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| TOURISM ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT——A Case Study of Songshan Scenic Spot in Maylst Golden Week of 2005 |
| LU Feng-xian, QIN Yao-chen, XU Liang-sheng, MENG Hua |
| College of Environment and Planning, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China |
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Abstract Based on the theory and method of ecological footprint, the paper puts forward the concept of tourism ecological footprint. By making use of the tourism ecological footprint model, the paper calculates the tourism ecological footprint in the May1st 2005 golden week in four aspects:tourism transportation, tourism accommodation, tourism catering and tourismshopping and then compares it with the average ecological footprint of citizens of Zhengzhou City. The conclusion is that the tourism ecological footprint of Songshan Scenic Spot is 0.0226423gha per person in the May1st 2005 golden week, almost 5.19 times that of the average ecological footprint of citizens of Zhengzhou City. Tourism is a life style that needs a great deal of natural resources.
The analysis method of tourism ecological footprint combining the theory of ecological footprint with the tourist sustainable development can be used to reflect the pressure and influence, which come from the development of tourism, and the situation of harmony or contradiction between the supply of nature can afford and the requirement of the tourism behavior. Many factors may affect the tourist ecological footprint, mainly including the scale of tourist flow, the tourism consumption level and model and behavior, the tourist policy and stratagem, etc. Advocating the resource-saving tourism model is the only way to reduce the tourist ecological footprint. So the ecological tourism and rural tourist should be encouraged.
The results of the calculation in this paper are less than normal for the difficult of data acquisition. The accuracy of the calculation is affected by the hypotheses in the model. As the foothold of the ecological footprint theory, the use of the equivalence factor has its inherent vice at the same time. In a word, the study of the combination of the ecological footprint theory and the tourism sustainable development begins just now and many new fields are watching for further in-depth discussion.
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Received: 16 November 2005
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2006, Vol. 21 
