Assessing social-ecological system carrying capacity for urban small island tourism: The case of Tidung Islands, Jakarta Capital Province, Indonesia

Abstract

The use of small islands for marine tourism is one of Indonesia's development strategies. The carrying capacity (CC) of islands is an essential parameter for achieving sustainable tourism management and development. CC can be incorporated into policy models and management strategies to reduce the impact on tourist areas. This study aims to assess the suitability of using social-ecological system CC (SES-CC) model to calculate optimal CC, using the Tidung Islands of Jakarta, the urban capital city of Indonesia as a case study. The SES-CC was assessed per tourist activity, using the impact perspective of the social-ecological system of the islands through a coupled model of social CC and ecological CC. The social CC was estimated using the perceptions of tourists, and the ecological CC was estimated using the physical CC. The real CC and effective CC were then estimated based on correction factors. Finally, a simple double attribute weighting method is used to develop coupled Social-Ecological System CC (SES-CC). A small urban island of Jakarta Capital Province, namely the Tidung Islands, was used for testing the method. The results will be used to improve sustainable tourism management in the islands, particularly national coastal and marine tourism policies.