Ranking and Analysis of the Influence Factors of the Ecotourism Carrying Capacity: A Case Study in Jixian County Ecotourism Development

The development of ecotourism must consider local carrying capacity. If the numbers of visitors are so huge that use of the resource exceeds the carrying capacity of the site, the resource shortage and environmental degradation would not be avoided. In this study, a case study is conducted for analyzing the influence factors of the local ecotourism carrying capacity. Jixian County Ecotourism Park is located in north part of Tianjin, China. And the park attracts lots of visitors annually. However, large amount of visitors also make a great pressure to the carrying capacity of local area. 2008 Beijing Olympic game may lead to more visitors flowing into this area, deteriorating the environment of the ecotourism sites. This study focuses on the carrying capacity of the local area, identifying and ranking the main influence factors of the carrying capacity of Jixian county ecotourism park. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used as the basic research tool in this study. The research result would be helpful for setting up the efficient management system in this area.