Comparison Of Crowding Perception Between Groups Engaging In Coastal Tourism Activities

With the rapid growth of ocean tourism demand and residents travelling relatively concentrated on holiday, it makes a lot of ocean tourism scenic areas face a huge pressure of scenic crowding and environmental protection. The phenomena such as the decrease of the quality of the water and marine species, the increase of garbage all have been indisputable facts. Therefore, it can not only affect the recreation experience of tourists and reduce the recreation utility, but also will lead to unsustainable development of coastal tourism eventually if management measures are improper. It is a common problem in the carrying capacity management of many natural scenic spots in the world. In addition to the increase of travel demand, the reasons of this problem are related to the diversity of coastal tourism activities, tourist preference difference, its history, culture, customs, etc. Because of these characteristics, it has brought many challenges to the management of natural scenic spots carrying capacity. Therefore, it is very important to introduce the science research method both in the crowding perception of different seaside tourism activity groups and the management measures preferences for the reasonable protection and effective use of coastal tourism resources.In this paper, we selected four representative coastal tourism areas in Dalian as the research object, and according to the types of activities which tourists took part in, the sample was divided into three groups of tourists involved in sunbathing, swimming and walking on the beach. Firstly, crowding perception of entrance and beach’s tourists were compared and analyzed preliminarily by using social norm model and curve estimation. Secondly, we made further analysis on the ability of mitigating and management preferences of three groups by applying Probit model. The main research results revealed that (a) the social psychological carrying capacity of entrance’s tourists and three activities’groups were basically consistent by using social norm curve and curve estimation;(b) the tourists who were at the entrance were most likely to produce crowding perception;(c) the maximum acceptable level and mitigating ability of walking on the beach’s group were stronger than groups of sunbathing and swimming at the beach;(d) Different activities of groups’preference of management measures are not the same. Finally, this paper presented a series of management advice in order to promote sustainable development of coastal tourism industry based on the research conclusion.