Sustainable development, eco-tourism carrying capacity and fuzzy algorithm-a study on Kanas in Belt and Road

Abstract

In this paper, the method of fuzzy pattern recognition is adopted in more precisely evaluating the actual state of eco-tourism development regarding a given tourist destination in comparison with the three standard patterns (saturated/optimal/deficient) of development degree. The research process is as follows: Firstly, the indictors of carrying capacity of a tourist destination and the corresponding measuring factors are established; secondly, an assessment group is recruited to work out the most constraining factors among the measuring factors; thirdly, by means of field survey, numerical values of the actual state are acquired; fourthly, there comes out the membership vectors and the membership matrix of the standard patterns corresponding to the vectors of three standard patterns, threshold and the actual state; Finally, it could be identified which standard pattern that the actual state is closest to via the lattice degrees of proximity. An exemplary case study on Kanas National Nature Reserves is attached to the logic calculus. This paper is contributed to dynamically monitor the threshold of tourism carrying capacity and precisely identify which carrying capacity (spatial resource/ecological environment/economic resources/people’s psychology/socio-culture) with potential risks.

Assessment of Ecotourism Environmental Carrying Capacity in the Qilian Mountains, Northwest China

“…How to balance the relationship between tourism activity pressure and ecological protection in ecologically fragile areas has been the focus of attention. So far, EECC has been studied in terms of conceptual connotation, theoretical frameworks, measurement models, evaluation systems, and management applications, but they are all at the exploratory stage [9][10][11][12][13]. Synthesizing current research, the EECC can be defined as the threshold of tourism activity intensity that the natural, economic, and social environmental systems of a tourist destination can tolerate within a certain time and space range [8,10,12,13].…”

“…So far, EECC has been studied in terms of conceptual connotation, theoretical frameworks, measurement models, evaluation systems, and management applications, but they are all at the exploratory stage [9][10][11][12][13]. Synthesizing current research, the EECC can be defined as the threshold of tourism activity intensity that the natural, economic, and social environmental systems of a tourist destination can tolerate within a certain time and space range [8,10,12,13]. Essentially, it is a comprehensive reflection of the composition and structural characteristics of the tourism environmental system.…”

“…Essentially, it is a comprehensive reflection of the composition and structural characteristics of the tourism environmental system. Although scholars still have different definitions of its theoretical connotation, they have reached a consensus on protecting natural systems from destruction, measuring the threshold of destination carrying capacity, achieving sustainable economic and social development, and paying attention to tourist behavior and perception [10,11,13,14]. At present, there is no uniform standard for the evaluation index and method of EECC, and the evaluation needs to be adapted to local conditions [9].…”

“…At present, there is no uniform standard for the evaluation index and method of EECC, and the evaluation needs to be adapted to local conditions [9]. Research on the EECC in ecologically fragile areas is mostly conducted through the construction of an indicator system and implemented using a comprehensive index method [13,[15][16][17]. For example, Hu [18] takes Shanxi Province as an example to assess the EECC based on the entropy weight method.…”

“…The EECC is a comprehensive indicator involving many factors, and the construction of its evaluation index system should cover three aspects: ecological environment changes, socio-economic development, and the pressure of tourism activities. However, most studies tend to oversimplify the construction of the EECC evaluation index system, often considering only one aspect such as ecological environmental changes or changes in tourism activities [13].…”