Potencial turístico de destinos: proposição de um modelo de avaliação com base nos recursos endógenos

Abstract

Resource and attraction are concepts used constantly in the field of tourism knowledge and applied in studies on tourism potential. Although the nature and origin of these concepts have distinct roots and meanings, as observed, they are treated indiscriminately as synonyms. Tourism resource, in the essence of the term and the logic of tourism planning, is the basis of potential, which may or may not be turned into attractive, which represents something modified and already qualified for access and use. Few academic studies are concerned with the distinction and proper application of the term, and this conceptual indiscrimination has important implications for studies of tourism potential, both in the field of scientific knowledge and in its field of application in proposing solutions for destination management and competitiveness. Therefore, this thesis aims to contribute to the conceptual demarcation of tourism potential in a more precise and discriminated way, by proposing a methodology for assessing destination tourism potential, based on its endogenous resources. For the development of the thesis, it was based on the foundations and guidelines of qualitative methodologies, using various techniques of survey and data analysis, such as bibliographic research for the delimitation of the terms potential and tourism resource, Focus Group for the purification of terms and composition of the first conceptual outline of the methodology, Delphi technique with specialists for the conceptual delimitation of the term and refinement of the proposed tourist potential assessment structure. The discussion showed that there are different and divergent interpretations of the meaning of tourism potential and that the indiscriminate application of the term, which is extensive to the concept of appeal and appeal, results in different and complex assessment methodologies, thus making it impossible to compare their results. The in-depth analysis of the content of the main methodologies found and their different applications allowed us to categorize the use of potential as a synonym of attraction, supply and market, but almost never as a narrow meaning of potential in the essence of the term. This revelation also made it possible to understand that indiscriminate use - both theoretical and practical - has led to important distortions in its application and that potential assessment has been seriously compromised by this conceptual neglect. For the studies of destination competitiveness, the implications are even more acute, since they do not allow comparison of results and do not present isonomy of indicators, much less of objective form of calculation. The proposition of the conceptual structure that can serve for the evaluation of tourism potential defended in this thesis was validated by its application in two different places in Rio Grande do Norte and proved to be suitable for use in identifying intrinsic value of endogenous tourism resources of one place. Its results support the decision making of managers regarding the future development of the destination, directing public investment to transform this potential into a concrete attraction.