Concept of perceptual carrying capacity and its use in the creation of promotional materials of tourist destination

Abstract

The aim of this article is to introduce results of research of perceptual carrying capacity of selected area. Concept of perceptual tourist carrying capacity aims to find the number of visitors of tourist destination that the visitor is willing to accept before deciding to prefer travelling to another tourist destination. In order to determine the perceptual carrying capacity the visual method is used. The photos of destination that depict different level of visitors are presented to respondents when using this method. The primary research method used in this investigation was the questionnaire survey which was conducted via online questionnaires. The questionnaire used computer-generated images that depict different number of visitors of the particular destination - nature trail around the church of St. John of Nepomuk in Žďar nad Sazavou (UNESCO monument). The questionnaire also contained samples of photos taken from photo gallery section of CzechTourism agency (photo. czechtourism.com), which were used to determine the preferred destination for recreation. The survey was conducted within the period from May 2012 to July 2012 on a sample of 736 respondents from The Czech Republic.