ABSTRACT
Since numbers of visitors and local residents have increased dramatically in Galápagos over the past decade (to about 175,000 and 30,000 respectively in the year 2009), as has the number of introduced species, the physical extension of urban areas, the pool of taxis and private cars, and the production of waste, more people believe that the carrying capacity (CC) of the archipelago has already been reached or may have even been surpassed. The present tourism model of continued growth and its indirect impacts may therefore soon lead to a substantial biodiversity loss, endangering the small populations of emblematic species of the Galápagos tourism, such as marine iguanas, penguins, finches, mockingbirds, and others. Under these conditions of ecosystem degradation, the industry of the present “nature tourism” may ultimately collapse and with it the dependent Galápagos society (see Galápagos at risk by Watkins and Cruz 2007).
