ABSTRACT
Ecological sustainability The condition of ecological sustainability need hardly be stated as it is often the only way in which sustainability is publicly perceived. The need to avoid or minimise the environmental impact of tourist activities is clear. Maldonado et al. (1992) suggest that the calculation of carrying capacities is an important method of assessing environmental impact and sustainability. In an important work on carrying capacity, they calculate the capacities for seven different tourist foci in Costa Rica, and in so doing take the notion of sustainability beyond a rather fatuous interpretation by so many users of the term. Box 4.7 gives an outline of their calculations of the carrying capacity for the Guayabo National Monument, a small area of archaeological significance in Costa Rica.
