Over-tourism occurs when the number of visitors exceeds a destinations carrying capacity to manage them sustainably, leading to negative impacts on the environment, local communities, and the tourism experience itself.
There are three main types of carrying capacity:
- Physical Carrying Capacity: The measure of absolute space, for example the number of spaces within a car park, number of hotel rooms
- Environmental Carrying Capacity: The level of use that an environment can sustain before long-term environmental damage occurs
- Perceptual Carrying Capacity: The level of crowding that a tourist (or local community) tolerates before deciding the location is too full