Ecological Carrying Capacity and Ecological Footprint of Ski Tourism: A Case of North Slope Region of Tianshan Mountain

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.