Concentração e dispersão do turismo na Chapada Diamantina no contexto do Programa de Regionalização do Turismo (2004-2024)

Abstract

In 2004, the Brazilian federal government initiated the implementation of the Tourism Regionalization Program (PRT), promoting the formation of "tourist regions" across the national territory for the purpose of tourism planning and development. This was done through regional governance entities, under the principle of decentralization. However, by proposing the region as a spatial planning category, it is assumed that municipalities within a tourist region would aim to develop tourism in an integrated manner, with each capturing a share of tourist flows and both public and private investments in the sector. The Chapada Diamantina tourist region in the state of Bahia comprises 40 municipalities, divided into 4 microregions: Chapada Diamante, Chapada Norte, Chapada Ouro and Chapada Velha. In the 1990s, tourism in the region was yet historically, tourism has been concentrated in the municipality of Lençóis. In this regard, it is pertinent to question whether over 20 years, tourism regionalization policies have succeeded in dispersing tourism across the municipalities of the Chapada Diamantina region. Therefore, the research aims to analyze the tourism sector's behavior in the regional economy of Chapada Diamantina during the implementation period of the Tourism Regionalization Program (2004-2024), focusing on the trends of concentration and dispersion of tourism activities and their contribution to regional development. This is an exploratory research with a qualitative-quantitative approach, utilizing regional analysis measures (location quotient), and conducting semi-structured interviews with local tourism stakeholders. The results demonstrate that Lençóis fulfilled, over two decades, the role of a tourism-inducing hub and its area of influence mainly covered nearby municipalities, such as Palmeiras, Andaraí, Mucugê, Ibicoara, Iraquara and Nova Redenção. These municipalities are part of Chapada Diamante, which significantly concentrates the tourism sector in the region. But it is possible to consider that tourism is spreading, even if still timidly, towards some municipalities in Chapada Norte, which could become a new tourist center in Chapada Diamantina. The Chapada Ouro and Chapada Velha microregions are areas of rarefaction, with a low presence (in some cases absence) of tourist enterprises, services and products. Intra-regional inequalities, therefore, are challenges for the effectiveness of the Tourism Regionalization Program, especially in regions as large as Chapada Diamantina.