A expansão do turismo em São Miguel dos Milagres-AL: contribuições e obstáculos ao desenvolvimento local

• Autor(a) principal: Fraga, Felipe Ferreira
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFPB
• Texto Completo: https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/tede/4544
• topic: São Miguel dos Milagres; Turismo; Desenvolvimento local; Sustentabilidade; São Miguel dos Milagres; Tourism; Local development; Sustainability; CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::ECOLOGIA

The development model that characterizes the hegemonic political-economic system in the contemporary world promotes the excessive exploitation of the environment and creates frames of social inequalities and injustices. An alternative to this model demands a kind of development democratically built in the local sphere that values both the populations and the environments involved and insert principles of sustainability in political processes, social practices and economic activities. And tourism consists in a potential and indispensable field of application of the concepts of sustainability and local development, besides being a possible means for accomplishing economic and social improvements. However, inadequate planning and development of the tourist activity mitigates this capacity and intensify its negative impacts. Therefore, studies that evaluate touristic policies and projects and that understand the process of social-spatial organization promoted by the touristic practices become critical either to inquire its effectiveness as benefit vectors or to improve them so they can be effective in this matter. Thus, this paper presents a study about the tourism practice in São Miguel dos Milagres, on the North coast of the state of Alagoas, through an analysis of the activity s process of expansion which started in year 2000 and its effects to the local environment and populations. This study s main objective was to identify the obstacles and opportunities created by the practice of tourism to the town s effective development, characterizing the current conditions for tourism in the area and pointing the main impacts and conflicts related to the touristic activity. In order to allow a better comprehension of the complexity of the phenomenon studied, an exploratory research with an essentially qualitative approach was conducted, especially through open interviews with some residents and people who are involved with the town s tourism market. In the end, some limitations were perceived in the effective development of São Miguel dos Milagres, such as: absence of fulfillment of the population s needs and demands, incipient democratic spirit in the decision making process related to the common interest, traces of a disorderly urban expansion and intensification of social-environmental conflicts. However, some contributions to the local development regarding the touristic activity were also found, such as: the origination of new sources of income to the community, the construction and the establishment of the Municipal Master Plan and the Management Planning for Costa dos Corais Environmental Protection Area, the creation of channels for community participation in the local political decisions and incentives to the conservation of the environmental heritage. As a conclusion it can be said that the tourism development in São Miguel dos Milagres incorporates some principles found in the concept of sustainability, especially the valorization of the local potentialities. If these principles are disseminated and concretely applied, it can be inferred that tourism is able to directly favor a local development process in the town.