Carrying Capacity: Physical

The concept of carrying capacity describes the amount of activity a destination, site, or attraction can accommodate without suffering from unsustainable impact. Research and experience have shown that tourism and visitation can have negative impacts on the destination, environment, culture, and people. So a question that has been asked is, “How much is too much?” Is there such a magic number? How many tourists can a certain rainforest trail take without getting too degraded? How many people can dive a certain reef without too much negative impact on coral and fish? In a day how many tourists can visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa without degrading it beyond recovery?