IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i14p6344-d1699001.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tourism Carrying Capacity in Coastal Destinations: An Assessment in Mazatlán, Mexico

Author

Listed:
  • Pedro Alfonso Aguilar Calderón

    (Facultad de Ingeniería y Tecnología de Mazatlán, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Mazatlán 82017, Mexico)

  • Beatriz Adriana López-Chávez

    (Escuela de Turismo Mazatlán, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Mazatlán 82017, Mexico)

  • Nadia Ilenia Peinado Osuna

    (Escuela de Turismo Mazatlán, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Mazatlán 82017, Mexico)

  • Edgar Omar Burgueño Sánchez

    (Facultad de Ingeniería y Tecnología de Mazatlán, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Mazatlán 82017, Mexico)

  • José Alfonso Aguilar-Calderón

    (Facultad de Informática Mazatlán, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Mazatlán 82017, Mexico)

  • Jesús Alberto Somoza Ríos

    (Facultad de Ciencias Económico Administrativas de Mazatlán, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Mazatlán 82017, Mexico)

Abstract

Tourism management in coastal destinations is vital to guide activity towards sustainable practices that ensure lower social and environmental impacts with greater benefits for the local community and experiences for tourists, especially in mature destinations where the main product is the beach. The aim of this research is to calculate the Tourist Carrying Capacity (TCC) of a stretch of beach in Mazatlán, Mexico, under past, present, and future scenarios, under different intensities of use. The main findings indicate that by 2025 the Effective Carrying Capacity (ECC) is 19,644, 29,822, and 4911 users with intensive, medium, and low occupancy levels, respectively. A decrease of −30.63% was found between the Effective Carrying Capacity of the 2025 scenario with respect to 2005 and a decrease of −68.90% is predicted for the year 2050 with respect to the current one, indicating an accelerated trend in the decrease of physical space and, therefore, greater pressure on the coastal ecosystem in case the trend of tourists goes upward, without being sustainably managed. These results are useful for agencies involved in beach and tourism management in mature coastal destinations.

Suggested Citation

  • Pedro Alfonso Aguilar Calderón & Beatriz Adriana López-Chávez & Nadia Ilenia Peinado Osuna & Edgar Omar Burgueño Sánchez & José Alfonso Aguilar-Calderón & Jesús Alberto Somoza Ríos, 2025. "Tourism Carrying Capacity in Coastal Destinations: An Assessment in Mazatlán, Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-30, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:14:p:6344-:d:1699001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/14/6344/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/14/6344/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aliya Aktymbayeva & Yeldar Nuruly & Alexandr Artemyev & Aida Kaliyeva & Akmaral Sapiyeva & Zhanna Assipova, 2023. "Balancing Nature and Visitors for Sustainable Development: Assessing the Tourism Carrying Capacities of Katon-Karagay National Park, Kazakhstan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-24, November.
    2. Pedro Aguilar & Edgar Mendoza & Rodolfo Silva, 2021. "Interaction between Tourism Carrying Capacity and Coastal Squeeze in Mazatlan, Mexico," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-24, August.
    3. Xianlei Dong & Shan Gao & Airong Xu & Zhikun Luo & Beibei Hu, 2022. "Research on Tourism Carrying Capacity and the Coupling Coordination Relationships between Its Influencing Factors: A Case Study of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-28, November.
    4. Cheng Long & Song Lu & Jie Chang & Jiaheng Zhu & Luqiao Chen, 2022. "Tourism Environmental Carrying Capacity Review, Hotspot, Issue, and Prospect," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-19, December.
    5. Blanca Bernal & Nancy Montero & Sergio Vázquez, 2024. "A Comparative Study of the Tourism Carrying Capacity of the State of Baja California between 2019 and 2022," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-19, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Branka Manojlović & Vladimir M. Cvetković & Renate Renner & Goran Grozdanić & Nenad Perošević, 2025. "The Influence of Socio-Demographic Factors on Local Attitudes Towards Sustainable Tourism Development in Skadar Lake and Durmitor National Parks, Montenegro," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-40, April.
    2. Saba Nourin & Ismat Nasim & Hafiz Muhammad Raza ur Rehman & Elisabeth Caro Montero & Mirtha Silvana Garat de Marin & Nagwan Abdel Samee & Imran Ashraf, 2025. "Exploring the nexus: Hausman test application in tourism, globalization, and environmental sustainability- evidence of top 10 visited countries," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Jorge Manuel Tello Chan & Kennedy Obombo Magio & Eloy Gayosso Soto, 2025. "The Tourist Carrying Capacity as a Basis for Sustainable Management of Ecotourism Activities: Case Study of the Southern Mexican Caribbean," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-17, August.
    4. Haoyu Wang & Yanming Zhang & Quanbin Wang & Jing Yu & Chunjiu Yuan, 2025. "Spatial Assessment of Ecotourism Development Suitability Incorporating Carrying Capacity in the Yellow River Estuary National Park," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-23, September.
    5. Ligao Yin & Heng Li & Dong Liu & Liangliang Zhang & Chunqing Wang & Mo Li & Muhammad Abrar Faiz & Tianxiao Li & Song Cui, 2025. "Interpretation and Comprehensive Evaluation of Regional Water–Land–Energy Coupling System Carrying Capacity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-24, February.
    6. Jingwen Ai & Liuqing Yang & Yanfen Liu & Kunyong Yu & Jian Liu, 2022. "Dynamic Landscape Fragmentation and the Driving Forces on Haitan Island, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, January.
    7. Xiaoyan Bu & Xiaomin Wang & Jiarui Wang & Ge Shi, 2023. "A Study on Resource Carrying Capacity and Early Warning of Urban Agglomerations of the Yellow River Basin Based on Sustainable Development Goals, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-20, October.
    8. Wenjun Ge & Mohd Shahrudin bin Abd Manan, 2025. "A Review of and Prospect of Village Architecture Research from the Perspective of Rural Tourism," World, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-28, February.
    9. Zhang, Yuxin & Fu, Bin & Sun, Juying & da Silva, Ramon Felipe Bicudo, 2025. "Quantifying supply and demand of cultural ecosystem services from a dynamic perspective," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    10. Tran Thi Thu Hien & Hone-Jay Chu, 2024. "Revealing Ecotourism Potential of Streams and Waterfalls: Identification of Influential Factors in a Case Study from Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-16, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:14:p:6344-:d:1699001. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.