ASSESSMENT OF CARRYING CAPACITY OF TOURIST DESTINATIONS IN THE NILLGRIDIS DISTRICT

Abstract: Nilgiris, the well-known district of Tamilnadu famous for its natural scenic beauty start getting affecting because of the excessive tourism growth from past few years. The district having more than 30 destinations which makes tourism as an important source of economy in the district. Growing tourism brings positive as well as negative impact on tourist destinations which is mainly happening due to mass tourism and overcrowding. Mass tourism directly related to excess carrying capacity of the destinations which can destroy the natural tourism environment. In this study, we gave the attempt to understand the concept of carrying capacity and assessing the carrying capacity of important destinations of Nilgiris district to identifying the destination which is experiencing the mass tourism and overcrowding which will give the idea of the destinations where interventions and strategies required to control the impact on tourism environment.

Keywords: Tourist destinations, Carrying capacity, Quality of tourist destinations, Mass tourism.