From Theoritical Considerations to Practical Application - The Assessment of Carrying Capacity for Dhermi Coastal Area, Albania

Abstract

Considered as one of the greatest country’s assets coastal areas in Albania have attracted the major share of local and foreign investments. Their scenic beauty, favourable climate, rich cultural and historical heritage have largely generated the developers’ interest during the last two decades. Unfortunately, due to the lack of the proper legislation, limited institutional capacity the major part of such investments have created massive urbanisation and strong development pressures, destructive to coastal resources. Therefore the proper planning and implementation of a sound tourism policy together employing beach carrying capacity assessment take a paramount importance for sustainable development of the coastal areas. This research paper aims to define the carrying capacity thresholds for Dhermi beach as a prerequisite for tourism planning and development. The methodology used to estimate CCA is based on physical conditions of the study area and its management and support infrastructure. The preliminary assessment of beach CCA for Dhermi is estimated at 6,648 beach users/day and indicates that it is still in higher level as compared to current tourist activity of the last year. Nevertheless, taking into account the large number of tourists frequenting it, as well as current undergoing investments, TCC assessment should be used as a guide to prevent this coastal area from degradation and manage sound tourism investments in the future.