O TURISMO COMO INDUTOR DO DESENVOLVIMENTO LOCAL EM RESERVAS INDÍGENAS O CASO DA BARRA VELHA E PATAXÓ DA JAQUEIRA PORTO SEGURO - BAHIA

Abstract

The city of Porto Seguro is located in the region called Extremo Sul and in the touristic zone named Costa do Descobrimento. This zone is one of the most important for the tourism development in Bahia, and Porto Seguro is detached by the tourists flow received every year. Porto Seguro also has the biggest indigenous population in Bahia state, and due to the precarious situation faced by most of the indigenous communities in Brazil, and due to their survival need, some tribes are developing the tourism as an economical alternative , taking advantage of the natural environment in which they live and their traditional culture as touristic attractives. Visualizing tourism as an instrument to promote the insertion of the indigenous population of Pataxó da Jaqueira and Barra Velha it reserves in the local society, and considering that some natives acquire income by selling handcraft to tourists, it was decided to investigate the way tourism is being developed in these reserves, as well as the contribution of this activity to the communities development. The main objectives are identifying if tourism is contributing to the rescue of the historical and cultural indigenous heritage, and how to work with this information, in order to foment a healthy relationship between Indians and no Indians, reducing cultural conflicts; verifying if the indigenous communities are participating in the process of income production provided by tourism and if this activity is contributing to the increase of social indicatives. The adopted methodology was the deductive approach through the case study. The data collection was performed by the survey of direct and indirect documentation, this one made by a wide bibliographic revision; the direct observation occurred intensively, and comprehended trips to the study area and application of questionnaires among the main actors involved. The importance of tourism on the income production in the studied communities is clear, as well as the inexistence of any systematization on this activity in both places. It is clear the need for a productive organization dedicated to the handcraft market potential. However, under-use of historical and cultural potential is remarkable, as well as the ignorance about the fundamentals of tourism and changes arised from this activity. The present study is an early stage to document and collaborate to the growth of tourism in the reserves Pataxó Jaqueira and Barra Velha, in order to contribute to improving the quality of life of these two indigenous communities.