Turismo metropolitano: o papel de Lauro de Freitas na Região Metropolitana de Salvador

Abstract

The understanding of the interrelationships between tourism and space was the panorama on which the considerations of this dissertation were developed. Its territorial landmark is the Metropolitan Region of Salvador (MRS), focusing mainly on the municipality of Lauro de Freitas. Starting from the assumption that tourism in Lauro de Freitas presents itself as an unknown for not perceiving an effective insertion of the municipality in the tourism dynamics of the region, it is established as the north of this research to analyze the role of Lauro de Freitas in the dynamics of the Metropolitan Region of Salvador in the field of tourism activity. For the elaboration of this dissertation, a bibliographical review was carried out and, in support of this one, an empirical work that involved the sending of questionnaires to means of lodging of Lauro de Freitas and semi-structured interviews with agents representative of the municipal administration and a researcher on the theme. In view of the low percentage of return of the questionnaires sent, it was used, as an alternative strategy, to analyze testimonials of the guests about these same means of lodging on the platforms TripAdvisor and Booking.com, besides the official web sites of the means of lodging. Initially, a theoretical reflection was developed around the peculiarities of tourism in its relationship with space, presenting its main classifications, always seeking an approximation with the metropolitan context in which the central object of analysis is inserted. The next step was the process of formation of MRS, considering the behavior assumed by Lauro de Freitas. Based on this initial approach, the analysis for tourism in the MRS is directed to what is perceived that the behavior of the tourist municipalities is necessarily linked to the capital, with which a relation of dependence is established, be it direct or indirect, depending on the municipality. The study concluded that Lauro de Freitas presents a peculiar behavior, here defined as "Dormitory Tourist Center" and that, in its entirety, MRS shows a framework of interdependence among tourist municipalities, centered in Salvador, which can be classified as Metropolitan Tourism. It is also understood that the main attraction of Lauro de Freitas is its location, so that the identity trait of greater weight for the municipality is not its own, but metropolitan.