25 Years of Beach Carrying Capacity in Portugal: A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place?

In Portugal, the concept of beach carrying capacity was introduced in 1993, with the Shoreline Management Plans. From the Portuguese experience of the last 25 years, a review of the concept is discussed; it's evolution and implementation, the challenges drawn from the practice, highlighting recommendations for future use. Despite some methodological weaknesses, the application of the carrying capacity concept contributed significantly to the better quality that most of the Portuguese beaches have nowadays, particularly to the improvement of a range of aspects like safety, infrastructures, accessibility, parking facilities. However, there are still a few issues that can be developed to make this concept more effective, like replacing the idea of a precise number by a threshold that should be used in a flexible way, adapted to any specific site conditions.