An evaluation model for the recreational carrying capacity of urban aerial trails

Different from traditional trails, urban aerial trails are limited by the carrying capacity of visitors. Therefore, it is necessary to research the recreational carrying capacity of aerial trails, in order to provide satisfactory recrea-tional experiences to the visitors. This study took Xiamen Mountains-to-Sea Trail as the research target, and obtained the number of visitors and acceptability data based on visual assessment and questionnaire survey. Based on the data, a social carrying capacity model of the aerial trail in combination with Cifuentes' carrying capacity calculation method was proposed. The research results show that the trail's social carrying capacity is much lower than the physical carrying capacity without affecting tourists' recreational experience. The findings of this study explain the reasonable impact parameter range of the social carrying capacity, and further optimize the trail's recreational carrying capacity.