A review on tourism carrying capacity assessment and a proposal for its application on geological sites

Abstract

Geoconservation consists of the selection and conservation of geodiversity elements that have significant heritage value. The management of geological sites is based on specific procedures to ensure public use and minimize adverse impacts. The evaluation of the carrying capacity of geological sites is a management tool that helps to define the acceptable limits of visitation, without causing significant impacts on the integrity of these sites. This work presents a review of the carrying capacity concept and the most common methods used to assess the carrying capacity in tourist destinations. Based on this review and analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of existing methods, this work presents a method that defines a set of actions for management and calculation of the number of visitors recommended for geological sites, based on specific geoindicators for each type of site.