Caves, Cultures and Crowds: Carrying Capacity Meets Consumer Sovereignty

This paper draws on research at Waitomo Caves in New Zealand to argue that the re-emergenceofplace as apolitical perspective has some important implicationsforthe concept of consumer sovereignty in tourism. The Waitomo case study identifies that differences in perceptions of crowding between various nationality groups produces a displacement of visitors less tolerant to crowding, in this case domestic tourists. It is argued that a failure to address the issue of domestic visitor displacement in the wider policy arena results in thematerialisation of the issues at the local level. Here, demands for indigenous sovereignty over heritage sites complicates the otherwise uninterrupted flow of consumer sovereignty via the market-driven management model.