Physical and Ecological Carrying Capacity for Cave Tourism Management
Abstract
Cave tourism is a nature-based tourism which has recently gained its popularity in Thailand. Cave sare natural attractions which are extremely vulnerable, especially caves with limitations in both size and area. Thus, this study aims at studying and determining the maximum and suitable carrying capacity to support physical and ecological tourism in Ban Tham Sua tourism community area to avoid overtourism. The methodology used in this research was a survey on the tourist’s utilization, duration, number of tourists, and tourism impacts. Moreover, the impact assessment using 16 indicators presented by 5 geological experts for ecological carrying capacity of the cave areas were also conducted. This area-based study was conducted in 3 areas: Thep Nimit Cave, Nang Fa Cave, and Sua Noi Cave. The study found that the number of tourists in these three caves were below carrying capacitywhich had no or insignificant impact on natural resources. However, it was found that SuaNoi Cave was a huge destruction of the original resources. The study suggests that carrying capacity of cave tourism should be well planned and managed to prevent the environmental degradation.
References
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[3] Andrieux, C. 1988. Influence de l’homme sur l’environnement climatique souterrain. Actes Joun Felix Trombe 1:98-122.
[4] Antić, A., Tomić, N., Đorđević, T., Radulović, M., and Đević, I. 2020. Speleological objects becoming show caves: evidence from the Valjevo karst area in Western Serbia. Geoheritage 12 (4):1-12.
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[20] Hof, M., and Lime, D.W. 1997. Visitor experience and resource protection framework in the national park system: Rationale, current status, and future direction. U.S. Forest Service, 29-36.
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[24] Lobo, H.A.S. 2007. Método para avaliação do potencial espeleoturístico do Parque Nacional da Serra da Bodoquena, MS. Caderno Virtual de Turismo 7 (3):99-110.
[25] Lobo, H.A.S. 2015. Tourist carrying capacity of Santana cave (PETAR-SP, Brazil): a new method based on a critical atmospheric parameter. Tourism Management Perspectives 16:67-75.
[26] Lobo, H.A.S., et al. 2013. Projection of tourist scenarios onto fragility maps: Framework for determination of provisional tourist carrying capacity in a Brazilian show cave. Tourism Management 35:234-243.
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[31] Noosut, Kewalin, and Varaphorn, Duangsaeng. 2019. Development of Community-based Tourism Based on the Grassroots Economy Concept. Local Administration Journal 12 (3):481-496.
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[34] Peng, Li, Deng, W., Zhang, H., Sun, J., and Xiong, J. 2018. Focus on economy or ecology? A three‐dimensional trade‐off based on ecological carrying capacity in southwest China. Natural Resource Modeling 32 (2):1-16.
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Published
2021-06-28
How to Cite
CHEABLAM, Onanong; RATTANARAT, Jantira.
Physical and Ecological Carrying Capacity for Cave Tourism Management.
Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, [S.l.], v. 12, n. 4, p. 986-999, june 2021.
ISSN 2068-7729.
Available at: <https://journals.aserspublishing.eu/jemt/article/view/6191>. Date accessed: 22 dec. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.14505//jemt.v12.4(52).13.
Section
Article
Copyright© 2024 The Author(s). Published by ASERS Publishing 2024. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of CC-BY 4.0 license.