An application of tourism carrying capacity assessment at two Italian cultural heritage sites

Abstract

If not properly managed or organized, tourist flows can constitute a risk for conserving cultural heritage sites. It may therefore be important to estimate the maximum capacity a visitor site can receive without compromising its heritage integrity or visitors’ experiences. This research note formulates a comprehensive methodology to assess the carrying capacity of cultural heritage sites as a way of providing technical support for cultural development and tourism management policies. This approach proposes a combination of qualitative and quantitative indicators to assess tourist flows at a site, how tourists affect conservation and how the property itself shapes and conditions the visitor experience. This how-to study underscores the management system and suggests guidelines to improve the tourism product without generating negative impacts on the built heritage. Two museum case studies are highlighted – the National Museum of the arts of the XXI Century, in Rome and the National Gallery of Marche (Palazzo Ducale, in Urbino).

Keywords:

• tourism carrying capacity
• cultural heritage
• evaluation
• National Gallery of Marche
• MAXXI
• Italy

Notes on contributors

Elisabetta Cimnaghi is an engineer for the environment and the territory and she holds a Ph.D. in environmental engineering, with specialization in estimative and economic evaluations at Politecnico di Torino. The title of her Doctoral Thesis is “The environmental damage assessment in the estimate discipline: from ex-post evaluation to economic sustainability of the prevention policies”. Currently, she works with SiTI – Higher Institute on Territorial Systems for Innovation in several research projects. Her research interests and activities are related to the economic assessment of environmental damages, the valorization of natural and cultural heritage and the economic analysis of projects and plans. She is author of many articles in professional journals and she has worked as a teacher in the course “Estimate discipline” at Politecnico di Torino.

Paola Mussini has a degree in architecture (Politecnico di Milano, 2006) and later specialized in cultural heritage restoration (Master in restoration, protection and safeguarding of historical buildings and monuments, University of Florence, 2008); management (Master's, world heritage at work, ILO Centre, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Turin, 2011), valorisation (Politecnico di Torino, Turin, 2010) and risk management (Institute of Disaster Mitigation for Urban Cultural Heritage, Kyoto, 2013). She works as a freelance architect and has cooperated with SiTI (Higher Institute on Territorial Systems for Innovation, Turin) as a researcher since 2010. She is founder and vice president of a volunteer association for the intervention on cultural heritage in case of emergencies (CHIEF – Cultural Heritage International Emergency Force).

ORCID

Paola Mussini http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1498-2098