Limits of Acceptable Change and Tourism Stephen F. McCool Professor Emeritus The University of Montana Green On-line Version. Citation: McCool, S.F. 2013. Limits of Acceptable Change and Tourism In Holden, A., and Fennel, D.A. (eds) Routledge Handbook of Tourism and the Environment. Routledge. Oxon, UK. Pp 285-298. INTRODUCTION How do managers sustain the values for which protected areas have been desig- nated in the face of growing and diversify- ing societal expectations, changing climatic patterns, declining government support and accelerating tourism and visitation? This question dominates every manager’s mind, drives thousands of public meetings annual- ly, forms the basis for innumerable scientific studies, and challenges constituencies who not only want to preserve nature’s heritage but also use it for their shelter and suste- nance. While no statistics exist on the global economic significance and use of protected areas for tourism, we do know that tourism is one of the largest industries—however fragmented it may be—in the world, that international travel is growing exponential- ly, and that natural heritage protected areas host hundreds of millions of visitors annual- ly. At an individual level, managers grapple daily with the potential effects of tourism on the values preserved in a protect- ed area. They struggle with how they can provide opportunities for high quality visitor experiences that are the basis for a competi- tive tourism sector. They contend with communities in desperate need of economic opportunity which see the protected area as a path out of poverty. And, they must inte- grate these demands into a coherent, effec- tive plan that is resilient in the face of change, acceptable to protected area constit- uencies and one that is effectively imple- mented. Addressing these tasks requires man- agers to “work through” the complexities and nuances of tourism management, com- munity relationships and impact mitigation. Tourism or visitor management frameworks provide the structure for this process by in- fluencing what questions are asked and how. The Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) planning framework (Stankey and others 1985) is one such process. In this article, I provide a brief description of this planning framework. Prior to the description, I de- scribe what is meant by a framework in this context. In the third major section of this paper, I cover some of the significant issues and misunderstandings present in the tour- ism literature concerning this framework. A case study is briefly presented. In providing this overview, the read- er should note that I was involved as a facili- tator, scientist and bureaucrat in the initial application of the Limits of Acceptable Change process. Over the years, I have worked with numerous protected area organ- izations, facilitated many educational work- shops to help managers implement LAC and published a number of articles on it, its ap- plication, its relationship with the notion of recreation or tourism carrying capacity, and how the framework can be strengthened. I thus hold a unique perspective in describing the framework and responding to some of