Tourism and Recreational Carrying Capacity of Octopus Islet Adventure in Bacuag, Surigao del Norte: An Essential Instrument for Sustainable Tourism

Abstract

A sustainable tourism approach is a requisite for ecotourism sites to provide a quality tourism experience. Tourism Carrying Capacity and Recreational Carrying Capacity is an influential concept in ecotourism management as for the assessment of the maximum permissible number of users in a destination. Bacuag Octopus Islet Adventure, a tourist destination, is anticipated as an area susceptible to carrying capacity issue which has not been recognized and no thorough implementation guidelines provided. This study focused on the determination of the site’s tourism and recreational carrying capacity. Questionnaires were administered to the participants of 385 tourists and 136 local residents. The tourism carrying capacity (TCC) was determined through the three levels of Boullon’s Carrying Capacity Mathematical Model (BCCMM) while recreational carrying capacity was determined utilizing the social norm/impact acceptability curve and importanceperformance matrix. As a result, the estimated TCC for the area of Bacuag Octopus Islet Adventure is 225 visitors per day. For the specific activities, the calculated carrying capacity for swimming, viewing, zipline, and skybike are 119, 10, 16, and 8, respectively. Using image capture technology, consecutively, the recreational carrying capacity by means of social indicators was 202 combining the tourists’ and local resident’s preferences. Thus, it is recommended to the management to implement the estimated carrying capacity on the visitors for the sustainability of the tourism area