ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Ecological Carrying Capacity and Ecological
Footprint of Ski Tourism: A Case of North Slope
Region of Tianshan Mountain
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1
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100101, China
2
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
3
School of Tourism Science, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing 100024, China
4
China Tourism Academy, Beijing 100005, China
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Submission date: 2023-03-22
Final revision date: 2023-07-25
Acceptance date: 2023-07-25
Online publication date: 2023-10-30
Publication date: 2023-11-10
Corresponding author
Li Fei
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100101, China
Wu Fang
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2023;32(6):5551-5561
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ABSTRACT
The ski industry in China has been entering into a phase of rapid development, since the beginning
of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, with the typical distribution characteristics of ski tourism in main
snow-ice resources area. The North Slope region of the Tianshan Mountain contains the favorable
endowment of ski resources in China and has become one of the best tourist destinations. However, ski
tourism are facing a significant challenge in ecological and environmental protection. Few China Ski
tourism studies considered the discussion of ecological footprint. Therefore, this study aims to explore
an ecological accounting scheme for ski tourism, based on evaluating the local ecological carrying
capacity and ecological pressure, and to examine the sustainability of the regional ski industry layout,
took a representative Tianshan ski tourist city as the research case. It is indicated that the ecological
footprint of ski resorts are considerably larger than that of other tourism activities, which highlights the
urgent need to manage ecological issues of ski resorts. The regional tourist attractions cannot match ski
tourism endowment. Nalati ski resorts presents a state of ecological deficit, as the largest tourism area
in North Slope region of Tianshan Mountain. Ski tourism accommodations contribute to the largest
proportion of the ecological footprint. Fundamentally, this study offers an industry ecological model
consideration based on ski tourism sustainability assessment.