Geographical rating in tourism development

Abstract During the last thirty years the most important geographic concept has been that of carrying capacity, that is the maximum number of people who can use a site without unacceptable alteration to its physical and social environment. For a long time measures of capacity have existed for each of the physical, economic and social subsystems of a destination. The notion of carrying capacity can be developed to restrict tourism development and to save natural resorts. Many researchers, particularly geographers, a have attempted to measure the carrying capacity of resort areas. The concept of geographical tourism impact is of great importance in its implications for the planning of destination areas and for the regulation of visitor activity.