"Aqui se faz Gostoso”: uma etnografia do turismo em São Miguel do Gostoso (RN)

Abstract

This study it is an ethnography on the process of the tourist coast area of São Miguel do Gostoso, whose origin is made from a village of traditional fishermen located on the northeast coast of Rio Grande do Norte. From the late 90s, there were the first initiatives that transformed São Miguel do Gostoso in one of the state's major tourist destinations. The municipality is promoted within the national and international tourism scene through the sun and beach tourism - whose object of consumption is the natural landscape - and sports tourism - which exploited element is the "natural" geographic location (in the continent curve) of municipality that provides winds considered ideal for the practice of “Kitesurfing “ and Windsurfing. From this context, this ethnography had as a theme the social changes promoted by the tourism process in place here addressed, taking into account the perceptions produced by the actors involved in this social net. In this qualitative research, I endeavored to me in the methodological use of ethnographic techniques - bibliographic and field research, participant observation, open and structured interviews recorded by recording and field notes and photographic record. I also made use of theoretical tools and methodology inherent in ciberetnografia when analyzing the blogs and websites of intermediaries and institutions linked to local tourism.