Measuring Social Carrying Capacity: An Exploratory Study

López-Bonilla, Jesús Manuel and López-Bonilla, Luis Miguel (2007): Measuring Social Carrying Capacity: An Exploratory Study. Published in: TOURISMOS: An International Multidisciplinary Refereed Journal of Tourism , Vol. 3, No. 1 (15 April 2008): pp. 116-134.

Abstract

The tourist carrying capacity commands a growing interest given that it is closely linked with sustainable tourist development. The justification of the utility of this concept is given by means of a simple and efficient methodological proposal, by analysing the social carrying capacity. To this end, an empirical application is carried out in the Western Andalusia. In some of the cases analysed, the satisfaction of the tourist is found to decline when the levels of the tourist use are higher with respect to those attributes of the tourist destination supply. This mechanism can constitute a useful alarm signal for tourism planners.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: carrying capacity, tourist satisfaction, sustainable tourism, tourist destination
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M1 - Business Administration; L - Industrial Organization > L8 - Industry Studies: Services > L83 - Sports ; Gambling ; Restaurants ; Recreation ; Tourism

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