Last week I described the concept of carrying capacity and how it affects population size. In this article we will discuss Tourism, a major source of income to Tobago and many islands in the Caribbean. All factors affecting tourism are of great concern, of which carrying capacity is one of them.

To recap, the carrying capacity of a species can be regarded as the population size of that species which can be supported by the environment indefinitely, given the supply of food, water and other factors needed by the species, for instance, space and nutrients like nitrogen in the case of plants. Before going any further, I must note that tourism carrying capacity as it is known is now regarded as an old-fashioned way of managing visitors to protected area. However, it does provide a guide as to what factors must be considered when balancing visitors and our natural resources for the sake of ecotourism.

There are different opinions when it comes to the numbers of components that comprise tourism carrying capacity. In Tourism carrying capacity studies is the four most common components used are physical, economic, social and biophysical. Each of these will be dealt with in this article.

Firstly, physical carrying capacity is simply the maximum number of people that can fit on a site and still have space for movement. The average physical carrying capacity is approximately one metre per person. Therefore, if a natural attraction is on a site 200 metres2, then each day it can accommodate 200 persons. The physical presence of persons on the site where the attraction is located is just a small part of this component. The physical contribution of tourists is also expressed in the amount of vehicular or boat traffic, as well as their use of public transportation and its facilities. There is also the consumption of utilities: electricity, water, waste disposal, sewerage treatment and telecommunications.

The next type of carrying capacity one has to consider is economic. This refers to the extent where an area can support businesses which cater to the tourists and to the needs of locals at the same time. Economically, tourism can compete with other sectors for labour, would be employees may leave them and join the tourism sector. As a result, labour for these other sectors might have to be sourced from other countries. Another option might be to offer higher wages to attract workers; this in turn will cause a rise in the price of products and services in the country and the cost of living on the whole.

This component would affect the social component of tourism carrying capacity. It is an important component to be considered when talking about carrying capacity; and refers to the negative effects of development of the area for the purpose of tourism, with respect to people. Attitudes towards tourism as being a degrading trade and may work against the growth of tourism in a country. For instance, tourism can be resented if locals are prevented access to the natural resources and attractions, like beaches, where access to certain sections are restricted to tourists. This may result in crimes against tourists like vandalism, assaults and robbery. The result of this is a reduction in tourist enjoyment of the area and the tourist not returning to the area or passing the word not to visit the area to their friends or family or through travel reviews. Therefore, a negative social carrying capacity is indicated by a reduced tolerance to tourism. One also has to consider the influence of visitors on our local culture, activities, celebrations, food, customs, language, arts and crafts. An example would be a personal experience I had on the island of Montserrat.

The final type of carrying capacity to take into consideration is biophysical carrying capacity. This type of carrying capacity deals with the extent the natural environment can tolerate interference caused by tourists. First of all, habitat has to be cleared to make facilities to accommodate tourism, like hotels and restaurants. In this case the ecosystems and the biodiversity they contain have to be taken into consideration, with respect to the decrease in species and the level of ecosystem services provided, like providing fresh water also have to be considered. With many of the world's forests being cleared, many tourists are turning to ecotourism. We must understand that there is a limit to how many visitors and in turn how much disturbance an area can endure. As we can see, all the components of carrying capacity when it comes to tourism are interconnected in some way, so that they all have to be taken into consideration when designating an area as a tourist attraction.

Since carrying capacity is used in environmental planning and can in turn be used to guide decisions in terms of land use, in this respect, carrying capacity is site specific and use specific. Therefore detailed studies on all components should be carried out on sites before the final decision to make it a tourist attraction.