Sustainable Tourism Development and Social Carrying Capacity: a Case-study on the North-Western Adriatic Sea,

This essay focuses on social carrying capacity (SCC) as indicator of tourism sustainable development, and establishes a practical definition of SCC based on the majority rule. In order to understand the main difficulties encountered in measuring SCC from the point of view of beach visitors and residents, data about the well developed tourist resort of Marina di Ravenna (Italy) on the North-Western Adriatic coast were used. We also highlight that, when crowded situations are very frequent and these two aspects of the SCC are in conflict, coastal policy-making should result in a compromise between the need to preserve residents’ life style and to increase the economic benefits of the beach recreational use.