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ship between number of users �density of use) and
crowding, and that for some activities, such as
festivals or concerts, the quality of experience may
actually increase with larger numbers of visitors, at
least to a point. Further, surveys of visitors usually
indicate positive experiences, with those who have
not been satisfied previously moving on elsewhere
to be replaced by others who are tolerant of the
new situation.
While it is not difficult to criticise the carrying
capacity concept, it is not easy to come up with
alternatives. While lacking in managerial
specificity, the search for capacities has spawned a
great deal of valuable research on the environmental
impacts of tourism and recreation, and on
relationships between levels and types of use and
the qualities of the experiences which can be
obtained. While carrying capacity is a term which
is still widely used in the literature to refer to a level
of use which should not be exceeded, difficulties in
its application have resulted in the development of
newer concepts such as limits of acceptable
change and the recreation opportunity spectrum
which lend themselves more readily to
managerial application.
Further reading
Anderson, D.H. and Brown, P.J. �1984) `The
displacement process in recreation', Journal of
Leisure Research 16: 61±73.
Shelby, B. and Heberlein, T.A. �1986) Carrying
Capacity in Recreation Settings, Corvallis, OR:
Oregon State University Press.
Stankey, G.H. and McCool, S.F. �1984) `Carrying
capacity in recreational settings: evolution,
appraisal and application', Leisure Sciences 6:
453±74.
Wall, G. �1982) `Cycles and capacity: incipient
theory or conceptual contradiction?', Tourism
Management 3: 188±92.
GEOFFREY WALL, CANADA
carrying capacity, recreational
Recreational carrying capacity is the threshold
level of use where impacts exceed levels specified
by evaluative standards. From an early search for a
set number of users, the term has evolved into a
management concept encompassing biophysical
�ecological), sociocultural and facility assessments
and capacities.
cash flow
cash flow 73
DAVID G. SIMMONS, NEW ZEALAND
All organisations receive and disburse cash, and in
accounting these receipts and payments are
reflected by means of a statement of cash flow.
This is a tool for financial control and asset
management, accounts for the change in the
organisation's total balances of cash and cash
equivalents �i.e., its total cash flow) during a
financial period by analysing and summarising its
inflows and outflows under various headings. For a
business organisation, five headings are typical of
international usage: cash flow from operations,
interest and dividends received and paid, taxation
paid and refunded, purchases and sales of fixed
assets, including financial fixed assets �investments)
and businesses, and financing activities �raising or
repaying capital in the form of equity or loans).
Cash flow from operations may be presented
either by the direct or indirect method. Under the
former, for example, the total amounts of cash
received from tourism sales and those paid for
purchases of stock and for operating expenses are
shown in the statement. The indirect method is less
informative; the cash flow from tourism operations
is derived from the operating profit by making
adjustments for non-cash items �such as depreciation
of fixed assets) and for changes in working
capital �stock, debtors and creditors) which absorb
or release cash.
While profitability �broadly, the ability to create
economic value by producing outputs with a value
greater than that of the inputs used in the process)
is the key to the long-term survival of a business,
cash flow is crucial in the shorter term, as it is the
inability to make essential payments which causes a
business to fail. Examination of the five headings
shows that, apart from operating cash flow �which
is associated with profitability), a tourism business
has various ways in which it can generate cash. For