O ecoturismo sob a égide da sociedade do consumo: um estudo das Unidades de Conservação de uso sustentável do RN

Ecotourism, in face to environmental demands and discussions, has achieved prominence in the tourism market and wide global development, occasioning a concern about the need for a scientific deepening through a critical approach of the dynamics of consumption and conservation that permeate this practice. This study addresses the ecotourism under aegis of consumer society, in which is perceived that it constitutes a contester practice of society in which it is embedded, nevertheless has been subjected to the logic of capital through commodification of nature. In order to comprehend the reality presented, this study had as geographical cutting two Conservation Units of Sustainable Use in Rio Grande do Norte state: the Jenipabu Environmental Protection Area (APAJ) and Ponta do Tubarão State Sustainable Development Reserve (RDSEPT). The research sought to investigate the relationship between conservation and consumption and their influences on ecotourism held in the Conservation Units (UCs) of sustainable use selected for this study. To this aim it was made a critical reflection about the relationship conservation versus consumption constant in the practice of ecotourism in UCs in the context of current society, analyzing the historical process of formation of UCs of sustainable use in RN state under the light of the contradictory pair conservation-consumption, as well as looking to apprehend the perception of ecotourism of the actors involved with this practice. It was adopted a qualitative approach under a critical perspective based on bibliographical and documentary research and realization of semi-structured interviews with three groups of actors, namely managers/technician, community and ectourists involved with ecotourism in the selected UCs. The analysis was made using two basic units of analysis (consumption and maintenance) and twelve categories. For definition of units of analysis and categories were taken as reference the authors Santos (1987; 1988; 1994; 2001; 2006), Guerreiro Ramos (1989) and A. B. Rodrigues (1996; 2003), which perform critical to society of consumption and describe the key characteristics of the technical-scientific-informational predominant means, and Diegues (1998; 2000), A. B. Rodrigues (2001), Pires (2002) and Neiman and Rabinovici (2010), which discusse historic and scientifically about the emphasis on conservation present in origins and discourse of ecotourism, describing also its founding characteristics. The main results show that the marketing use of the prefix eco has acted as a new dress for what in reality is in fact ancient, ie, the conservation is used as a justification for another new type of consumption. The results also show that despite the coexistence of commercial and symbolic intentions in both UCs, one can observe the predominance consumer society characteristics in the process of creation and the production activities of APAJ, while in RDSEPT we note the predominance of the conservationist characteristics proclaimed by ecotourism. It can be inferred therefore that tourism held in the APAJ can not be called ecotourism, while the practice found in RDSEPT show an alignment with the guidelines of ecotourism

Determinantes de competitividade de destinos turísticos aplicados aos roteiros regionais: uma avaliação do roteiro Seridó/RN

The tourism industry is gaining representation by move and stimulate the economy, especially by allowing the generation of employment and income, thus allowing growth opportunities for localities where tourism develops. Therefore, the present study entitled determinants of competitiveness of tourist destinations applied to regional routes: an evaluation of the Route of Seridó/RN, discusses the issue of competitiveness in tourism and tries to understand the scenery of this Route. The main objective of the study is to assess the conditions of competitiveness in the Route of Seridó/RN according to benchmarks and global determinants of competitiveness for tourist destinations. The study has also as specifics objectives: define dimensions of the reference model for use in evaluating the competitiveness of the Route of Seridó/RN; identify levels of governance and competitiveness in the municipalities that make up the sample set above the Route, and analyze to what extent the competitiveness of the Route correspond to the global reference of competitiveness of tourism destinations. Regarding the methodology, it is a search for an exploratory- descriptive and used a combination of quantitative and qualitative research method as expected and required in the implementation of the evaluation tool called Compet&enible Model. For data collection, it has been taken technical visits and also analysis of documents and materials. Data analysis was based on the records and documents and the use of simple descriptive statistics for the scores of the elements offered by Compet&enible Model. The results allowed us to know the real conditions of competitiveness of the Seridó/RN Route forward to the attributes of tourist destinations for global competitiveness: the dimension I, Governance, reached 17 points, classified as "in structuring" and dimension II, Competitiveness, reached 10 points, ranking "weak". These results highlight the need for greater involvement of the actors in the supply chain of tourism in Polo Seridó/RN for the actions, programs and projects are put into practice. It is expected that tourism is considered an important activity for the local and global development, serving as a reference for the future management of Seridó/RN Route, guiding new policy guidelines, planning and organization to better competitiveness