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Using Tourism Carrying Capacity to Strengthen UNESCO Global Geopark Management in Hong Kong

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Abstract

Tourism carrying capacity (TCC) is a measure of the optimum use level of visitors who can use a site without creating environmental degradation. This study demonstrates how this concept can be used to strengthen the management of the only United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Global Geopark in Hong Kong. A research model is proposed based on the criteria of the Global Geoparks Network (GGN). A confirmatory factor analysis and a structural equation modelling (SEM) procedure are performed on the case study of Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark (HKGP). The validity of the TCC research model is confirmed. The results further demonstrate that TCC has been achieved in HKGP; the local community highly agrees with the three management principles of the Global Geopark; and the three dimensions of sustainable geotourism (i.e. environmental carrying capacity (ECC), socio-demographic carrying capacity (SCC), and political-economic carrying capacity (PCC)) have strong positive inter-relationships with each other. This study demonstrates a novel way to use the TCC web of elements to evaluate sustainable tourism practices in a UNESCO Global Geopark.

Keywords

Geotourism Tourism carrying capacity Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark Local community Visitor satisfaction 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong under the PhD Fellowship Scheme. The authors are grateful to Professor Kreg Lindberg for his suggestion to use TCC as a management-by-objectives approach, to Professor Geoffrey Wall for his suggestions related to using stakeholder theory in the underpinning theoretical framework, and to Mr. André Robert Guerraz and Mr. Philippe Gamen for their suggestions on the survey and future studies. The authors express their gratitude to Eco Travel Limited (www.hktraveler.com) for offering free logistical support for field trips and the questionnaire survey. Chan Sze-Man, Cynthia, an official at Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, provided useful suggestions on the questionnaire design. We are also grateful to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their comments.

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Copyright information

© The European Association for Conservation of the Geological Heritage 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Tourism ManagementSoochow UniversitySuzhouChina
  2. 2.Department of BiologyHong Kong Baptist UniversityHong KongPeople’s Republic of China

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