Sustainable visitation index: a new visitor management framework for assessing destination sustainability

摘要

The sustainable visitation index (SVI) is a new visitor management framework (VMF) for assessing the extent to which particular sites are approaching or have exceeded desired levels of environmental, cultural and social wellbeing. The SVI framework measures tourism impacts and compares these to desired levels of development for particular sites across a range of sustainable indices. It is proposed that the SVI framework serves as a more flexible and systematic method for assessing visitor impacts than previous VMFs, which takes seriously the value dimension of destination management and the need to balance social and environmental needs. To demonstrate how the framework is applied, findings are presented from an SVI study conducted on Rottnest Island, Western Australia, involving a survey of 2,423 visitors across nine sites and an expert-based impact assessment.