which is able to regenerate to some extent so in this case, the carrying capacity is when the damage exceeds the habitat's ability to regenerate. Environmental carrying capacity is also used with reference to ecological and physical parameters, capacity of resources, ecosystems and infrastructure.
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