Title: The application of system dynamics as a framework for establishing sustainable cave management policies: a case study in the Philippines

Authors: Nemi Lorraine S. Escalante; Jonathan A. Uy; Hanah Marie M. Tonggol; Amando A. Radomes Jr.; Lanndon A. Ocampo

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, 6000 Cebu, Philippines ' Department of Industrial Engineering, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, 6000 Cebu, Philippines ' Department of Industrial Engineering, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, 6000 Cebu, Philippines ' Department of Industrial Engineering, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, 6000 Cebu, Philippines ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Cebu Technological University, Cebu City, 6000 Cebu, Philippines

Abstract: Sustainable tourism has become a critical concern for local and global communities due to several detrimental issues on tourist destinations. However, traditional tourism research generally adopts a reductionalist approach that has its limitations as it fails to see the interdependencies of many components within the tourism system. This study attempts to demonstrate an alternative approach to dealing with complexities of cave sustainability in the form of system dynamics. Two major policies for cave tourism sustainability were employed to simulate the long-term sustainability of the tourist cave system. A case study was carried out on an emerging cave destination in central Philippines in order to explore the dynamic impacts of the policies. As a result, the combination of dynamic pricing and vegetation improvement is the best policy mix that can be implemented by management to ensure that the requirements of sustainable tourism are not violated in running the cave system.

Keywords: cave tourism; sustainability; system dynamics; cave management policies; Philippines.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGENVI.2018.091466

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, 2018 Vol.17 No.2/3, pp.197 - 213

Received: 16 Nov 2016
Accepted: 04 May 2017

Published online: 01 May 2018 *

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