. Limits of acceptable change VMS VMS are strategies to protect the environment and tourism resources through mitigating the impacts of tourists while providing outstanding experiences to tourists. $$$ The purpose of VMS is to ensure no mass tourism or overdevelopment comes about. General VMS 1. Hard measures - physical/tangible restrictions on access and development, eg. fences, physical barriers. 2. Soft measures - associated with encouraging desired behavior rather than undesirable activities, eg. policies, regulations, and other instructions. Specific VMS 1. Managing the tourism supply - creating physical designs to control the concentration or even the disposal and movement of visitors, eg. special controls, limiting access areas, providing alternative locations. 2. Managing the demand for visitation - creating length of stay restrictions and allowable volume, eg. volume control, encouraging alternate visiting times, timed access. 3. Managing the resource capacity - resource adaptation and increasing the degree of tolerance of the area, eg. converting very sensitive areas to more tolerant ones, hardening footpaths. 4. Managing the impact of use - reducing the negative impact of use by modifying the activity, eg. high versus low impact tourism activities, behavioural modification, codes of conduct, pricing strategies. Carrying Capacity The ability to absorb tourism use without deteriorating the maximum number of people who can use a site without having things happening: Unacceptable alteration in phucical and cocial environment (tourism cunnhud Investigate Fo Upda